Tatuaje Monster Series 2009 – Drac
Nov 21, 2009 Cigar
Tonight’s review is the Tatuaje Monster Series Drac.
The Tatuaje Drac is the latest Monster Series Halloween release from Pete Johnson. The Monster Series started in 2008 with Pete’s release of the Tatuaje Frank. It’s followed up this year with two sticks, the Boris (Frank Out of Costume ) and the Drac.
The Drac is a 6 2/4 x 52 inch Torpedo and is dressed in a Dracula motif including shellacked black coffin. It has a Habano Maduro wrapper and there are 1,300 boxes of 13 cigars produced. Pete is also inserting 13 “Spooky Tickets” is the boxes for a Willy Wonka style contest in which one winner will recieve a beautiful Ducati Motorcycle. A brilliant marketing tactic and a fantastically fun experience for smokers who were put on a quest to find not just the smokes, but the Spooky Tickets. Brilliant!
And now, on to the review.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Size: 6 3/4 x 52 (Torpedo)
Origin: Most Likely Nicaragua
Wrapper: ??? Habanp Maduro
Binder: ???
Filler: ???
APPEARANCE and CONSTRUCTION – (17 of 20 pts.)
The Drac has a beautiful dark chocolate wrapper and is a Maduro in every way. The wrapper is very brittle however, and will lose a few points for that. In my box there were 2 sticks with cracked wrappers. Being the good guy he is, Pete has offered anyone with damaged cigars to contact Tatuaje and he will do his best to get replacements out to you. It is apparently somewhat of an issue and Pete has responded tremendously to it. The wrapper is very oily and a clean, vein free beauty. The band is at the foot of the stick which is a first I believe for Tatuaje. Overall the construction is pretty good other than the brittle wrapper
SMOKING CHARACTERISTICS – (22 of 25 pts.)
The wrapper has an aroma of sweet mint and spice. My buddy barry over at ACigarSmoker.com nailed it when he said the Tatuaje Boris had an aroma of Valentine’s Day candy heart mints. I found that aroma on both the Boris and the Drac. It’s a sweet mint spice aroma. Very interesting. The stick cut perfectly and had a perfect draw. The burn was perfect throughout the whole smoke. It had a thin burn line and a very light, white ash. Very voluminous smoke and overall wonderful nice burning stick.
FLAVOR – (26 of 30 pts.)
The Drac started with a woody flavor that had a twinge of unsweetened espresso. That flavor carried over from the first to the second third where it picked up a little spice and some strength. The second and final third also added a slight cocoa flavor and a more pronounced wood flavor than in the first third. Overall nice, but not overwhelming flavors.
OVERALL IMPRESSION – (21 of 25 pts.)
Overall I thought this was a good, not great stick. I am a HUGE fan of Pete Johnson’s work and I smoke Tatuaje cigars as much as any other stick in my humi. I found the Drac to be decent but not anything I would seek out other than it desireability as a “rare” or collectible stick. A good smoke, but considering availability and price (MSRP around $13) I would not scour the earth for one unless you are one of those smokers (like me) who is drawn to the harder to find cigars.
TOTAL SCORE – 86
Tags: Boris, Drac, Frank, Halloween, Monster Series, Pete Johnson, Tatuaje
