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 Wolfman was the fourth in the Tatuaje Monster Series, debuting in October 2011. At the time, I recall Pete Johnson saying that he wanted the band to look “ugly” and the shaggy foot to recall the fur of a werewolf. Success on both accounts! The band is brown with red type and is hard to look at without it seeming to start moving of its own accord. The shaggy foot is still unique in the Monster Series, thought it is absent here on the “Skinny” version.
As with pretty much all Tatuaje releases, the Skinny Wolfman was made in the My Father factory in Nicaragua (some Tats are made at the company’s other factory in Miami). It uses Nicaraguan filler and binder leaves, along with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. I bought a 10-count “non-dress” box of Wolfmans with them came out and have smoked or given them all away at this point.
Notes
The Skinny Wolfman wrapper was a milk chocolate brown with a bit of slightly darker mottling, but nothing in the wrapper was as dark as the brown of the band with its blood-red type. I didn’t get a lot of aroma from the wrapper…just a little earth and cedar. The foot was mostly just earthy.
The prelight draw was good and tasted mostly of earth, but with a little “snap” to it that was either cedar and citrus.
The Skinny Wolfman started off with a medium-plus bodied smoke that had a citrus notes over an earthy core flavor profile. It was sweeter than I remember the original vitola being, and less peppery, as well. Even on the nose, there wasn’t much in the way of pepper spice.
Honestly, I didn’t like the original Wolfman all that much and I thought it was mostly because of the Sumatra wrapper. On this Skinny version, though, the wrapper came through much stronger and…SURPRISE!…I really liked it. The blend had a more pronounced citrus sweetness to it and a growing pepper spice as I got deeper into it.
I love being surprised and this was the best one yet in the Skinny Monsters collection. I went into this cigar expecting to endure it, but ended up really enjoying it.
