Tatuaje Skinny Wolf

The Tatuaje Skinny Wolf is the fourth iteration of The Wolfman blend, and with the other three members of the halfwheel staff having done reviews on the first three, today you’ll be getting the fourth take on it from yours truly.

The Wolfman, Wolfie, and Wolf have all been very recognizable releases—ones that you could tell apart from the line up of the Monsters Series even without a band. With the Skinny Monsters release, the Skinny Wolf is one of the cigars that’s had a bit more changed about it than just the size.

(The intro was written by Charlie Minato)

In 2012, Tatuaje released the Little Monsters, which included smaller versions of the first five Monster Releases. The blends were the same, though the Little Monsters were all rolled in 2012 and the cigars shrunk.

The cigars did keep the same unique looks as their larger counterparts: Baby Face used a strip of tobacco instead of a band, Wolfie kept the brushed foot of The Wolf and the box-pressed original Monster Series cigars translated into box pressing the smaller versions.

• Tatuaje The Wolfman (7 1/2 x 52) — 2011
• Tatuaje Wolfie (5 1/2 x 48) — 2012
• Tatuaje Wolf (5 1/2 x 52) — 2014
• Tatuaje Skinny Wolf (6 x 38) — 2016

Two years later, Tatuaje released the Pudgy Monsters. These cigars took the same length as the Little Monsters, but used the original ring gauge of the regular Monster Series, meaning the Tatuaje Face was 4 3/8 x 56. Once again, the unique traits of the original Monster Series cigars carried over into the Pudgy versions, a sampler that included the first six Monsters Series release as well as two each of new blends, Chuck and Tiff—cigars based off the characters from Don Mancini’s Child’s Play films, specifically Bride of Chucky.

Now, two years later, Tatuaje’s Pete Johnson has a new sampler of smaller Monster Series, this time, Skinny Monsters.

It’s a grand departure from the Little and Pudgy form, with the release largely based off the Tatuaje Black Label Petite Lancero. This time, every cigar in the sampler measures 6 x 38 and is round. The cigars feature a typical parejo shape, instead of a Torpedo for the Skinny versions of The Drac and The Wolfman.

A total of 10,000 samplers are being produced, containing one of each of the Skinny versions of the first eight Monster Series releases plus Chuck and Tiff. There are also plans to release 400 25-count dress boxes of each Skinny Monster. The dress box concept follows the regular Monster Series releases. Every Monster Series release has featured 666 boxes of 13—shaped like a coffin—that are specially decorated to mimic each release.

While the dress box Skinny Monsters do constitute special packaging, the boxes are based off of the Tatuaje Petite Lancero boxes, a vertical wooden box. In addition, these cigars will be sold at a later date—specifically the IPCPR Convention & Trade Show in late July—as opposed to the regular Monster Series dress boxes, which are allocated largely to 13 different retailers each year with some other retailers receiving small quantities of one to three dress boxes.

In addition, Johnson has said that one of the Skinny Monsters may enter regular production.

With the Skinny Monsters, the Tatuaje Monster Series family now stands at 31 released cigars.

• Cigar Reviewed: Tatuaje Skinny Wolf
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 38
• Vitola: Petit Lancero
• MSRP: $8.50 (Samplers of 10, $85)
• Release Date: April 15, 2016
• Number of Cigars Released: 10,000 Samplers of 1 Cigar & 400 Boxes of 25 Cigars (20,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

A soft and oily medium brown wrapper greets my fingers as I pick the Skinny Wolf up, while a squeeze reveals a nice even amount of give. A rich aroma emanates off the wrapper, enticing me with notes of leather, cinnamon, coffee and a wafty bit of chocolate cake. The cold draw is quite different, with an almost effervescent taste of citrus soda, quickly followed by a cinnamon-heavy pastry note and a light hint of cocoa powder.

Starting into the first third, roasted nuts, cocoa nibs, caramelized sugars and an earthy leather note in the background greet me right off the bat. The flavors are abundant each draw and plentiful smoke production allows the aroma to linger around me long after each puff. The draw is ideal and the burn follows along the perfection lines, almost razor sharp and even for the most part. Not nearly as strong or bold as some of the other Monster releases, the Skinny Wolf is just shy of what I would call delicate, instead perhaps what you could describe as easy going. The roasted nuts note turns slightly more specific to roasted hazelnuts, while the cocoa nibs, caramelized sugar and earth leather continue as is.

The second third continues with caramel, cocoa, roasted hazelnuts and earthiness, though on the nose is a light bit of pepper. A new spice note has popped up, complimenting the rest of the profile nicely. The burn line continues to impress, while the dense ash performs impressively as well, holding on to well over an inch before dropping off on its own. Caramel notes start to fade slightly, and with it the overall sweetness of the profile, leaving a little more room for cocoa powder, roasted hazelnuts, earth, spices and a new note of leather to play around.

Moving into the final third sees the first of what I would call a bold flavor show up – some spicy peppers. Only joining the fray and not really taking anything but a back seat however, the profile still remains mostly sweet, with some spices, cocoa, caramel, nuttiness, and finishing off with some earth and leather. The burn still hasn’t had any issues, just puttering along at an even and impressive pace. While the ash still holds on strong, it has started to become a little flaky, causing me to roll the ash off earlier than it actually needs: really nothing but a minor annoyance however. As I reach the final inch of the Skinny Wolf, the profile still shines with spices, cocoa, caramel, nuts, earthy leather and a bit of spicy peppers – staying cool and flavorful all the way to the end.

Final Notes

• If you look closely—the band on the Skinny Wolf doesn’t match The Wolfman, Wolfie or Wolf’s bands. When asked why, Pete Johnson replied that it wasn’t anything more than an issue with the printer not color matching against the original bands.
• To me, The Wolfman seems like it was one of the more recent of the Monster Series releases, but looking at the dates it’s almost been five years since its release.
• The Wolfman was the last of the full sized Monsters to be released before Johnson started doing the modified-size Monsters project.
• From what I can remember, the Monster Series cigars have a certain boldness or strength to them, with the exception being The Wolfman blend. Overall it seems to be more mild, sweeter and complex – not exactly what I would match up with a werewolf, but I’m ok with that.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigar Hustler, Cigar.com, Corona Cigar, JR Cigar, Lone Star State Cigar Co. (972.424.7272) and STOGIES World Class Cigars (713.783.5100) all carry the Skinny Monsters.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time averaged just under an hour and 30 minutes.