Tatuaje The Bride Details Emerge

The final Monster Series release is upon us.

Later this month, Tatuaje will show off the Monster Series #13, The Bride, ahead of its October release. It’s the final cigar in the legendary limited edition series that began in 2008.

The Bride is a 7 1/8 x 49 Churchill extra that uses a Connecticut broadleaf rosado wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Pete Johnson described the cigar as “medium plus” and an “elegant monster.”

It is based on James Whale’s The Bride of Frankenstein.

Production numbers will be the same as last year’s release—The Michael—666 dress boxes of 13 cigars and 4,500 boxes of 10 cigars for a total of 53,658 cigars.

Also the same will be many of the basic details regarding how the Monster Series has been released: it will ship in October, 13 stores will be chosen as Unlucky 13 retailers—to receive the bulk of the dress boxes—and it will be priced at $13 per cigar, regardless of which box you purchase.

Dress boxes, or the hysteria they cause, are perhaps the most notable thing about the Monster Series.

Johnson created boxes, shaped like coffins and painted to mimic the fictional monster character the release was inspired by. With the exception of one cigar, there have only been 666 numbered dress boxes released, largely sold to a group of 13 retailers, affectionately known as the Unlucky 13.

Those retailers receive 31 dress boxes each, while retailers throughout the country split the remaining 263 boxes with most retailers receiving 1-3 dress boxes per releases.

Due to demands, as well as large markups on the secondary market, Johnson began releasing plain boxes of 10 cigars in 2010. This was to allow customers who just wanted to smoke the cigars themselves the ability to do so without the trouble or the large markups.

While the cigar will be unveiled later this month, the Monster Series traditionally arrives in October. A first shipment goes out to the Unlucky 13 and then a short time later the rest of the country receives their boxes.

Like other releases, there will be a branded accessory for this release, a lighter from Elie Bleu.

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As for where the Monster Series goes from here, that remains to be seen.

Johnson originally planned 13 releases for the series, which began in 2008, meaning it shouldn’t wrap up until 2021. As for why it’s ending in 2018, that’s because Johnson retroactively decided to classify the Tatuaje Chuck and Tiff—cigars originally released as part of the Pudgy Monster sampler in 2014—as regular Monsters.

That means this is only the 11th release to get the full Monster treatment: dress boxes, Unlucky 13, etc.

• Tatuaje The Frank (7 5/8 x 49) — 2008 — Based on Frankenstein — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars (8,658 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Drac (6 3/4 x 52) — 2009 — Based on Dracula — 1,300 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars (16,900 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Face (6 3/8 x 56) — 2010 — Based on Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars & 1,300 Plain Boxes of 10 Cigars (21,658 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Wolfman (7 1/2 x 52) — 2011 — Based on The Wolf Man (1941) — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars & 1,300 Plain Boxes of 10 Cigars (21,658 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Mummy (7 3/4 x 47) — 2012 — Based on the Boris Karloff character from The Mummy — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars & 3,100 Plain Boxes of 10 Cigars (39,658 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The JV13 (7 1/2 x 52) — 2013 — Based on Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars & 4,500 Plain Boxes of 10 Cigars (53,658 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Jekyll (7 x 49) — 2014 — Based on Dr. Jekyll from Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars & 4,500 Plain Boxes of 10 Cigars (53,658 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Hyde (7 x 49) — 2015 — Based on The Hyde from Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars & 4,500 Plain Boxes of 10 Cigars (53,658 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Krueger (7 1/4 x 48) — 2016 — Based on Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars & 5,000 Plain Boxes of 10 Cigars (58,658 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Michael (6 1/2 x 52) — 2017 — Based on Michael Myers from Halloween — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars & 4,500 Plain Boxes of 10 Cigars (53,658 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje Chuck (4 x 50) — June 2014 — 20,000 Samplers of 2 Cigars (40,000 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje Tiff (4 x 50) — June 2014 — 20,000 Samplers of 2 Cigars (40,000 Total Cigars)
• Tatuaje The Bride (7 1/8 x 49) — 2018 — Based on Valerie Hobson from The Bride of Frankenstein — 666 Dress Boxes of 13 Cigars & 4,500 Plain Boxes of 10 Cigars (53,658 Total Cigars)

When asked if it is likely that the Monster Series lives on in some way after 2018—beyond the limited, but regular production Skinny Monster samplers—Johnson said “yes,” though what that looks like is still unclear.