Tatuaje Karloff

Boris Karloff aka Frankenstein (1887–1969)

So far, unlike other cigar lovers, I have my “lists” of cigars that I have in mind when it comes to either creating recommendations to consumers or personal enjoyment. I only rank my top five favorites of all time while all of my other lists aren’t ranked; it’s only set up like an encyclopedia. There’s even a list that I keep in mind of the cigars I’ve smoked that aren’t necessarily my favorites but since they were that exemplary, for various reasons, I decided to keep them with a fondness point of view, as if they’re worth mentioning. At times, these include cigars that already made an indelible impression of me years after I smoked it. Those were my sentiments toward the Tatuaje Karloff, created by the following tobacco wizards: Pete Johnson and Don Jose Pepin Garcia of My Father’s cigars.

The Tatuaje Karloff is described, per Halfwheel, as an “ early offshoot” of the famed Monster Series created by Pete Johnson back in 2008, which was a complimentary line of cigars known as the “Actor Series”, which honors those actors who played the other monsters that are represented by other cigars of the Monster Series. This Tatuaje Karloff is in fact named after the actor Boris Karloff, who was famous for his role as Frankenstein in the eponymous 1931 horror classic. That’s why Mr. Karloff’s face as Frankenstein is featured on that unforgettable box that compliments the appearance of the cigars themselves. This isn’t the first time that Pete Johnson creates a cigar that pays homage to Boris Karloff however, the blend itself is, in fact, a tweaked version of the infamous Tatuaje Boris, an earlier release from 2008, that Mr. Johnson describes the blend of the Karloff to be “tweaked a bit fuller than the original Boris”.

Tatuaje Karloff ( Photo Source: halfwheel.com)

• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Sumatra)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 5/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 49
• Vitola: Grand Corona
• MSRP: $14 (Box of 13, $182)
• Release Date: October 2020
• Number of Cigars Released: 4,000 Boxes of 13 Cigars (52,000 Total Cigars)

Based on the appearance of the cigar, it may look like a churchill from a distance until you inspect it closely; it’s only a “grand corona”, which is a unique size but one can only wonder why the wizard Pete invented those specific dimensions for this particular blend.

The cigar has a rustic appearance with considerable bumps so there’s rough texture while it retains a lot of firmness. Despite how it’s almost a year old cigar, no oils are exuded out of the wrapper. The band of the cigar is typical Tatuaje; it recalls certain Cuban brands that featured minimalist-looking designs from the period Pete Johnson takes considerable inspiration from. Other than that, I do admire how the cigar looks prior to light up. The cold draw only reveals two flavor notes, even though a closed foot is present: heavy chocolate and toast. As for the flavor of the closed foot, it was difficult to decide what it smelled like. After lighting up the cigar however, I knew that I was in for a ride.

The draw was a bit open for my taste. There’s one note that you must realize when it comes to closed foots on cigars if you haven’t tried a cigar with a closed foot: when the foot of the cigar remains that shut, you may properly light it but just because the cigar has a closed foot, it’s too early to make the call about whether or not the draw of the cigar is where you want it to be because there’s no air resistance present that travels through the cigar so it can compliment a burn that properly burns through. With that being said, the cigar felt like it burned a bit fast.

In spite of those initial concerns regarding the draw, right after I lit the cigar, I knew that I was in for a ride again after the first few puffs:

• I would classify the cigar as full in strength with a considerably full body. As a result, the cigar burns razor sharp with a tendency to appear a bit jagged but it somehow quickly corrects itself. In spite of the razor sharp burn line present throughout the cigar, the cigars burn a bit quickly so there were times where I had to check my pace. In the end, I did get rewarded.

• As for the flavors, it’s not quite the smooth cigar. It’s that complex that it may seem too overwhelming for newcomers who haven’t been that familiar with cigars that were solely tweaked for strength.
• Flavor notes are a summation of the soulful side of nature, which include heavy wood, oak, cloves, some sweet tobacco, some pepper, some baking spices and finally, a tiny touch of vanilla in its’ natural form. These flavor notes ultimately make the cigar approach luxury in terms of flavor quality. Personally, the flavors of the cigar evoke many fireplaces set up in certain homes in Esteli, Nicaragua.
• The smoke output was worthy of laudation: silky, voluminous and super white, it seemed that animated — even after retrohaling to the maximum.
• In summary, the cigar is also another two act play I came across randomly. I describe both sections of the cigar to be delicate and sweet during the first half while the second half is more soulful, savory and even somewhat earthy. Personally, I prefer the second half of the cigar best, while the sweetness still remained throughout the whole cigar.
• Yes, I smoked that cigar right down to the nub, as shown below.

• My final smoking time for the Tatuaje Karloff clocked in at an hour and 23 minutes; I attributed that duration to the somewhat loose draw. It’s not to say that other Karloffs that you’ll come across will contain the same draw; during my down-time, I do remember smoking two other Karloffs that lasted for around two hours, which seemed reasonable considering that this grand corona was heading towards churchill territory.

On the topic of that particular period of February 2021 as mentioned earlier, I will admit that this was the second time that I smoked that cigar because I remember that it made that impression on me when I accidentally dropped the cigar on the floor early some minutes after lighting it up because I let my excitement take over but suddenly, the fear turned into astonishment. Only one thing emerged in my mind while I picked up the cigar: “Damn man, why?”. I was afraid that the wrapper of the cigar got ruined until right after I picked up what I thought was a wounded Boris was now a cigar that was that powerful from a construction point of view. The wrapper has a crack in the form of a straight line but after taking a few more puffs, I noticed how the burn line still remained considerably razor-sharp. At that point, I knew that I came across a cigar that, by the sounds of it, seemed too good to be true until one actually experiences such a moment for themselves.

With that being said, I made sure that I had absolutely no butterfingers whatsoever. I still replayed that memory of the previously mentioned clumsiness with the cigar while I smoked the same Karloff. In the end, I came across such a legendary cigar that I still remember fondly for years to come.

On a personal final note, I want to give a shout-out to my boy Alex for gifting this cigar to me a while back. Thanks for the cigar, brother!

To this very day, it’s one of many fine achievements from the frequent partnership of cigar wizards Pete Johnson and the legendary Don Pepin Garcia of Cuba. Even though it’s not one of my personal favorites, I consider the Tatuaje Karloff to be one of the most legendary cigars ever concocted. Thus, it’s an honor to rate this Nicaraguan-made masterpiece with a rating of 93!