Today we a look at the Tatuaje Skinny Mummy,  one of ten cigars included in the Tatuaje Skinny Monsters collection. Skinny Monsters is a sampler of 6 x 38 petite lanceros based on the first ten Tatuaje Monster Series blends. 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 large-size pays homage to a monster / horror movie character. There have been several offshoots consisting of different size variations, by which the Skinny Monsters collection is one of them. It was in 2012 when the Mummy became fifth installment of the Monsters Series. Recently I’ve had an opportunity to smoke the new Tatuaje Skinny Mummy. Overall I have found the Mummy blend to be one of the standout blends in the Monsters portfolio and with the Skinny Mummy, it does not disappoint.

While the Monsters Series remains an annual release, there have been several off-shoot sampler releases, one of which is the Tatuaje Skinny Monsters series.  With the exception of the original Monsters Series, all have been made available in sampler packs. Each of the collections are (or have been) 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: Released this year, this includes one 6 x 38 petite lancero of each of the first eight full monster releases as well as 6 x 38 versions of the Chuck and Tiff. At this year’s IPCPR each of the Skinny Monsters were made available in 25 count boxes consisting of a single blend.
• Skinny Monsters Cazadores Edition: This includes a 6 3/4 x 43 vitola of each of the first eight full monster releases as well as 6 3/4 x 43 versions of the Chuck and Tiff. This format was introduced at the 2016 IPCPR Trade Show.
• Skinny Monsters Lancero Edition: This includes a 7 1/2 x 38 lancero of each of the first eight full monster releases as well as 7 1/2 x 38 versions of the Chuck and Tiff. This format was introduced at the 2016 IPCPR Trade Show.

The Tatuaje Mummy blend is one of five blends that is included in each of the six Monster series editions. The other four are: Frank, Drac, Face, and Wolfman / Wolf. The recently announced Tatuaje – The Krueger  has only been made available in a full Monster size.

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	Skinny Monsters	Skinny Monsters Cazadores	Skinny Monsters Lancero
Frankenstein (2008)	Frank	Frank Jr.	Frank	Frank	Frank	Frank
Dracula (2009)	Drac	Lil’ Drac	Drac	Drac	Drac	Drac
Leather Face (2010)	Face	Baby Face	Face	Face	Face	Face
The Wolfman (2011)	Wolfman	Wolfie	Wolf	Wolf	Wolf	Wolf
The Mummy (2012)	Mummy	Mini Mum	Mummy	Mummy	Mummy	Mummy
Jason Voorhees (2013)	JV13		Jason	Jason	Jason	Jason
Dr. Jekyll (2014)	Jekyll			Jekyll	Jekyll	Jekyll
Mr. Hyde (2015)	Hyde			Hyde	Hyde	Hyde
Chuck (Child’s Play)			Chuck	Chuck	Chuck	Chuck
Tiff (Child’s Play)			Tiff	Tiff	Tiff	Tiff
Freddy Krueger (2016)	Krueger

 

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

Blend Profile

To date, the Mummy blend is the only Nicaraguan puro in the Monsters series.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Sun Grown Criollo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaragua
Country of Origin: Nicaragua (My Father Cigars SA)

Vitolas Available

With the new Cazadores and Lancero line extensions, it brings the total number of vitolas using the Mummy blend to six.

The Mummy: 7 3/4 x 47
Mini Mum: 5 3/4 x 42
Mummy (Pudgy): 5 3/4 x 47
Skinny Mummy 6 x 38
Skinny Mummy Cazadores: 6 3/4 x 43 (*)
Skinny Mummy Lancero: 7 1/2 x 38 (*)

* Showcased at the 2016 IPCPR Trade Show, wider distribution coming soon

As mentioned, in addition to being a part of the Skinny Monsters sampler, the Skinny Mummy has also been made available in 25 count boxes:

Appearance

The Tatuaje Skinny Mummy’s Sun Grown Criollo wrapper is medium brown in color with a colorado tint. The wrapper has slight amount of oil on it. There were a couple of veins that were visible. There were also a few wrapper seams that are visible. Unlike the three previously released Mummy blend vitolas, the foot to the Skinny Mummy is NOT covered.

The band is based on the standard “Tatuaje” scripted logo.  This features white script font on a gray background. To the left of the “Tatuaje” scripting is the text “SKINNY” in the a gothic style white font. To the right of the scripting” it says “MONSTERS” – also in white 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 normally do, I opted for a straight cut to remove the cap of the Tatuaje Skinny Mummy. Once the cap was clipped, I moved on to the pre-light draw phase. The dry draw provided a mix of cedar, cinnamon, and mixed fruit. Overall I considered this to be an excellent pre-light draw. At this point I was ready to light up the Skinny Mummy and see what the cigar experience would have in store.

Flavor Profile

Once I lit up the Tatuaje Skinny Mummy, the flavor profile picked up where the pre-light draw left off. I continued to get notes of cedar, cinnamon, and fruit. I also picked up some subtle black pepper notes in the background.  The retro-hale delivered an additional layer of spice that was a combination of red pepper and cedar.

As the Tatuaje Skinny Mummy moved through the first third, the cedar and cinnamon notes were the primary notes with the fruit and pepper secondary. The cedar notes delivered a sweet-spice, but at times demonstrated some classic wood notes. By the middle of the first third, the cinnamon notes also receded into the background. The sweetness of the cigar also dialed back somewhat from the beginning. Finally, a creamy texture to this cigar’s flavor profile also surfaced keeping the Skinny Mummy smooth.

The second third saw the cedar sweet-spice and classic wood notes remain the forefront. The cinnamon notes remained in the background and continued to diminish. Meanwhile the fruit notes still found their way into the forefront from time to time. During the early stages in the second third, a natural tobacco sweetness emerged. Just past the mid-way point of the Skinny Mummy, this sweetness joined the cedar and wood in the forefront. The creamy texture to this cigar still remained.

As the Skinny Mummy moved into the last third there was not much change, the natural tobacco notes and classic wood notes remained in the forefront. The fruit, cinnamon, and pepper notes remained in the more distant background. I also did get less of the creamy texture that was present earlier on. The resulting nub was cool in temperature and slightly soft to the touch.

Burn and Draw

The Tatuaje Skinny Mummy scored very nicely when it came to its burn. The burn path remained straight from start to finish. This was a cigar that was never in danger of tunneling or canoeing. There was a slight of unevenness on the actual burn line itself, but this didn’t warrant any additional touch-ups. The resulting ash was firm with a salt and pepper color. Both the burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.

The draw performed also performed very well. It was not too tight, nor was it too loose. This made the Skinny Mummy a low maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

I found the Skinny Mummy to be in the same ballpark in terms of strength and body as the other vitolas that have been produced in the Mummy blend.  From both a strength and body perspective, I assessed the Skinny Mummy to be medium to full. I didn’t find much variance in the intensity. I also found both the strength and body balanced each other nicely with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

Final Thoughts

As I said upfront, I consider the Mummy blend to be one of the better ones in the Monster Series collections. There was no disappointment here as the Skinny Mummy lived up to what I expected from this blend. I’ve had some mixed results with some of the other Skinny Monster releases, but again no such case with the Skinny Mummy. This is a cigar that fired on all cylinders delivering excellent flavor, a nice amount of complexity, and  great construction. The only concern longer term is aging potential as I have seen this blend in other sizes lose some of its flavor and complexity over time, so I recommend smoking sooner than later.

This is probably a cigar I’d recommend to a more experienced cigar enthusiast as opposed to a novice. As for myself, it’s a cigar I’d smoke again and it’s certainly a box worthy choice.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: High
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: 4.0-Box Worthy
Score: 92

References

News: Tatuaje Skinny Monsters Coming Soon
Price: $85.00 (Skinny Monsters Sampler)
Source: Purchased
Stogie Geeks Podcast: Episode 204
Stogie Feed: Tatuaje Skinny Mummy
Brand Reference: Tatuaje