Tatuaje Monster Series #11 The Chuck

By Tony Casas | January 27, 2020

I know I did these two a bit out of order, but I was craving that lighter bodied wrapper last week, but this week I want something with a bit more oomph to it so I find myself out back with a Tatuaje Chuck and a bottle of Founder’s KBS Espresso.

The Good Stuff:

It’s everyone’s favorite Halloween cigar time! Every year Pete Johnson of Tatuaje releases a new Monster cigar which celebrates… well… monsters. Monsters from the past, and from iconic movies:

• 2008 – The Frank
• 2009 – The Drac
• 2010 – The Face
• 2011 – The Wolfman
• 2012 – The Mummy
• 2013 – The JV13
• 2014 – The Jekyll
• 2015 – The Hyde
• 2016 – Krueger
• 2017 – The Michael
• 2018 – The Bride
• 2019 – Chuck and Tiff

Last week I took a look at the Tiff, while this week I take a run at Tiff’s love, the Chuck. Just like the Tiff, the Chuck is rolled at the My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Nicaragua. The blend differs from the Tiff by featuring an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, but features a Nicaraguan binder and fillers. As with most of the Tatuaje Monster Series cigars there are two packaging options, a 13 count dress box which was limited to only 700 boxes, or a 10 count standard box which was limited to 2,190 boxes. Each option goes for $13 a stick. I purchased mine over from our friends at Neptune Cigars.

• Size: 5 7/8 x 52
• Wrapper: Ecuadoria Habano
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Medium/Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $13
• Pairing: Founders KBS Espresso (Imperial Stout 12% ABV)

Prelight:

The Tatuaje Chuck starts out with a beautifully consistent, dark brown wrapper that resembles a Hershey’s bar. The wrapper features a copious amount of oils and some very minor veining and webbing leading up to the cigar’s round, double-wrapped cap. The wrapper itself feels very dense and hard while the cigar as a whole is very heavy and tightly packed with no soft spots whatsoever. The cigar is polished off with the standard, beautiful Tatuaje band in blue and white with the words “Halloween” and “Monster” printed in red on the sides.

The wrapper on the Tatuaje Chuck gives off soft oak and chocolate aromas while the foot of the cigar carries a bit of pepper, spice, and dirt. The cap cup clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw on the Tatuaje Chuck produces bold oak and spice flavors with underlying earthy notes.

First Third:

The Tatauje Chuck starts out with a tiny little bit of black pepper which only last the first puff or two before releasing a ton of bold oak, dark chocolate, coffee, spice, and musk. The draw is perfect as each little puff kicks out massive clouds of thick, gray smoke which hangs out for a very long amount of time before dissipating while the cigar gives off only very minor stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving what I thought was a trail of tightly compacted white ash until it fell in my lap about a quart of an inch in, so excuse the following picture.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Tatuaje Chuck and the dark chocolate flavor is now dominating the flavor field backed by notes of coffee, musk, and oak. The retrohale really helps bring the oak out making the chocolate/oak combination incredible.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Tatuaje Chuck and the flavors mimic what I picked up in the second. The cigar still leans heavily on dark chocolate with backing notes of coffee, spice, musk and oak. It took me almost two hours to smoke this cigar down to the nub and I experienced no harshness nor extended heat. The cigar did tend to produce some sap which just reminded me to pace myself and not to smoke too quickly. Slowing down minimized the impact. I close out the cigar with only a very light nicotine kick.

Overview:

The Tatuaje Chuck isn’t the most complex cigar, nor did it need to be for me to enjoy it. The chocolate-led flavor profile was great and really hit the spot for me. The construction was flawless, and the price is average to what I’d expect to pay for this experience. While I did enjoy this stick, its not something that would find its way into my regular rotation but something I do see myself coming back to from time to time.

Pairing:

By now, everyone should be well aquatinted with Fonder’s Pride and Joy, KBS. KBS is a 12% imperial stout brewed with chocolate and coffee and aged in bourbon barrels. New to the line, the espresso version is the same beer which then ages on espresso beans after its pulled from the barrels. The Espresso KBS leads with what tastes more like a mild, smooth, roast cold brewed coffee flavors than espresso, chocolate, and malt with a heavy mouthfeel before finishing with more light coffee and chocolate. Like the cigar, its not the most complex beer, and you can’t even taste the bourbon barrel anymore, but it makes for a hell of a pairing with cigars like the Chuck that have chocolate and coffee notes in their experience.