Tatuaje Karloff

TATUAJE CIGARS, INC.

• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Sumatra)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 5/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 49
• Vitola: Grand Corona
• MSRP: $13 (Box of 13, $169)
• Release Date: October 2020
• Number of Cigars Released: 4,000 Boxes of 13 Cigars (52,000 Total Cigars)
• Original Score: 94

Every year since 2008, the weeks leading up to Halloween meant one things: the release of a new Monster Series cigar from Pete Johnson’s Tatuaje. That ended in 2019, but what was released in October 2020 more than made up for it, and some might say that the cigar that was released even eclipsed those previous releases.

The cigar is the Tatuaje Karloff, one with roots that go back to the first release in the Monster Series, The Frank. When that cigar came out, Johnson had plans to create a complementary line called the Actors Series that would honor the actors who played the monster characters honored by the other line. That meant a cigar called The Boris, a 7 x 49 Churchill named for Boris Karloff.

While The Boris was well-received, the Actors Series never came to full fruition, there have been a few iterations of The Boris released since. There was the Little Boris, a 5 1/2 x 49 robusto released in July 2012 and re-released in November 2018. Then in October 2020, the Karloff was released, which used the same components on paper as The Boris, though Johnson noted the blend had been tweaked to give the Karloff a fuller profile than the Boris. But beyond just being fuller, it seemed to refine and nearly perfect it.

It starts rich and complex with impressive aromatics and continues to get better from there. Few areas of the flavor wheel seem off limits to the Karloff, as it dabbles in creaminess, earth, pepper, citrus, mint and beyond. It is a true multi-course cigar that invites you to smoke it without distraction and will reward you with a performance that will go down as one of the best from Tatuaje. — Patrick Lagreid.