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
An Important Message from Pete Johnson
A message from Pete Johnson:
I wanted to write everyone a quick note and touch on some of the concerns revolving around the Tatuaje Drac and Tatuaje Boris Halloween cigars. Please understand that these are big concerns of ours also and we want to assure everyone there is an easy solution.
First: The cigars were finished months ago but the box maker in Nicaragua was delayed and was not able to finish both the Drac and Boris boxes until right before the release. Unfortunately for us, this is a themed cigar that needed to arrive at the retailers before October 31st. We in no way were trying to rush production just to move product. A Halloween cigar released after October 31st doesn’t make much sense. Due to the late production of the boxes, the boxes had very little time to air out the paint smell that comes with any lacquered cigar box. Once the cigars were packed, wrapped in cellophane and shipped to our office in California, the box locked in that smell. The boxes were dry but still contained the smell of fresh paint. The only way to avoid this is let the box sit open for a few weeks before packing the cigars in the box. As long as the cigars are out of the box the smell will dissipate and will not affect the flavor of the cigar.
I recommend to everyone that was able to acquire a box, to open the box first to see if they found a spooky ticket and then to remove the cigars and store them in your humidor. The box should be left out of the humidor for a couple of weeks to air out. This smell will go away. I understand that some people want to keep their boxes intact but this is the best way to resolve any questions or concerns about the smell.
Second: A few people have contacted me about broken cigars. This is something that is hard to control due to shipping and the handling of the individual cigars. As far as we know, the cigars did not leave the factory broken in any way but with the delicate nature of the wrapper leaf, it could have been something we missed during the packing stage or something that happened after it left our offices.
I recommend to everyone that was able to acquire cigars, to examine your cigars carefully. If you see any cigars that are broken in any way that you believe will be unsmokable, do not cut, light or smoke them. Please contact us immediately by email and we will arrange replacement cigars with the retailer that you purchased the cigars from. We will only replace them as long as the cigars are complete and we will need to receive the damaged cigars before we can replace them. Unfortunately, we are not able to replace cigars that have been cut, lit or smoked.
Thank you again for you loyal brand support and for enjoying our products. We strive to be perfect in every way for our customers and want to apologize to all that may have concerns with this year’s release.
Sincerely,
Pete Johnson
Tatuaje Cigars Inc.
7518 W Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90046
pete@tatuajecigars.com
Tags: Drac, Halloween, Pete Johnson, Tatuaje
