Skinny Monsters: Drac

• Vitola: Petite Lancero
• 6” x 38 ring gauge 
• MSRP $85, as part of Skinny Monsters collection
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

So, for those who have been disconnected from cigar shops and social media for the last decade, here’s a short recap…in October 2008, Tatuaje released 666 boxes of 13 sticks in the first of the “Monster Series.” It became an annual tradition, with production increased in subsequent years, though the number of “dress boxes” remains at 666. In the spring or summer of 2012, the first “Specialty Monsters” box was released…this was “Little Monsters,” which included 2 each of 5 blends (the first 4 regular Monsters, plus a preview of that year’s Mummy). 2014 saw the release of the Pudgy Monsters set; for that one, each cigar had the ring gauge of the original release, but the length of the “Little” release. There was only 1 of each of the 6 released blends, plus 2 each of 2 new blends…Chuck and Tiff…that were destined to not be released in a full-size. 

Now for 2016, we have been presented with “Skinny Monsters.” The box contains 10 cigars, 1 each of the first 8 Monster blends, plus Chuck and Tiff again. For the first time, all the cigars share the same vitola…a Petite Lancero at 6 inches long by 38 ring gauge. I will be smoking through each of these blends and giving some thoughts on them over the next few weeks. I am smoking through them in reverse order from the order they were released in, working right to left through the box.

The Drac was released in October 2009, the Halloween of the year I moved from California to Tennessee. I had not gotten any of the original Monster release the year before…hell, I was so busy with work and planning “the move” that I didn’t even hear about them…and I really only had the chance to buy one of these. I remember the hype being really high…I also remember being told you could get really high off the fresh paint and lacquer on the boxes for The Drac. I didn’t smell or taste a big chemical note on the one I reviewed, though…I loved it…gave it a 10/10, if I remember correctly…but that could have been a bit generous.

The original Drac was presented with a foot band and upside down…and because it was a torpedo it was meant to look like a stake to drive into a vampire’s heart. The Skinny Drac is just the typical presentation like all the other sticks have…a regularly placed band and the normal parejo shape of the Petite Lancero. Assuming the blend is the same as the original, though, it uses Nicaraguan filler and binder with an Ecuadorian Habano Maduro wrapper leaf.

Notes

The wrapper on this stick was among the darkest Habano leaves I’ve seen, even when considering Maduros…it was oily to the touch, too. It had a ripe earthiness with a touch of leather when sniffed; the foot of the cigar was more of a straight ahead earth. The cold draw was good and tasted nothing like lacquer…just a nice cedar and earth mix with a little semi-sweet chocolate mixed in.

I still maintain that the Drac is one of the best of the Monster Series…and this Skinny Drac really makes the most of the blend, with notes of earth, espresso, and cocoa powder up front, along with cedar and pepper in the mix. The nose has a great peppery burn to it.

As the cigar progressed, I got a deeper earthiness and espresso flavor with less cocoa powder and sweetness in the mix. The pepper continued, but was mostly on the retrohale.

The Skinny Drac was a full-bodied, punchy little stick with plenty of the flavor of the native earth the leaf was grown in (native earth being important to Count Dracula, too). While I still really like this stick, it’s probably just my 5th favorite of the Monster blends now, behind Face, Mummy, Jekyll, Jason…and, of course, Frank. In this Skinny format, even the Wolfman edges by it. Still…if this is my 6th favorite Skinny Monster, that’s not a bad thing at all.