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 used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or 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 Jekyll. This is a cigar blend previously assessed in several sizes most recently back in September 2016 in the Skinny Monsters format.
Wrapper: Sancti Spiritus (Ecuador)
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: My Father Cigars SA
Monster Mash Jason: 5 1/2 x 49
Late in 2013, Pete Johnson was ready to announce the seventh installment of the Tatuaje Monster Series. At the time he announced it, he actually announced the seventh and eighth installments of the series – namely Jekyll and Hyde. Jekyll was released in 2014, followed by Hyde in 2015. If you aren’t familiar with Tatuaje’s Monster Series, it is an annual series that pays homage to horror film characters with unique blends. Typically Tatuaje has released each installment just before Halloween. Over the years, Tatuaje has also released many offshoot samplers of the series, each containing a different theme. For the past few months, we have been going through one of the samples, the Monster Mash. The Monster Mash contains one of the 13 blends in the Tatuaje Monsters Series (plus an additional unreleased blend known as The Creature). 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 take a closer look at the Tatuaje Monster Mash Jekyll.
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 Jekyll uses the same tobacco components as the original Tatuaje Jekyll blend. When the original full-sized Tatuaje Jekyll was released, it was the first Tatuaje cigar to utilize the Sancti Spiritus wrapper – a wrapper made popular by Tatuaje’s sister company L’Atelier Imports. Sancti Spiritus is grown in Ecuador. The wrapper is a hybrid of Criollo and Pelo de Oro and was originally designed to be a replacement seed for Pelo de Oro. The wrapper is also designed to have a strong resistance to mold. The remainder of the blend utilizes Nicaraguan tobaccos.
With the Monster Mash cigars being 1 1/2 inches shorter than the original Monsters releases, the Monster Mash Jekyll measures 5 1/2 x 49. Jekyll and Hyde are the only two Monsters to have featured a 109 cap. This is a tapered cap instead of converging to a tip, it has a flat “bullet” cap. The Monster Mash versions of Jekyll and Hyde include this cap.
The Monster Mash Jekyll opened up with notes of cedar, natural tobacco, black pepper, and black cherry. Early on the natural tobacco and black cherry notes were primary. Meanwhile, the black pepper was prominent on the retro-hale. During the second third, some classic wood notes mixed in with the cedar and natural tobacco notes in the forefront. Meanwhile, the black cherry notes transitioned to more of an astringent citrus note. As the Jekyll moved into the final third, the astringent citrus and pepper notes while not primary, increased in intensity. The cigar closed with a soft, cool nub.
The flavors delivered were medium strength and medium-bodied from start to finish. There wasn’t much variance in the intensity and both the strength and body balanced each other nicely. The draw had a touch of resistance – making it ideal. The burn required frequent touch-ups to maintain a straight burn path and straight burn line.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
Final Thoughts
My experiences with the Jekyll blend have always been enjoyable. In fact, the original Jekyll blend landed on the 2014 Cigar of the Year Countdown at #18. Unfortunately, the Monster Mash Jekyll was not as enjoyable as the other sizes. The cigar started out great in the first third, then spiraled downward until the end. In the end, this is a cigar I’d recommend trying first to see if you like it.
Summary
Key Flavors: Cedar, Wood, Natural Tobacco, Black Cherry, Black Pepper
Burn: Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Very Good
Rating
Value: Try a Sample
Score: 87
References
Previous Review: Tatuaje Skinny Jekyll
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 Jekyll)
Source: Purchased
Brand Reference: Tatuaje
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
