Tag Archives: Montecristo

by | July 1, 2020 · 9:34 pm

Best Cigar Prices Grand Exhibition Cigar Line

After my recent visit to the Best Cigar Prices shop up in Drums, PA, Jason there sent me a few of their latest exclusive Altadis series, the Grand Exhibition line. I figured I’d give them a smoke this week and see how they were. Here’s what he wrote about them on the BCP site:

 

Cigars have been showcased at World’s Fair Exhibitions dating back to the 1800s. Commonly featured in the agricultural exhibits of various nations, these displays often gave the public their first look at real tobacco leaves, demonstrated the care and expertise involved in crafting fine cigars, and were even judged and awarded medals based on quality and workmanship. Indeed, the same passion and pride of cigar making that we know today was in full force at these international conventions held hundreds of years ago.

Paying tribute to the historic presence of cigars at the World’s Fair, The Grand Exhibition cigar line presents three opulent Nicaraguan blends from a trio of the most well known and respected brands in the world – all of which were once celebrated at World’s Fairs. The celebration now continues in your humidor with the introduction of the world-class flavor of Grand Exhibition cigars.

 

I decided to start with the H. Upmann Grand Exhibition Toro. As a general rule, the regular Altadis H. Upmann line is not a flavor profile which aligns well with my own preferences. This is made in Nicaragua, and is listed as a Connecticut wrapper, which is very dark for a Connecticut shade leaf. It’s certainly Connecticut shade and not broadleaf as it has a very clean appearance, and tastes nothing like broadleaf. The Toro is 6” x 50, and was well made, with a free draw and perfect burn. It had the classic H. Upmann flavors of the Upmanns I remember from years ago when I smoked the brand. There was a slightly sour, leatheriness that some folks love, but isn’t among my favorites. It wasn’t totally off putting, and the smoking experience overall made up for the flavors not being totally up my alley. For a cigar in the $6-7 price range, it’s a good buy if you’re an H. Upmann Fan. Anymore, the only Upmann I really enjoy is the newer H. Upmann by A.J. Fernandez.

 

Next up I smoked the Romeo y Julieta Grand Exhibition Magnum. This is the 6” x 60 Gordo in the line. These are also made in Nicaragua with a Habano wrapper, and are priced in the $7-$8 range. I haven’t smoked Romeo y Julietas in a while, save for the infrequent RoMEo, so nothing really to compare this to. Again, the construction was perfect. I’m one of the odd ones who doesn’t mind a cigar of this size, and it performed very well. It was very flavorful, rich, creamy smoke with nice tobacco flavors. It has some of the spice and sweetness I like and was enjoyable to the end. I was quite pleased with the RyJ.

 

Tonight I smoked the Montecristo Grand Exhibition, which is the premier offering in the Grand Exhibition line, carrying the highest price tag. They are in the $9-$10 range. The Montecristo also has a Habano wrapper, and is made in Nicaragua. Again, excellent construction, perfect burn and draw, an absolute pleasure to smoke. I smoked the 6″ x 52 toro, and I love toros. I have a feeling that Jason at BCP knew my Toro preference when he chose the cigars to send. It should be noted that all of these are available in Robusto and Churchill as well as the Toro, with the Upmann and Romeo lines having a 6″ x 60 Magnum and the Montecristo substituting a No. 2 Torpedo. The Montecristo had a really nice, well balanced flavor. I nice spice, some sweetness, and on the stronger side of medium. It was certainly my favorite of the three, although all were very good. I followed it up later with an Espada with a few years age on it with was also very nice, and compared favorably. 

 

Thank you to Jason for sharing these fine cigars with me! If you find yourself in Drums, PA, which is near Wilkes Barre, you need to stop in to Best Cigar Pub for a bite and a cigar. It’s a great place and they have a great selection of cigars. That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig 

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by | January 26, 2020 · 10:39 am

A Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask and a Montecristo Ciudad de Musica Cigar

I feel like a put out a load of posts this week leading up to the TPE. There was plenty of other news, but I’ve made a pledge to myself to keep things positive, and not report anything negative or divisive! I’m going to advocate unity from here on out and try to keep my cynical, sarcastic (I had a superior call me that once, then he gave me an award!) comments to myself. Sure, I have my opinions on things, and I have recently voiced my opinions on things and stand by them, but from here on out I’m taking the “can’t we all just get along” stance. I have to back-burner some other website ideas I had, but I’d have register them anonymously anyway 😁.  Anyway, I smoked a few other cigars this week, I want to write an in-depth post about one, but I’m waiting for more information. I revisited the Diesel Whiskey Row Cherry Cask, this time in the Toro size. I’m not sure if I’ve written about this in this size, I know I’ve really enjoyed the robusto, and, being a bit of a Toro fan, I wanted to try it in that size. I bought a few last week, and didn’t get around to smoking them, but found myself meeting a friend in the cigar shop again and felt like that’s what I wanted to smoke, so I grabbed a couple more. I’m not sure why I can’t just buy one cigar. Anyway, I seem to think I smoked the Toro a while ago and liked the Robusto better, but this time I really did enjoy the Toro. In this cigar, and I don’t know whether it has to do with the color of the band, or the cask aging, but it’s like smoking a raspberry chocolate cake to me. I love the sweet, dessert flavor I get from the cigar. I suppose I’ll have to give the 6″ x 60 a try, but I wonder if that might dilute the flavors I like. I won’t know until I try, I suppose. These are priced well in the $7-9 range, and have a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Brazilian binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Without the cask aging, there’s a lot to like in this blend.

 

The other cigar I want to talk about was a gift from my Secret Santa Adam. This is a cigar I probably wouldn’t have chosen to sample on my own, as it only really has one thing appealing to me. Honestly, there aren’t a great many Montecristos that I really like, there’s the White Vintage Connecticut, and the Espada, and Probably the AJ Fernandez. The Montecristo Ciudad de Musica is a collaboration between Crowned Heads and Montecristo, made at E.P. Carrillo‘s Tabacalera Allianza in the Dominican Republic. I’ve always approached Crowned Heads with some ambivalence, bordering on apathy. They always had a “we’re the little guy, we are anti-corporate” thing going on, then they go and make a cigar with the biggest company out there. I get that it’s a huge deal to have your company name on the biggest name in the biz, it’s really cool. Hang on, let me go back and read my first few sentences…OK…I’m back on track. This cigar pays homage to Nashville, the City of Music, or Ciudad de Musica, and has a Habano wrapper grown in Ecuador, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers and comes in four sizes. Initially, this was only available in Casa de Montecisto stores (CdM, see a pattern?, like Crowned Heads and Condor and Huber?, The Angels Anvil and TAA? Jon Huber loves that stuff apparently), then sold in TAA stores, and I did see these in my local shop which is a TAA store. I’m not sure if these are available to a wider range than that at this point or not. So I would like to thank Adam fo sharing this delicious cigar with me, because it was probably one of the most delicious cigars with the either the Montecristo, or Crowned Heads name on it. It was medium bodied, and had a very nice sweetness that I found very appealing. It wasn’t too heavy, or too light, it was just right, and the construction was perfect. I am a fan of much of EPC’s products, and have been for an awful long time, and this one is among the better I’ve enjoyed. I was stunned. I had mixed expectations. I expected a great smoke because of the person who shared it with me, but I had reservations because of my past experience with Montecristo. This is definitely a case of keeping an open mind, it was a delicious cigar, I may try other sizes.

 

That’s all for today. I need to spend the day packing for my trip to the TPE show.  Please let me know if there’s anything you want to know from the show! I have a few appointments, but will be free-ranging otherwise. That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | January 5, 2020 · 11:24 am

Happy New Year Cigars, a Cornelius and Anthony, and a Warzone

Happy New Year to everyone!  I hope everyone stayed safe and enjoyed whatever celebration you chose to partake in.  I enjoyed a 5 year old Padrón 1964 Anniversary Exclusivo Natural which was magnificent. It was from a box which was a gift from Padrón from my first magazine article which featured them in Prime Living Magazine in 2014, signed by the senior señor Padrón. I’ve heard people say that Padróns don’t age well, but I beg to differ. This cigar smoked just fine. Perhaps it’s because it’s the natural wrapper variety, I’m not sure. I love the Maduros, but these Naturals have been fantastic cigars, and I’ve been savoring them because it’s a special box, ya know? One of these days I’ll get around to trying a 1926 or one of the other anniversary cigars, but the 1964s are so good, and not outrageously priced, how can one go wrong? I was in bed early, but neighborhood fireworks upset the dog.

 

I went looking for an interesting New Years Day smoke, something to smoke between watching the Mummers Parade, and the NHL Winter Classic. I remembered that I had a couple of Montecristo Le Cigares des Artes 2000 Millennium Edition that had been gifted by a great friend probably 18 or 19 years ago. These originally came in a really neat box with artwork by Michael Delacroix. You still see the Delacroix art in Montecristo branded lounges, so now you know it goes back 20 years. I little useless trivia fr you. Anyway, this was a Churchill sized cigar of Dominican descent, which caused me some concern about how this might have held up over the last 20 years. I chose the one with the broken tube, I don’t know how it broke, it’s been moved around from humidor to humidor over the years, I’m not a fan of glass tubes for this reason. I’m far too careless for fragile things that are meant to protect fragile things. There’s a reason egg cartons aren’t made out of glass. Oddly, the cigar had some white spots on it, mold or plume, hard to say. I’d have said it was mold but it seemed unlikely, it dusted right off, and there was no intrusion into the foot. If it was plume, it was the blotchiest plume I’ve seen. Regardless, it had no bearing on the smoking experience, however, I would not have bought a cigar that looked like it looked. The cigar started off very mild, as expected, but it built up in flavor as time went on and ended up being a very enjoyable and flavorful cigar. It had the delicate sophistication of a well aged cigar. I’ve smoked plenty of old cigars before, and this was one of the better ones. It held up well. I have smoke a Padrón Millenium in the past few years and it has also held up, but it wasn’t as impactful as it was when it was younger, and, not having smoked the Montecristo in it’s youth, I have nothing to compare it to. I would say that if you have these, smoke one! Why not? It’s fun to smoke a well aged cigar now and then. I still have a Cuban Romeo y Julietta from 1977 someplace that I’ll smoke one day. 

 

I followed up the old Montecristo with a favorite flavor-bomb, the Cornelius and Anthony Señor Esugars Toro. This was made at La Zona by Espinosa. I have asked Steven Bailey directly about the future of Cornelius and Anthony and gotten no response. I’ve talked to high level sources at both factories that made his cigars and pretty much confirmed that he is out of the premium cigar business. Unless the brand is bought by someone, and, considering the history and branding were so intimately tied to the Bailey family I don’t see it happening, I fear the brand is dead. It’s a shame. Cornelius and Señor Esugars toros have been two of my favorite cigars over the past 3 years. The Gent, Venganza and Meridian are really good cigars. Daddy Mac never really did it for me, and the Mistress is the only cigar that ever made me barf. I hope that Espinosa recycles the blends and someone lets me know what the Señor Esugars blend becomes, because I absolutely love that cigar! Now I have to ration out the last box I have, as well as the Cornelius Toros and handful of Lonsdales! Adios Cornelius and Anthony! We saw the writing on the wall…stock up while you can. 

 

On to a newer cigar! This week I stopped in to CigarCigars in Downingtown, PA to see Kevin, the manager there. Kevin asked me if I knew anything about the CigarMedics Humidimeter, and, whattayknow, I do happen to know about it! I went over to demonstrate it to him. We talked about the relative merits of the Humidimeter, I shared my experiences and knowledge, and he felt like he could find some good uses for it in the shop and ordered one. This was on a Thursday evening, and he received it the next day! Talk about great service. If you look in the right hand sidebar on this site, you’ll notice that there is now an ad there for CigarMedics, so if you find that you’d like more information, or want to get one for yourself, there’s a quick and easy way to get there! Welcome CigarMedics to the CigarCraig family! Like I said, I went to CigarCigars, and I picked up a couple cigars I hadn’t smoked before. One of them was the Warzone, the collaboration between Espinosa and General Cigar Co. I got the 5½” x 52 Robusto. This is made at the La Zona factory with a Cameroon wrapper from General Cigar (who has used amazing Cameroon wrapper on cigars for years, Partagas come immediately to mind), and it being distributed by General. I’ve been anxious to try this cigar, I’m a fan of Cameroon, a lot of the La Zona (see above), and a lot of General, so this cigar had a lot going for it out of the gate. I was encouraged by the Humidimeter readings off the shelf, Kevin does a good job keeping the stock in the store right. It’s a humidified store, no small feat. The Warzone was much as I expected, nutty “Camerooniness”, medium bodied, smooth and delicious. I have another that I’m looking forward to smoking (thank you Kevin!) and really concentrating on, I was busy talking and in a store, one can’t completely concentrate on a cigar that way. I picked up a couple of Black Label Trading Company Morphines while I was there too, a great corona gorda (I smoked one last night, great flavor, the draw got snug, I noticed a gob of tar on the head. Fortunately it didn’t touch my lips or tongue. I wiped it off and the draw opened up! I hate that liquid tar build up. if it hits your mouth you’re done!). The also have some of the Dunbarton Tobacco And Trust line there. 

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | April 24, 2019 · 2:30 pm

News: Altadis U.S.A. Announces Montecristo Espada Oscuro

I really enjoy the Montecristo Espada, especially the Guard size, so I’m quite intrigued with the Oscuro. I’m looking forward to giving this one a try! Interesting that the original version the toro vitola they spell the name “Guard and the Oscuro it’s spelled “Guarde”…

 

MONTECRISTO ESPADA OSCURO

The famed “Grupo de Maestros” once again collaborates with the Plasencia family  

 

Altadis U.S.A., maker of world-renowned premium cigars announces the release of the Montecristo Espada Oscuro.  The Montecristo Espada Oscuro is a follow-up cigar to the Montecristo Espada, which earned a top 20 honors by Cigar Aficionado in 2015.

 

Once again, the “Grupo de Maestro’s” (Montecristo’s highly regarded group of Master Blenders) were given access to the Plasencia’s library of tobaccos. The goal was to pair the world’s best blenders, with the premier tobacco growing family, creating the ultimate adult cigar smoking experience.

Like the original Montecristo Espada, the Montecristo Espada Oscuro is a Nicaraguan Puro. However, in addition to the excellent Nicaraguan tobaccos used for the binder and filler it also includes an extremely rare and well-aged Habano Rosado Oscuro wrapper. This special wrapper was discovered in the vast Plasencia library, by Rafael Nodal (Head of Product Capability for Tabacalera USA). Nodal along with Grupo de Maestro member Pedro Ventura and the Plasencia family worked together to find the perfect final blend.

 

Rafael Nodal said: “I am honored to have worked together with the Grupo de Maestros and the Plasencia family on this project. I not only feel that we created a blend that is worthy of the Montecristo Espada name, but also added a new dimension to the smoking experience, with the addition of this special Habano Rosado Oscuro Wrapper.”  

 

Eddy Guerra, Sr. Brand Manager of Altadis U.S.A., stated. “We are extremely excited about the Montecristo Espada Oscuro. The success of the original Espada we felt, gave us mandate to push the envelope, to give our customers another great blend that can proudly sport the Montecristo Espada band. This cigar will give the Espada adult smokers a nuanced smoking experience that will deliver on flavor and richness.”

The Montecristo Espada Oscuro will be available in May and will be expressed in three vitolas:

 

Ricasso: 5 x 54  $13.27 MSRP

Guarde: 6 x 50   $13.80 MSRP
Quillon: 7 x 56   $14.60 MSRP

 

About Altadis U.S.A.

Altadis U.S.A. is a maker of premium cigars and one of the largest premium cigar companies in the world. If you have ever enjoyed a premium cigar, there’s a good chance you’ve enjoyed a cigar crafted by Altadis U.S.A. Responsible for crafting many of the world’s most renowned brands, including Henry Clay, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, H. Upmann and Trinidad, Altadis U.S.A. has been crafting great cigars since 1918.  Visit www.altadisusa.com for more information. 

 

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by | December 4, 2018 · 10:35 am

News: Montecristo Hosting Art Basel Event in Miami

More Tuesday news!  It looks like Altadis has stepped into the vacancy left by Davidoff in the cigar sponsorship of Art Basel in Miami.  Here’s the details on their involvement in this year’s event.  

MONTECRISTO CIGARS TO HOST ART BASEL EVENT AT THE WHARF MIAMI

Montecristo Cigars to auction one of a kind Art Basel-inspired humidor designed by artist, Ruben Trespalacios

 

Montecristo, maker of world-renowned premium cigars, will host an exclusive Montecristo Art Basel event in South Florida’s most popular pop-up event space: The Wharf Miami. The event “Montecristo Marina” hosted by the Montecristo Social Club will combine live art, fine spirits, music, networking and Montecristo cigars while overlooking the Miami River. The event takes place on Saturday December 8, 2018 at 7PM. The Wharf Miami is located at 114 SW North River Drive. Miami, Fl. 33130.

 

Montecristo Marina will serve as a celebration of art and its relationship to the artisanal virtues of the handmade premium cigar. The Montecristo Epic cigar will serve as the subject. This highly rated super-premium cigar is valued for its artisanal quality; each box is inspected and signed by the artisan to ensure its quality. The centerpiece of the event will be the auction of a one-of-a-kind Montecristo Icon humidor, which will be hand-painted on site during the event by acclaimed artist Ruben Trespalacios.

 

Trespalacios, who will be visiting the festivities from his home country of Colombia, is known for his flair and use of vibrant colors. His abstract style projects energy, positivity and happiness which catapulted his career beginning in 2014. He was chosen specifically by the Montecristo team for this special live art event.

 

“The art of handmade premium cigar making, says Rob Norris, President of Altadis U.S.A. Premium Cigar Division, maker of Montecristo, “is a time-honored tradition that dates back many generations. We are excited to celebrate this art form during Art Basel, which has become the epicenter of the Arts in the Americas. Along with Tabacalera USA’s CEO Javier Estades, Head of Product Capability Rafael Nodal,  and the rest of the Montecristo team, we look forward to attending and celebrating this special event.”

 

About Altadis U.S.A.

Altadis U.S.A. is a maker of premium cigars and one of the largest premium cigar companies in the world.  If you have ever enjoyed a premium cigar, there’s a good chance you’ve enjoyed a cigar crafted by Altadis U.S.A. Responsible for crafting many of the world’s most renowned brands, including Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, H. Upmann and Trinidad,  Altadis U.S.A. has been crafting great cigars since 1918.  Visit www.altadisusa.com  and www.montecristosocialclub.com for more information. 

 

 

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