Only create a single tag per screen to begin with

awesome/.config/awesome/rc.lua

@@ -132,9 +132,17 @@ end
 -- {{{ Tags
 -- Define a tag table which hold all screen tags.
 tags = {}
-for s = 1, screen.count() do
+tags[1] = awful.tag({"Emacs"}, 1, awful.layout.suit.tile)
-    -- Each screen has its own tag table.
+
-    tags[s] = awful.tag({ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 }, s, layouts[1])
+if screen.count() > 1 then
+   tags[2] = awful.tag({"Web"}, 2, awful.layout.suit.max)
+
+   if screen.count() > 2 then
+      for s = 3, screen.count() do
+         -- Each screen has its own tag table.
+         tags[s] = awful.tag({ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 }, s, layouts[1])
+      end
+   end
 end
 -- }}}