Vitola: Double Corona- 7.5” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $13
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
It’s become an annual tradition for Tatuaje Cigars to release a Monster Cigar in October. It’s likewise become an annual tradition for me to review a Monster Cigar…usually in November or December. Guess it shows that I’m not the best at getting these reviews written in a timely manner. I decided to carry on the tradition of talking about a Monster, but break from tradition by not reviewing this year’s release (the Hyde…which I just wasn’t a fan of) and instead revisit my favorite release…the Jason (officially the JV13…for Jason Voorhees and the release year of 2013…and also because Jason was the star of the Friday the 13th movie series…except the first one, where the killer was Jason’s mother…oops, spoiler alert!).
Like pretty much everything from the Tatuaje catalog, this cigar features Nicaraguan fillers and binder. This release uses a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper…and that’s my jam! The blend is reportedly the same used for the Avion 13 Reserva, which I’m also a huge fan of, and the Avion in turn is a special perfecto size of the Fausto release.
I gave this cigar a 9.5/10 rating upon its release. You can read my full review HERE. This (unfortunately) is my last stick from that 10-count non-dress box that I bought at the time.
Notes
I paired this cigar with some E.H. Taylor Bourbon. The full review of that wonderful whiskey will appear on this site soon.
The wrapper of the cigar still had a slightly chocolatey aroma to it. The foot was full of rich, sweet earthiness.
The JV13 started off with a full-bodied earthiness, along with notes of cocoa powder and black coffee. A couple years of age has taken the edge off the pepper spice, which was just a slight burn on the nose.
The Taylor Bourbon boosted the natural sweetness of the cigar and added more spice to the mix, which was very welcome.
I still call the JV13/Jason the best Monster cigar I’ve had…but that does bring up the fact that I never had the Frank, which many others say is the very best. I’ve had the Little and Pudgy versions of the Frank…both were pretty wonderful and I can see how the full size version would be even better than the JV13.
Two years of age on this cigar were kind, but not completely so. This one mellowed pretty quickly, especially in terms of the pepper spice, but also in body and strength. While I originally rated it a 9.5/10, today I would probably give it a 9.0…still very good but not really an “all-time classic” like it was when it first came out. Interestingly, I’ve had a few Avion 13 Reservas lately that I believe were made around the same time (at any rate, none of them were shipped in the last year) and they seem to have held up more of their original flavor.
Time to start the speculation as to next year’s Monster stick, I guess…Pete Johnson has done Broadleaf twice (Frank and Jason) and Sumatra twice (Wolfman and Hyde). Drac was a Maduro Habano Ecuador and Face was Mexican San Andres. Mummy was another Ecuador Habano (non-Maduro this time) and Jekyll was Sancti Spiritus (same wrapper used on the L’Atelier). So what’s next? Tradition would say another “modern” monster (Johnson tries to swap between modern and classic monsters each year), and the blends/wrappers used so far would seem to argue for maybe another Mexican…or something completely different from before…but what do I know?
Have a great Halloween everyone! Don’t eat too much of your kids’ candy after they go to bed!
it’s time he makes a Michael Myers Monster….dark wrapper (possibly Mexican or Sancti Spiritus that’s on the Selection Special) and a white label
I actually just saw this years monster box at my local shop for the first time. I plan on firing up the one I won from your site a while back, green and grey band, don’t know which one it is but need to look it up.
Sounds like a great cigar,not in my price range. Again, thanks for your reviews.
Only ever smoked the Wolfman… and to be honest never searched out any of the other Monsters. If they come across my desk i’ll smoke one but otherwise I’m not chasing them down.
I smoked 4 of the Monsters this year and THE JV13 came out on top for me. I will add to that though it wasn’t the best experience I had with one of The Monsters, that belongs to The Mummy during the first 2 years of its release. And The Jekyll had such a great flavor profile this year, but the stick I had had horrible construction and rendered it unsmokeable so I think with a different stick The Jekyll would have scored much higher than The JV13 did.