Skinny Monsters: Hyde

• 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.

Continuing on in my reverse order sequence, we come to the eighth full-release Monster blend…the Hyde…or in this case…Skinny Hyde! (cue the scary music)

The Hyde came out in 2015, completing a two-year release of Monsters that were companion pieces…Jekyll preceded it in 2014. The dress boxes were made to fit together to show one whole image of a half-Jekyll/half-Hyde monster. Hyde skews toward the more full-bodied, overlaying Nicaraguan filler and binder leaves with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper.

I only got to smoke one of the full-size release of The Hyde, but honestly that was enough. I’ve traditionally not been a big Sumatra wrapper fan…my local rep gave me a Hyde, I smoked it, and decided to pass on buying a non-dress box so that someone else who would appreciate it more could buy it. I didn’t hate the blend, but it didn’t appeal to me nearly as much as some of the others. So will the Petite Lancero format change my mind at all? Let’s find out.

Notes

I feel a bit like Hyde myself today…the preceding week was full of crazy days of work and exhausting non-work times because of my ongoing recovery from my fractured ankle. I never knew how much energy healing and crutching around everywhere took. It gives me a newfound respect for those with more permanent disabilities than mine…but sometimes it just leaves me feeling a bit monstrous. I’m going to try to chill the monster out a bit with a Hyde, followed by the Skinny Jekyll, all accompanied with my first adult beverage since the mishap that left me on crutches…some Elijah Craig 12 Year Old Bourbon. I’m going from the monster to the man…Hyde to Jekyll…

The Skinny Hyde appeared quite a bit lighter than I remember the regular Hyde being. Chalk it up to differences in wrapper color, I guess. This stick is only slightly darker than the Jekyll and I seem to remember the regular Hyde being dark enough that I wondered if it was San Andres Maduro when I first saw it.

The aroma from it was nicely earthy and woody. The prelight draw had more of the same, with an added mineraly, metallic note.

Once lit, the metallic and cedar notes were most prominent on my palate. There was some earth and a little sweetness in the background, as well, and the retrohale was quite peppery.

The metallic notes faded as I smoked through the cigar, but the wood notes carried on in full strength throughout. The Hyde still ranks as my least favorite of the regular Monster blends, though. It’s not a bad cigar by any means…it just isn’t particular suited to my tastes, and the Petite Lancero format didn’t help that any. But, hey…the Bourbon was really great!