I got one of these at the festival last February and decided to light it up last night, given the news of their release.
I weighed it first, out of interest. At 10 grammes, it's 2/3 the weight of the No. 2.
It's about 30 mm shorter than the Monte 2, 5 mm shorter than the Partagas P1.
Very nice wrapper feel. oily and smooth.
I don't cut much off piramides but this had a very easy draw, a little too easy.
I've had this in a singles humidor for months at 62 - 65 %RH
On lighting it was very harsh. Lots of ammonia. Even for a young cigar like this, it's the most ammonia on the nose I've had from any new cigar I can remember. Really fierce.
After about an inch it settled down a bit. Now I could get some flavour, some vanilla and pleasant sourness I sometimes like in a cigar.
The thing about this size, given it's ring gauge and length, after about 1 inch I feel it's coming to an end and I start thinking about having another cigar. Could be a marketing plan!
That said, the second half smoked quite a bit slower and it took me about 70 minutes altogether, I let it go out once, my fault, not the cigar. It burnt very well, I don't think I had to touch it up at all.
Overall impression. At the moment, this one at least, far too young. It needed at least another year.
Hard to get flavour through the ammonia, and I enjoy fresh cigars. While I like aged cigars too, I'm not the kind who needs 5 years of age on a cigar before I light it.
They might have potential, it's hard to tell.
I'm not sure what happened this when the best Monte 2s I've had have been fresh (2012) ones.
Comparing to a Monte 2
Brian liked it. That might say something..