Tatuaje The Chuck

Earlier this year, Tatuaje released the final two cigars to its most popular and long-running series Monster Series: The Chuck and The Tiff.

The Monster Series started in 2008, right around the time that Tatuaje essentially became a household name in the American cigar world. The concept centered around Halloween, more specifically the monster characters from both films and books. Pete Johnson of Tatuaje decided to make cigars based on some of those characters. The cigars would be large, would come packaged in boxes shaped like coffins and decorated to coincide with the specific monster.

In keeping with the Haloween theme, there was also a darker theme to many of the numbers associated with the release. Those boxes would contain 13 cigars, each priced at $13. Tatuaje would only release 666 of those boxes to retailers, the bulk of which went to 13 retailers who received 31 of each box. Most importantly, there would be 13 releases as part of the Monster Series.

While the 13 cigars would share many of the same details, the blends are different. Some are based on existing Tatuaje lines, while others are believed to be unique.

In addition to the regular Monsters, there have been five samplers released that include the same blends of various Monster Series releases in different vitolas. In 2012, the first of those samplers debuted, the Little Monsters. Two years later, Tatuaje released the Pudgy Monsters sampler, which included one each of the first six Monster Series—as well as two each of Chuck and Tiff in 4 x 50 vitolas—with the same lengths as the previous Little Monsters, but each cigar had the ring gauge of the original Monsters.

In 2016, the first of three Skinny Monster samplers debuted, which included the first eight Monsters Series cigars plus Chuck and Tiff in 6 x 38 petit lancero vitolas. That was followed by two more 10-count samplers last year: the Skinny Monsters Cazadores, which included the eight original Monster cigars plus Chuck and Tiff in 6 3/8 x 43 size, and the Skinny Monsters Lanceros, which feature the exact same concept, but in 7 1/2 x 38 vitolas.

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Johnson’s relationship with the Monster Series—much like some of the characters the cigars are based on—is complicated. On one hand, it’s a creative outlet that sells out and brings in a steady stream of revenue. But at various points, Johnson has seemed ready to move on.

That came to a head in 2017 when Johnson announced the 10th release in the series, and also the 13th. At the same time, he decided that Chuck and Tiff released in 2014, would become Monsters 11 and 12. His plan was then to release The Bride in 2018 and officially put an end to the original Monster Series idea.

At some point in 2018, Johnson changed his mind and earlier this year announced that there would be two more releases: Nos. 11 and 12, respectively, The Chuck and The Tiff.

You might find yourself rereading the last two paragraphs to try figure out what happened. Chuck and Tiff, notice the lack of The… are Pudgy Monsters, The Chuck and The Tiff are part of the original Monster Series.

If you place the four cigars together, the difference will be quite obvious. Chuck and Tiff were 4 x 50 petit robustos, The Chuck and The Tiff are 5 7/8 x 52 parejos. The new cigars are the same as their smaller counterparts, meaning The Chuck uses an Ecuadorian habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers.

Most importantly for collectors and people like our own Charlie Minato, Johnson opted to release the cigars in dress boxes meaning that there would be 13 coffins, numbered 1-13, instead of coffins 1-11 and then 13.

There are a number of other differences in the final two Monster releases compared to previous releases, starting with the fact that both The Chuck and The Tiff were not only released at the same time, but in interlocking coffins of 13 that combine to create one larger piece. That action completes the puzzle on the front, a nod to the Child’s Play franchise for which the names are inspired.

Secondly, instead of having an Unlucky 13 as had been the case with every other Monster release, Johnson decided on an Unlucky 26 with those retailers receiving 13 dress boxes each of The Chuck and The Tiff, meaning 328 boxes of each cigar were sold to non-Unlucky 26 retailers. Tatuaje still produced 700 dress boxes of each. Like previous releases, the first 666 were individually numbered, while Johnson kept the remaining 34 for his own use. The remaining 338 dress boxes for each cigar were sent to other retailers who typically receive between 1-3 dress boxes as well as the 10-count boxes.

Finally, stores that were already selected as Unlucky 13 retailers in the past were eligible to be chosen again; in fact, more than half of the Unlucky 26 fall in that group. Previously, only one store—the defunct Gloucester Street Cigars—had been selected to be part of the Unlucky 13 more than once. Gloucester is credited with helping Johnson come up with the series.

After a little more than 11 years, the total number of Monster Series and its related releases now stands at 56 cigars.

As if 56 cigars weren’t enough, Johnson has indicated that the series will live on in some form next year, though he hasn’t given any hints as to what that looks like.

• Cigar Reviewed: Tatuaje The Chuck
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 5 7/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Toro
• MSRP: $13 (Box of 13, $169; Box of 10, $130)
• Release Date: October 2019
• Number of Cigars Released: 700 Boxes of 13 Cigars & 2,190 Boxes of 10 Cigars (31,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Visually, the Tatuaje The Chuck seems very similar to its older siblings, specifically, it is covered in an extremely dark, espresso brown wrapper that features not only a number of very prominent veins but also so much oil that it is slick when touched. The lighter blue band really stands out against the much darker wrapper, and there is a soft spot about halfway down the cigar on one of the samples. Aroma from the wrapper is a combination of sweet hay, manure, earth, leather, creamy cashews and raisin sweetness while the cold draw brings flavors of strong dark chocolate powder, raisins, gritty earth, dried tea leaves and black pepper.

The first third of The Chuck features a dominant combination that includes sweet leather and creamy cashews and there are lesser notes of dank earth, creamy oak, bitter espresso, slight citrus, and hay bringing up the rear.  There is a very distinct raisin sweetness on the retrohale pulled over from the cold draw that combines nicely with some very obvious peppercorn that does not seem to be dying down anytime soon. Construction-wise, the draw is excellent after a simple straight cut, but the burn gets into trouble early one and I am forced to touch it up quickly. There is more than enough smoke to keep me on my toes when smoking inside, while the overall strength starts out at a point between mild and medium and manages to increase only slightly by the time the first third comes to an end.

I did not think it was possible, but the raisin sweetness on the retrohale increases by leaps and bounds during the second third of the Tatuaje, although the amount of peppercorn does not increase very much at all to compensate. In addition, while the dominant flavors continue to be the combination of sweet leather and creamy cashews, some of the secondary notes change quite a bit, staring with cinnamon, dark cocoa nibs, espresso beans, meat and anise. Both the smoke production and draw continue to impress, and thankfully the burn evens out enough that I can stop worrying about it, at least for the moment. The strength level increases noticeably compared to the first third, but still manages to end the second third just a bit shy of the medium mark.

The final third of the Tatuaje The Chuck sees a noticeable change in the dominant flavors on the palate—specifically, a creamy cashew note takes the top spot—followed by other flavors of popcorn, cinnamon, cocoa nibs, creamy oak, leather and earth. The rich raisin sweetness holds steady enough to continue to have a major impact on the profile, while the peppercorn on the retrohale decreases noticeably, although it’s still there. All three metrics of construction—the draw, the burn and smoke production—are humming right along with no issue whatsoever, while the strength level increased enough to hit a point just above medium by the time I put the nub down.

Final Notes

• Although it may seem like it has been happening forever, the Chuck and the Tiff are only the third and fourth times that the Monster Series history that the cigars in dress boxes were packaged in cellophane; the first time that happened was with The Michael back in 2017.
• In addition, there have only been two other Ecuadorian habano-wrapped blend released as part of the Monster SeriesL The Michael and The Drac.
• Once again for those of you who may not know: Johnson has said many times that he does not consider The Boris to be part of the Monster Series, which is why it is not in the group photo above. Having said that, sharp-eyed viewers will remember that The Boris was actually listed with the other Monsters on the Tatuaje website.
• While not small by any means, The Chuck seems almost puny compared to most of the other full-sized Monster releases.
• There are so many cigars in the Monster collection photo above that we had to shoot it from above standing on an extremely tall ladder in order to get all of the releases together in one photograph.
• Each of the samples I smoked had some issues with the burn in the first third, but all there were fine after a couple of touchups, albeit at slightly different points.
• While Charlie goes through great lengths to make sure that each of the reviewers on halfwheel don’t review cigars from the same manufacturer, series or brand consecutively whenever possible, that has never been the case with the Monster Series:, in fact, I am the only one out of the reviewers who are currently working for us to have reviewed each of the full-sized Monsters for halfwheel. The lone exception is The Frank, which was reviewed by former reviewer Steve Valle back in 2010 on my now-defunct Smoking Stogie website.
• The cigar smoked for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Tatuaje advertises on halfwheel.
• Final smoking time for all three samples averaged a surprisingly long two hours and 14 minutes.
• If you would like to purchase any of the Tatuaje The Chuck cigars, site sponsors Corona Cigar Co. and JR Cigar carry The Chuck.