Initial Thoughts
Part 1 of the October Review Series
In each Little Monsters set, there is a playing card included. In my set, I got the ‘Frank Jr.’ card. So I decided to review that cigar first. Now the Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr is based on the original release ‘The Frank’ from 2008. I believe it was the first in the entire monster series. Let’s get into the review, and see what this monster series is all about.
Looks
As soon as I take the Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr out of the cellophane wrapper, the oil begins to shine. The wrapper is fairly dark, not quite an oscuro, but I would call it a Colorado Maduro. It’s very dark brown and oozing with oil. When I put it under just the right light, I can see crystals sparkling on the wrapper.
There’s not a lot of flash to the band on this cigar. It’s a simple green paper label. It says Tatuaje on the front, Little Monsters on the side, and has Pete Johnson’s logo on the other side. It’s fairly plain, and straightforward. The original Frank had the exact same band but was in a coffin cigar box instead. I love the theme surrounding this entire set, it’s very original and pretty damn cool.
Looking at the head of the Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr, I notice a near-perfect triple cap. The edges are extremely defined and look incredible. There was one small part of the head, that had a gap in the cap. I wasn’t too worried about it, but it does take away from the perfect construction. The rest of the cigar looks flawless. Very minimal veins up and down the wrapper, and slightly toothy as well.
Function
Now that I’m done admiring the Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr. It’s time to see if this little monster can scare anyone… Ok, I don’t want to be scared, in fact, I hate scary movies. I gave this cigar the pinch test to make sure no soft spots had developed in the aging of this cigar. I’ve had them for close to 3 months, and I figured they were fine, and this one is no exception.
This stick is a little on the smaller side, the vitola is a Corona standing at 5 5/8″ x 44 rg. I was a little hesitant to use my V-cutter, but it actually worked better than on bigger ring gauges. Who’dathunkit??? So there’s a great piece of advice for you. Use a V cut on smaller ring gauges and see how you like it.
The cold draw on the Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr is perfect. Just a bit of resistance, but still plenty of air is able to be pulled through the barrel. I make sure to give it a good 4-10 pre-light puffs to make sure it’s ready for the flame. Let’s put some fire to Frank Jr. and see how he reacts.
Smoking
I’ve been experimenting when lighting the foot of my cigars recently. Sometimes, I toast the foot with my Stratosphere lighter to help try and get a nice even burn to go. For this cigar though, I decided to just hold the flame close and puff and rotate. You’ll hear some of the traditionalists say, never to touch the flame to the cigar because it can affect the flavor. Well if you hold it away from the flame and suck in the air doesn’t the flame touch the cigar then? … Yeah, that’s my logic behind it. Anyway, it’s gonna take me a few minutes to climb down off that soapbox because I’m afraid of heights…
Ok, I’m back now. This Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr, is just such a pleasure to smoke. I had been wanting to tear into these Little Monsters so badly. I think the anticipation of that, plus the great construction led this to be a great smoke.
The first third was a dream, full of creamy, thick white, smoke that just swirled around me. I had to smoke in the garage tonight because it’s starting to turn cold, and it’s been raining all week. Hence, why do you see the concrete floor and then the aggregate driveway in all the pics? I know they aren’t as pretty as the flowers off of the deck. You’ll just have to deal with it. I have :).
A great thing about being in the garage is that I didn’t have to battle with the wind. I got to really enjoy the aroma of the smoke that came from the cigar. Often it’s whisked away before I can even smell it.
The rest of the Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr smoked very well, although I had a few minor hiccups. During the 2nd third, the wrapper started going a little sideways on me. So I had to touch it up, and after that it straightened up and burned right. During the final third, the cigar appeared as if it just went out. I’m not exactly sure why, but it did require a re-light. Once that was fixed, it burned like a dream the rest of the way down. I even held an ash that was almost 2 inches.
Great construction, great draw, all led to a great smoke!
Flavor
The most anticipated part of the review right? How does the Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr taste? When nosing the cigar on the pre-light, I could pick up some slight pepper on the wrapper. When I moved down and began nosing the foot, I picked up a lot of chocolatey deliciousness. To me, it smelled like Hershey’s chocolate syrup. I instantly wanted some chocolate milk, but I restrained myself to my red solo cup of water.
Yes, I drink out of red solo cups all the time because I’m too likely to break a glass. My fiance thinks it’s weird too, don’t judge though… And yes I do put them in the dishwasher and re-use them. Just a little bit of insight into my life there!
Anyway, back on the cigar train. Once I lit up the Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr, I instantly picked up some spice. More than your typical black pepper. To me it was more of a red pepper, not overpowering, but it definitely lingered around on my lips and made them sizzle a bit.
This cigar stayed fairly consistent all the way through. It mellowed out about halfway through and just became smooth and creamy. I could still pick up hints of the sweet chocolate, but they always finished with a nice bit of pepper. This cigar was medium-bodied and full of great flavor. Not one flavor overpowering any other, I feel like this cigar really hit its stride in the final third. Everything came together very well-balanced and very smooth.
Would I Buy It Again?
If this cigar is any indicator of how the series will smoke then, yes I would buy another set!
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
I think this could be if you could find them. That’s the problem with a novelty cigar, they are rare and usually expensive.
Would I Buy a Box?
Well, I guess I kind of did. A box of all Frank Jr.? Sure, I loved it, it’s a great cigar and I could see myself smoking these all the time.
Conclusion
For the first cigar out of the gate on this series, it sure has set the bar high. The Tatuaje Little Monsters Frank Jr, is a great medium-bodied cigar that delivers a great smoke. The flavor profile is smooth and sweet, most will notice the slight spice on the backend, and others will pick up the sweet flavors on the front end. Near flawless construction led to an incredible smoking experience. Overall this is a great cigar, I hope the rest of the set lives up to this standard.
