The Tatuaje Skinny Chuck is one of ten cigars that make up the Tatuaje Skinny Monsters collection. Skinny Monsters is a sampler of ten 6 x 38 petite lanceros based on various Tatuaje Monster Series releases. Since 2008, the Tatuaje Monsters Series has been an annual release right before Halloween. For each installment of the series, a different blend with a different size pays homage to a monster / horror movie character. While the Monsters Series remains an annual release, there have been three off-shoot sampler releases: Little Monsters, Pudgy Monsters, and now Skinny Monsters. Today we take our second look at a cigar in the Skinny Monsters set with the Skinny Chuck. Overall I found the Skinny Chuck to be an excellent cigar and a nice addition into the series of Tatuaje Monster collections.

All four of the Monster Series collections are limited in production. Here is some further details

• Monster Series:  Released annually (usually around Halloween) since 2008. These have been Double Corona or Churchill sizes
• Little Monsters: Released in 2012, these are shorter, thinner versions of the first five Monster releases from 2008 to 2012. The sampler includes two cigars per blend. The Mini Mum was the little version of the Tatuaje Mummy and is the only case in any Monster Series collection where one of the offshoot sizes was released before the full monster sized vitola.
• Pudgy Monsters: Released in 2014, these cigars are the same length of the Little Monsters and same ring gauge of the original Monsters. This collection introduced two new monsters not previously released before, Chuck and Tiff. Each sampler contains two Chuck and two Tiff cigars as well as one Pudgy size for each of the Monster Blends released from 2008 to 2013.
• Skinny Monsters: Includes one 6 x 38 petite lancero of each of the eight full monster releases as well as 6 x 38 versions of the Chuck and Tiff. The Skinny Monsters is unique as it is the only collection under the Monsters umbrella where the vitolas are all the same size. For the first time, there are plans for each of the Skinny Monsters blends to be made available in 25 count boxes consisting of a single blend.

The grid below maps each monster / horror film character blend to the cigar that was released in each of the Monster Series collections. A blank indicates the blend was not released in that collection.

Character/Collection	Full Monsters (The +) -Annual	Little Monsters – 2012	Pudgy Monsters (Pudgy +) – 2014	Skinny Monsters (Skinny +) – 2016
Frankenstein (2008)	Frank	Frank Jr.	Frank	Frank
Dracula (2009)	Drac	Lil’ Drac	Drac	Drac
Leather Face (2010)	Face	Baby Face	Face	Face
The Wolfman (2011)	Wolfman	Wolfie	Wolf	Wolf
The Mummy (2012)	Mummy	Mini Mum	Mummy	Mummy
Jason Voorhees (2013)	JV13		Jason	Jason
Dr. Jekyll (2014)	Jekyll			Jekyll
Mr. Hyde (2015)	Hyde			Hyde
Chuck (Child’s Play)			Chuck	Chuck
Tiff (Child’s Play)			Tiff	Tiff

 

The Skinny Chuck is based off of a character from the horror movie Child’s Play. It is one of two characters from that movie with the other being the Skinny Tiff. Both the Chuck and Tiff have not had a full (i.e. original) Monsters Series size release

Without further ado, let’s break down the Tatuaje Skinny Chuck and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

As for the Chuck, this is the second blend in under the various Monster collections to use an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper (the Drac blend used an Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro wrapper)

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua (My Father SA)

Vitolas Available

Skinny Chuck becomes the second size featuring the “Chuck” blend.

Skinny Chuck: 6 x 38
Pudgy Chuck: 4 x 50

Appearance

The Tatuaje Skinny Chuck’s Ecuadorian Habano has a medium / medium to dark brown color. There is a slight rosado tint that varies depending on how the light shines on it. The wrapper itself is somewhat on the oily side. I also found somewhat of a bumpy surface on this wrapper. I also found both visible seams and visible veins on the surface of the wrapper.

The band is based on the standard “Tatuaje” scripted logo. The script font is black on an sky blue background. To the left of the “Tatuaje” scripting is the text “SKINNY” in the a bloody style red font. To the right of the scripting” it says “MONSTERS” – also in red font. To the far right is a white Tatuaje “Tattoo” stamp. The band is finished with a white pinstripe across the top and bottom.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

As I typically do, I went with my usual choice of a straight cut to remove the cap of the Tatuaje Skinny Chuck. Once the cap was removed, I proceeded with the pre-light draw. The cold draw provided a mix of both classic wood and cedar as well as a slight cream note. Overall I considered the pre-light draw of this cigar to be satisfactory. At this point I was ready to light up the Tatuaje Skinny Chuck and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Flavor Profile

The Tatuaje Skinny Chuck started out with a mix of cherry and cream notes. That particular combination was something I found to be a signature note on the Pudgy Chuck. I also detected some notes of cedar and classic wood in the background. Meanwhile on the retro-hale, I detected a black pepper note.

At the Skinny Chuck burned through the first third, the cherry / cream combination remained the primary notes. I also detected some of the classic wood notes in the forefront. Meanwhile in the background was cedar sweet-spice and now I picked up a slight black pepper note in the background.

Toward the midway point, the cedar notes increased and moved into the forefront joining the wood. Overall the Skinny Chuck started to take more of a woody profile. Meanwhile the cherry / cream combination moved into the background. There also was a gradual increase in the pepper.

In the last third, the pepper notes entered the forefront joining the cedar and wood notes. The cherry / cream remained grounded in the background. This is the way the Tatuaje Skinny Chuck came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

Overall I found the Skinny Chuck scored nicely when it came to burn and draw. The cigar maintained a straight burn path from start to finish. There was a touch of jaggedness on the burn line, but it didn’t warrant any additional touch-ups. The resulting ash was tight and firm with a silver white color. Meanwhile the burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

As for the draw, I found it to be open, but not loose. The Skinny Chuck had a very low maintenance draw to derive flavor.

Strength and Body

Strength-wise, I found the Skinny Chuck had a little more pop than its Pudgy Chuck sibling. Overall, I assessed the Skinny Chuck as being medium to full in strength. For the most part, I didn’t find much variation in the strength throughout the smoking experience.

Body-wise, I also found the Skinny Chuck to be medium to full – which was pretty much in the same wheelhouse as the Pudgy Chuck. Looking at strength versus body, I found both attributes of the Tatuaje Skinny Chuck to balance each other nicely.

Final Thoughts

Much like its sister cigar, the Tatuaje Tiff, I preferred the Tatuaje Chuck in the Pudgy (Short Robusto) format. Taking the Pudgy and Skinny sizes into consideration, I found Chuck to be a much better cigar in the set than the Tiff. I found the Cherry / Cream / Woody combination to work very well for this blend. I’m curious to see how this would smoke in a Toro, Churchill, or Double Corona size. While this isn’t my favorite Tatuaje Monster cigar among the various releases, it’s still a very good cigar. It is a cigar I’d recommend to either an experienced cigar enthusiast or one looking to graduate to something medium to full. As for myself, it’s a cigar I’d smoke again – and it’s worthy of a box split.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: 3.5-Box Split
Score: 90

References

News: Tatuaje Skinny Monsters Coming Soon
Price: $85.00 (Sampler)
Source: Purchased
Stogie Geeks Podcast: Tatuaje Skinny Monsters Chuck
Stogie Feed: Episode 185
Brand Reference: Tatuaje