Welcome to Cigar Keep.
Trade Cigars. Smoking Room. Articles & Content.
This site displays content related to tobacco.
Welcome to Cigar Keep.
Trade Cigars. Smoking Room. Articles & Content.
This site displays content related to tobacco.
Another day and another cigar down by the River Thames in what can only be described as a truly OG vitola. The #montecristo No.2 is often the first cigar many #aficionados start their cigar journey with - which is certainly true for me. In fact I still have 2 MC No.2 that I purchased in Havana back in 2009 still in my humidor waiting for just the right occasion… the cigar I am smoking today is a 5 year old version and one of 8 still left from a cabinet. Like most No.2 the draw is perfect with a lovely smooth wrapper and solid burn. The flavour is beautifully earthy that is about as smooth as a cigar can possibly be. It’s no wonder this cigar is the choice for many first timers. It’s probably an inch too long to be an everyday cigar for me but I can’t ever imagine not having a handful of MC No.2 in my humidor ready to smoke 🙌
Five years of age. I anticipate goodness.
Beautiful chocolate-brown wrapper, perfect pre-light draw, with flavours of dark earth and leather. Here we go . . .
Very, very smooth! Dark earth and leather. About a quarter of the way in a very strong and distinct clove flavour developed. Very present, no imagination needed to taste it. Wow!
This lasted for five or six puffs, after which it gave way to pepper. Still incredibly smooth. Some exotic spice notes developing in the second third. This is delicious.
Strong black pepper developing toward the end of the second third.
Toward the end the flavours drifted away, but it never became harsh. Good smoke production and great draw. Out of 100: 97!
461. Montecristo No. 2 Vintage 2010
2020-04-01/ ANDREDIAS95
Gifted by a friend.
Location: This review was made indoors in Mellgrens Fine Tobacco’s cigar lounge.
Information:
Wrapper: Cuba
Binder: Cuba
Filler: Cuba
Size: 6.1×52, Pyramid (Piramides).
Wrapper: Redish milk chocolate, oily and smooth with tiny veins.
Construction: Firm even feel when lightly squeezed.
Cold draw: Sandalwood.
1st third: Starts with a note of toasted chestnuts, earthy coffee notes and sandalwood.
2nd third: Keeps the previous flavours with a added note of cacao.
Burn: Burns fairly sharp with a firm and stable whiteish ash.
Smoke: Medium voluminous smoke with a cool feeling on the tongue and a light draw.
3rd third: Keeps the same from part 2.
Duration: 21:50-22:50, 1h.
Conclusion: A medium bodied cigar with a medium strength profile.
Result: In my book this is an 90 point cigar.
/Cigar Reviewer André
Yes! A five star review. The fact is that the Monte No. 2 is the mother of the modern cigar. It’s shape is reminiscent of how cigars looked in black and white films and it’s aromas and flavours are what every decent cigar should purport to replicate. Not that I mean all cigars should taste like this one but that when you smoke it you are reminded that a cigar can do everything right: taste strong and evolve as you smoke it, have a great start, middle and end - have a beautifully rolled wrapper with great colouring and come in a lovely box and frankly just look cool. It’s why I smoke cigars!
It’s woody for sure, but distinguished as you smoke through it and I am always pinching the last few strands in my burning fingers at the very end. It’s also a strong smoke, so ideal after the dreaded ‘heavy meal’ but I smoked one on the rocks in Cornwall over the summer before lunch and all the children crabbing and rolling waves and happy red faces of public school boys trying to get lucky paled into insignificance as I was transported by the Montecristo into my own happy world. It was the cigar my rich great uncle drew out of his huge humidor, clipped and lit at the end of dinners and it still retains that title to this day (sadly the great uncle has departed for the great humidor in the sky).
What’s wrong with it? Like a great film like Casablanca or The Godfather, it’s so much in the popular lexicon that it has become a parody of itself. A sort of a pastiche of what a cigar ought to be. Those who know would never been seen dead with one. It’s also not the most amazing flavour profile in history - but I would put it this way. Smoking one, which I do not do enough, is like spending your life in a Tesla only to drive for a short while a good old fashioned petrol Range Rover from the mid 2000s. They were good days! I recommend that you don’t be a snob and add some to your collection.
Bigdog
Love the Monty 2, if you could only smoke one cigar for the rest of your life, the Monty 2 would be my pick, ticks so many boxes, defo the OG of the Cuban portfolio
4 months ago