Tatuaje Monster Mash Series Review: Bride

Originally released as a 7 ⅛ x 49 Churchill in September 2018, the Bride follows Frank, Wolf, Drac, Face, Mummy, Jason, Jekyll, Hyde, Kreuger, Michael, Chuck, and Tiff as the 13th and final Monster. It is fitting that the series began with Frankenstein and ended with the Bride of Frankenstein. As with the other releases in the series, the Bride had 666 Dress Boxes of 13 cigars. There were an additional 4,500 10 count boxes produced. The Bride is my favorite full sized Monster release, granted I have not smoked all of the originals. 

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.

Wrapper: U.S.A Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua

Vitola: 5 ⅝ x 49 Short Toro

Release Date: September 2021

Company Website: https://www.tatuajecigars.com/

Expectations 

Based on my experiences with the full sized Bride I look for a lot of classic broadleaf earth, pepper, and leather, but with some elegance and nuance. There will likely be a bit of mustiness to the leather and a raisin or dark cherry type sweetness to the earth. I am looking for full body and flavor with medium to medium-full strength. I really enjoy the full size Bride, but this shorter vitola better suits my preferences, so I am anxious for this. 

Prelight Characteristics

I really like the white and green color combo of the band design. The wrapper has the broadleaf rustic look and feel but definitely in a lighter shade. The cigar is slightly spongy but feels quite heavy. It smells like earth and dried cherries or cranberries. The cold draw is a bit strange. I could maybe see some leather but then there’s some cream and an odd berry like sweetness. 

First Third 

First light brings full bodied, gritty smoke with medium-full flavors of dark chocolate, earth, baking spices and wood. There’s a bit of pepper flavor without any spice. The retrohale has a lot of wood and a bit of a dark sweetness up front with some pepper on the back end. About a half inch in there is a sugary sweetness coming in, making the dark chocolate more of a milk chocolate. There’s a bit of creaminess coming in about halfway into the first third. Coming to the end of the first third there’s a bit of a tanginess to the cream. The performance has been flawless thus far.

Flavor - 3.25/4

Performance - 3/3

Experience - 2.5/3

Overall - 8.75/10

Second Third

The second third rolls along like the first third ended for a half inch or so before some pepper and a touch of citrus join in on the draw. The retrohale has almost a root beer like vanilla and spice. Crossing halfway, some of that grittiness from the first light is reappearing. The earth is picking up a bit of mustiness now like I remember from the full sized Bride, however I am not getting the leather I anticipated. Coming to an end of this third the only real change is a bit of a dark coffee bitterness coming in on the finish. The performance has still been great. 

Flavor - 3.25/4

Performance - 3/3

Experience - 2.5/3

Overall - 8.75/10

Final Third

Very quickly the flavor comes up to full with some more pepper and a bit of wood. Hitting the band the cigar is rolling along with some musty earth, pepper, and wood. There’s still a bit of bitter dark coffee adding a nice note to the finish. Nearing the end there’s a dark fruit sweetness coming in with the pepper and earth. The cigar comes to an end with much of the same flavors. The performance remained flawless to the last puff. 

Flavor - 3/4

Performance - 3/3

Experience - 2/3

Overall - 8/10

Overall Experience

I love the Bride blend. Pete always does fantastic work with broadleaf, and this is no exception. What I enjoy about this blend is that there are a lot of classic broadleaf flavors, but I feel that this Rosado wrapper tones down the bolder earth and pepper notes and provides some more creaminess, along with just enough mustiness to add a unique quality to the profile. I think I like this vitola more than the full sized Bride as well because, even though it was an inch and a half shorter, it still burned for 2 hours and 2 minutes. I feel like I got the full sized Bride flavor experience, and burn time, with a vitola that was a bit more comfortable for me. I also have to mention the fantastic performance throughout the entire cigar. 

Final Score - 8.5/10

This Monster Mash box was purchased by me through UpDown Cigar in Chicago. Feel free to reach out to me with questions, concerns, criticisms, or just to talk at @guitarsandcigarsfarm on Instagram, or via email at trevor@whiskeyandwhitetails.com.


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