Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Pete Johnson & Tatuaje Cigars Creates Mass Hysteria in Cigar World

To follow up on the success of last year’s wildly popular Monster Series, Pete Johnson, owner of Tatuaje Cigars had a tough chore ahead of him. His attempt was this year’s release, The Drac, a fang shaped torpedo (6.75 X 52) cigar, a Nicaraguan puro with a beautiful Habano Maduro wrapper.


Pete has been one of the marketing geniuses since he burst on the premium cigar scene 5 years ago. In October of 2008, he released a cigar called the Frank. It was a very limited run, with only 666 boxes of 13 made. The cigar was one of the most sought after cigars in a long time, so Pete decided to up the quantity for this year.

On Tuesday, October 13, 2009, Tatuaje announced which retailers would get large allotments of the coveted Drac, as well as the Boris (“The Frank out of costume”) which was a Frank cigar from 2008 with a different wrapper. The “Unlucky 13” retailers were announced, and chaos ensued.

Smoke Signals Tobacconist, located in Port Jefferson, NY was lucky, er should I say unlucky enough, to be chosen to receive 31 boxes. The list was put on www.tatuajecigars.com at 1:00 PM EST (13:00 hours…sensing a theme here?)

As a long time friend of Smoke Signals’ owner Scott Stanley, I was ready to man the phones. Within two hours, I had answered at least 100 calls regarding the Drac. Unfortunately for the people calling, Pete himself was to make an appearance at Smoke Signals on November 1st, so there would be no over the phone sales, and the boxes would be made available on the 1st, first come, first serve.

On Sunday, November 1st, there were people lined up outside Smoke Signals at 8:00 AM, for an event that didn’t start until Noon! All this to be able to buy a box of the Dracs!

And for all, the wait was well worth it. The Drac is an outstanding smoke, that is different from anything Tatuaje has released as of yet.

The packaging itself had people buzzing, with the fang shaped cigars coming in coffin shaped boxes of 13, complete with a wax seal and red lacquered inside. Inside random boxes of both the Boris and the Drac were 13 Spooky Tickets. The lucky recipients of these tickets were entered into a drawing to win a custom Ducati motorcycle.

The cigar, which featured a black and red Tatuaje band on the foot, had a pre smoke aroma of light leather and chocolate. The smoke was thick; however it lacked the amount of pepper you’re used to from a Tatuaje cigar.

People expecting a cigar that would knock them on their butts were disappointed, but for my liking, the cigar was a perfect blend of spice, pepper, and complexity. At different points in the cigar, I detected leather, pepper, citrus, and even an aroma resembling raisins.

About half way through the cigar, the strength creeps up on you, and you realize it’s definitely on the full side of medium to full strength.

Overall, the cigar was well worth the wait. It has an MSRP of $13, before any applicable state tobacco taxes. Smoke Signals retailed theirs for $16 each, which was right on track. I saw other retailers charging as much as $50 each for the cigars.

Once again, Pete Johnson has done it! He has an uncanny knack for creating buzz, and the products to match it. I can’t wait for Halloween 2010 and the next Monster Series release…I wonder what it will be?

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