When Tatuaje – The Bride was released in 2018, it became the 13th blend released in the Monsters Series. At that time Pete Johnson pretty much had said 13 blends would be the limit. Of the 13 blends, 11 of the 13 had been released in the full-sized Monster format for Halloween. The two that had not been released in a full-size were the Chuck and Tiff blends. That would change in 2019 when Johnson would release both blends in the full size just in time for Halloween. Today, we take a look at one of those full-sized Monster Blends – Tatuaje The Tiff.

Tatuaje Monsters was created by Tatuaje founder Pete Johnson as a tribute to monster and horror movies. Each October (around Halloween) since 2008, a new character has been released. These have typically been longer cigars, but there have been several offshoots including Little Monsters (Shorter and thinner versions of the original Monsters), Pudgy Monsters (shorter version of the original Monsters), Skinny Monsters (Petite Lancero), Skinny Monsters Cazadores, and Skinny Monsters Lancero.

Some are classic horror film characters and others have been more contemporary characters. Chuck and Tiff were first released in 2014 as a part of the Pudgy Monsters Series. Chuck and Tiff were characters from the “Child’s Play” films. The Chuck and Tiff were designated as Monsters #11 and #12 respectively.

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. The Little Monsters, Pudgy Monsters, Skinny Monsters, Skinny Monsters Cazadores, and Skinny Monsters Lancero were released in samplers. The Skinny Monsters releases were also made available in individual 25-count boxes.

Character/Collection	Full Monsters (The +) -Annual	Little Monsters	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 (2020)	Chuck		Chuck	Chuck	Chuck	Chuck
Tiff (2020)	Tiff		Tiff	Tiff	Tiff	Tiff
Freddy Krueger (2016)	Krueger
Michael Myers (2017)	Michael
“The Bride” (2018)	Bride

 

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

Of the thirteen blends of the Tatuaje Monsters Series and its offshoots, the Tiff blend is the only one to use an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper. The remainder of the blend consists of all Nicaraguan characters.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country Of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: My Father Cigars SA

Vitolas Offered

There are five sizes that have been done for the Tiff blend. In regards to Tatuaje – The Tiff was available in 13-count dress boxes or 10-count non-dress (cedar boxes).

The Tiff: 5 7/8 x 52
Pudgy Tiff: 4 x 50
Skinny Tiff: 6 x 38
Skinny Tiff Cazadores: 6 3/8 x 43
Skinny Tiff Lancero: 7 1/2 x 38

The dress boxes to the Chuck and Tiff are designed to interlock together.

Appearance

The Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper of The Tiff had a light brown color. The wrapper itself had a slightly weathered look to it. There also was a light coat of oil on it. There were some visible veins and some visible wrapper seams. The surface of the wrapper was slightly bumpy.

The band of The Bride is similar in design to the other bands in the Tatuaje Monsters Series. The band has an off-white background with black font that features the text “Tatuaje” in cursive font. The left side of the band features the text “HALLOWEEN” while the right side features “MONSTER.” There is one black pinstripe above the text and one below the text.  There is a black Tatuaje “tattoo” logo on the far of the band.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

Prior to lighting up Tatuaje – The Tiff, a straight cut was used to commence the cigar experience. Once the cap of The Tiff was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw experience. The dry draw delivered notes of cedar, cream, and a slight berry note. This was a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to light up The Tiff and see what the smoking experience would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The start of The Tiff kicked off with a mix of cream, cedar, classic wood, and citrus. As the cigar experience progressed through the first third the cream notes took a slight edge with the other notes becoming secondary notes. Meanwhile, there was an additional layer of cedar on the retro-hale.

At the start of the second third, the cream notes were still primary, but it was during this stage they started to decrease. Meanwhile, there was an increase in the wood and cedar notes. Simultaneously some white pepper notes also surfaced in the background. Shortly before the midway point, the wood and cedar notes displaced the cream notes as the primary note. There was still some citrus in the background and at times it exhibited an acidic quality. Toward the end of the second third, the cream notes dissipated.

The final third did not see much change. The wood and cedar notes remained primary. These notes were rounded out by the white pepper and citrus in the background. This is the way The Tiff came to a close. The resulting nub was slightly soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

While there was a slight amount of curvature on the burn line, The Tiff maintained a straight burn path from start to finish. The resulting ash was on the firm side. This was an ash that was on the firmer side. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both were ideal.

Draw

The draw of The Tiff performed very well. This was a draw that struck a nice balance of openness and resistance. In the end, this was a cigar that was low maintenance to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

The Tiff is a cigar that started out mild to medium in strength. By the last third, the strength level progressed into medium territory. The body of The Tiff started out medium and increased in intensity. By the end of the smoking experience, the body remained in the medium range.

In terms of strength versus body, the body maintained a slight edge throughout the smoking experience.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT