October has recently passed us by. While October is known for many things, like Halloween and my Cincinnati Bengals being undefeated, it is also known for the annual release of Tatuaje's Monster series. There was a thread started by @3/5King last year called Month of the Monsters to celebrate this release and he got the thread active again this year when October began. His line this year really got me thinking "Bust out them Monsters, boys!".
A year ago I had never even heard of Tatuaje (before my life on cigar forums) let alone the Monster series. I bought 3 full size earlier this year to try them out (Jekyll, Jason, Mummy) and I was instantly hooked. I loved those 3 smokes. I went on an all-out search for Monsters. Any and all Monsters. Full-size, Pudgy, or Little. I was able to pick up some of everything with the exception of any full-size Frank. But due to the limited nature of these cigars, how much effort I spent finding them, and frankly how much these things costs, I was finding myself to be timid about actually smoking them. Then 3/5King kicks me in the butt and says to bust them out.
So I set out on a journey to actually smoke the cigars I had been buying. In my humble opinion (learned through this process), cigars are meant to be smoked, not collected or hoarding. I won't say I was exactly collecting or hoarding my Monsters, but I certainly wasn't smoking very many of them. Many thanks to @3/5King for impacting me in a huge way without even knowing it. Thank you sir!
I decided I wanted to smoke 31 Monsters during the month of October, the #MonthofMonsters. I ended up smoking 32 during October. Some full-size, some Pudgy, some Little. It was interesting to be smoking different versions of the same cigars that had been aged different lengths of time. I think I'll do a series of posts inside this thread with some lessons learned and thoughts on the Monsters as I compared and contrasted them.
To start with, I'll discuss my experience with the Full-Size Monsters. During October I smoked at least one full size Drac, Face, Wolf, Mummy, Jason and Jekyll. I didn't have any full-size Frank so I didn't smoke one and while I meant to smoke a Hyde on Halloween evening my plans fell through. Here is my first observation about the full-size Monsters - not sure if this will be controversial or not. For me it was ground breaking and somewhat freeing as it relates to future purchases of them.
Observation: The full-size Drac, Face and Wolf (for me) aren't worth smoking. Flat out, I didn't enjoy them. They weren't very good. Now, I'm not saying they weren't good at one point in time. Matter of fact, Face is my favorite Pudgy and Drac is my favorite Little. But time has not treated these full-size versions well. The flavors were muted. It was disappointing to say the least. Now, if you happen to like these full-size smokes now, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying they didn't do it for me. Especially when to obtain a full size Drac it's about $30, Face $25, and Wolf $20. Matter of fact, I ended up selling my left over full-size Drac, Face and Wolf after October was over.
If I had to rank the full size Monsters as of today I'd say:
1. Jason (far and away my favorite full size)
2. Mummy
3. Jekyll
4. Face
5. Drac
6. Wolf
Note: I haven't smoked the Frank and don't know where it'd fit. Also, I haven't gotten around to smoking a Hyde yet but I'm hearing/reading good things about it so far. Most people seem to think it's better than the Jekyll.
To me the full-size monsters are interesting. They are very long, so you need at least 1 hour 45 minutes to smoke, so for me it doesn't make a lot of sense to keep a huge amount on hand anyway of the older ones (Jason, Mummy). However based on my existing inventory, I believe the only full-size I'd personally consider buying in the future is the Jason. I've got enough of the Jekyll and Hyde to last for a while. I enjoy the Mummy a lot but this makes me wonder if I should smoke all of my full-size Mummy now while I know I like them. Smoke them before they turn boring like Drac, Face and Wolf.
To be sure, it won't be until next October when I smoke another Monster. They are meant to be smoked now!
Anyway, I'll post some other thoughts in this thread over this month. The #MonthofMonsters was a lot of fun. And I'm glad my cigars got enjoyed for their ultimate purpose - to be smoked!
A year ago I had never even heard of Tatuaje (before my life on cigar forums) let alone the Monster series. I bought 3 full size earlier this year to try them out (Jekyll, Jason, Mummy) and I was instantly hooked. I loved those 3 smokes. I went on an all-out search for Monsters. Any and all Monsters. Full-size, Pudgy, or Little. I was able to pick up some of everything with the exception of any full-size Frank. But due to the limited nature of these cigars, how much effort I spent finding them, and frankly how much these things costs, I was finding myself to be timid about actually smoking them. Then 3/5King kicks me in the butt and says to bust them out.
So I set out on a journey to actually smoke the cigars I had been buying. In my humble opinion (learned through this process), cigars are meant to be smoked, not collected or hoarding. I won't say I was exactly collecting or hoarding my Monsters, but I certainly wasn't smoking very many of them. Many thanks to @3/5King for impacting me in a huge way without even knowing it. Thank you sir!
I decided I wanted to smoke 31 Monsters during the month of October, the #MonthofMonsters. I ended up smoking 32 during October. Some full-size, some Pudgy, some Little. It was interesting to be smoking different versions of the same cigars that had been aged different lengths of time. I think I'll do a series of posts inside this thread with some lessons learned and thoughts on the Monsters as I compared and contrasted them.
To start with, I'll discuss my experience with the Full-Size Monsters. During October I smoked at least one full size Drac, Face, Wolf, Mummy, Jason and Jekyll. I didn't have any full-size Frank so I didn't smoke one and while I meant to smoke a Hyde on Halloween evening my plans fell through. Here is my first observation about the full-size Monsters - not sure if this will be controversial or not. For me it was ground breaking and somewhat freeing as it relates to future purchases of them.
Observation: The full-size Drac, Face and Wolf (for me) aren't worth smoking. Flat out, I didn't enjoy them. They weren't very good. Now, I'm not saying they weren't good at one point in time. Matter of fact, Face is my favorite Pudgy and Drac is my favorite Little. But time has not treated these full-size versions well. The flavors were muted. It was disappointing to say the least. Now, if you happen to like these full-size smokes now, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying they didn't do it for me. Especially when to obtain a full size Drac it's about $30, Face $25, and Wolf $20. Matter of fact, I ended up selling my left over full-size Drac, Face and Wolf after October was over.
If I had to rank the full size Monsters as of today I'd say:
1. Jason (far and away my favorite full size)
2. Mummy
3. Jekyll
4. Face
5. Drac
6. Wolf
Note: I haven't smoked the Frank and don't know where it'd fit. Also, I haven't gotten around to smoking a Hyde yet but I'm hearing/reading good things about it so far. Most people seem to think it's better than the Jekyll.
To me the full-size monsters are interesting. They are very long, so you need at least 1 hour 45 minutes to smoke, so for me it doesn't make a lot of sense to keep a huge amount on hand anyway of the older ones (Jason, Mummy). However based on my existing inventory, I believe the only full-size I'd personally consider buying in the future is the Jason. I've got enough of the Jekyll and Hyde to last for a while. I enjoy the Mummy a lot but this makes me wonder if I should smoke all of my full-size Mummy now while I know I like them. Smoke them before they turn boring like Drac, Face and Wolf.
To be sure, it won't be until next October when I smoke another Monster. They are meant to be smoked now!
Anyway, I'll post some other thoughts in this thread over this month. The #MonthofMonsters was a lot of fun. And I'm glad my cigars got enjoyed for their ultimate purpose - to be smoked!
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