Agile Cigar Reviews are cigar assessments where we use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only primarily used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or in some cases giving a score for the first time. It might be a blend we are looking at in a different size. Today we look at the Tatuaje Monster Mash Face. This is a cigar blend previously assessed in several sizes, most recently back in October 2016 in the Skinny Monsters format.

Wrapper: Mexican
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
Monster Mash Face: 4 7/8 x 56

The Tatuaje Monster Mash Face is a cigar that is founded in Tatuaje’s Mash Sampler. The foundation of the Monsters Series is that each year from 2008 to 2018 (around Halloween), Tatuaje would release a cigar blend that paid homage to a classic or contemporary horror film character.  In addition to the annual Halloween releases, there have been various samplers released containing different sizes of the various Monsters blends. In the case of the Monster Mash, this would be the seventh sampler released. The Monster Mash cigars would be the same ring gauge as the Halloween released “monster,” but each Monster Mash cigar was 1 1/2 inches shorter than the Halloween release. Today we look at the Tatuaje Monster Mash Face.

The Tatuaje Monster Mash Face is based on the Leather Face character from the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This was the third Monster release. The first two installments were based on classic horror film characters of Frankenstein and Count Dracula. This was the first Monster blend based on a more contemporary character.

 

The chart below shows the complete history of the Tatuaje Monsters series and what is offered in one sampler. Note the Tatuaje Monster Mash includes a new “monster” known as “The Creature.” It does not have a corresponding Halloween character and at press time is exclusive to the Monster Mash series.

Character/Collection	Full Monsters (The +) -Annual	Little Monsters	Pudgy Monsters	Skinny Monsters	Skinny Monsters Cazadores	Skinny Monsters Lancero	MBS	Monster Mash
Frankenstein (2008)	Frank (*)	Frank Jr.	Frank	Frank	Frank	Frank		Frank
Dracula (2009)	Drac	Lil’ Drac	Drac	Drac	Drac	Drac		Drac
Leather Face (2010)	Face	Baby Face	Face	Face	Face	Face		Face
The Wolfman (2011)	Wolfman	Wolfie	Wolf	Wolf	Wolf	Wolf		Wolf
The Mummy (2012)	Mummy	Mini Mum	Mummy	Mummy	Mummy	Mummy		Mummy
Jason Voorhees (2013)	JV13		Jason	Jason	Jason	Jason		Jason
Dr. Jekyll (2014)	Jekyll			Jekyll	Jekyll	Jekyll		Jekyll
Mr. Hyde (2015)	Hyde			Hyde	Hyde	Hyde		Hyde
Freddy Krueger (2016)	Krueger						FK	Krueger
Chuck (2019)	Chuck		Chuck	Chuck	Chuck	Chuck		Chuck
Tiff (2019)	Tiff		Tiff	Tiff	Tiff	Tiff		Tiff
Michael Myers (2017)	Michael							Michael
“The Bride” (2018)	Bride							Bride
“The Creature (from the Black Lagoon)”  (2021)								Creature

• Re-released as Redux in 2021

The Monster Mash Face uses the same tobacco components as the original Tatuaje The Face blend. This consists of a Mexican wrapper over all-Nicaraguan fillers. Like the original Drac, the Monster Mash Frank is a belicoso, but it is shorter at 4 7/8 x 56. When it was released, there was no band. Instead, there was a cutout piece of tobacco used in place of the band that paid homage to the Leatherface character. When the Skinny Face collections were introduced, these were the first Face cigars that had a band. The Monster Mash Face uses that same brown and cream-colored Tatuaje band as the Skinny Face collections. The cigar maintains the fuma-style cap that basically looks like a covered nipple.

Notes of black and red pepper, earth, coffee, lemon rind, and baker’s spice kicked off the smoking experience of the Tatuaje Monster Mash Face. The coffee notes became primary, and there were notes of pepper and cedar on the retro-hale. The cedar notes emerged on the tongue in the second third joining the pepper, earth, lemon-rind, and baker’s spice. Toward the final third the pepper and cedar increased and joined the coffee in the forefront. The cigar now exhibited some of the pungent qualities associated with Mexican wrapper. There still were touches of earth and baker’s spice, but the lemon rind subsided.

The Tatuaje Monster Mash Face delivered medium to full-bodied flavors countered with medium to full strength. Along the way, there was a nominal increase in the intensity of both the strength and body. The body had a slight edge over the strength. When it came to burn, this was a low-maintenance one. As for the draw, the Monster Mash Face had a touch of resistance to it – which is a positive.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

If you have been following our assessments of the Face brand, you might be surprised to see this come in at an 89. This is due to two reasons. First is the fact that we tightened up our scoring to combat “score-flation” going on with cigar reviews. Second, one size has to rank at the bottom and I found that after the first two-thirds, there was an increase in pungency that lost some points for this cigar. In the end, if this cigar was sold as a single, it would be a “buy one” recommendation, but because this comes only in a $150.00 sampler, it’s still a “Try a Sample” for me.

Summary

Key Flavors: Coffee, Cedar, Lemon-Rind, Pepper, Baker’s Spice
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium to High
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Very Good

Rating

Value: Try a Sample
Score: 89

References

Previous Review: Tatuaje Skinny Face
News: Tatuaje Monster Mash Introduced at 2021 PCA
Price: $150.00 for a sampler that includes 14 different Monster Mash cigars (which includes one Monster Mash Face)
Source: Purchased
Brand Reference: Tatuaje

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop