Tatuaje Karloff Shipping in October

Tatuaje is well-known for its October cigar releases, and this year Pete Johnson has a new project in the works.

The Tatuaje Karloff is scheduled to begin shipping to retailers during the first week of October. It’s a 6 5/8 x 49 vitola with a covered foot that uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler.

The blend is the same on paper as that of the two cigars with which is shares inspiration for its name, the Tatuaje Boris and the Tatuaje Little Boris. However, Johnson told halfwheel that the Karloff’s blend is a tweaked version that is a little fuller. He added that people shouldn’t simply expect the exact same profile as the original Boris or the Little Boris, even though the ring gauges are the same.

Johnson is producing 4,000 dress boxes of 13 cigars, with single cigars priced at $13 before taxes.

This makes for the latest addition of a handful of cigars that were an extension of Tatuaje’s Monster Series, which debuted in 2008 as a celebration of famed movie monsters. Johnson had plans to create an Actors Series as well that would honor those who played the famed monsters, with that series debuting with the Boris, a 7 x 49 Churchill named after Boris Karloff, who played Frankenstein’s monster in the famous 1931 film. Its release corresponded with that of The Frank, the first cigar in Tatuaje’s Monster Series. However, that would be the only release in the Actors Series, but it would result in another cigar.

As part of the release of the Boris, Johnson made an agreement with Jeff Borysiewicz, owner of Corona Cigar Co. in Orlando, Fla. Borysiewicz owns the rights to the name Boris for cigars thanks to a cigar called the Boris 11, but was open to letting Tatuaje use it as well. The two men struck a deal that would result in Johnson producing a limited edition store exclusive called the Little Boris, a 5 1/2 x 49 cigar that debuted in July 2012 and was released again in November 2018

As for the status of the Actors Series, Johnson said that this would be a part of it, but with a new blend and look. He added that he doesn’t have plans to do any other actors at this time, “but you never know.”

Image courtesy of Pete Johnson.