Puritos (H. Upmann, Monte)

[liuzzi]

Following is my two cents about H. Upmann & Monte puritos. While these cigarillos do have their following I was expecting more from what these actually delivered.

Puritos are are the largest sized Cuban cigarillos (small cigars defined by weighing less than three grams) with the others being previously reviewed minis and clubs. Purito is quoted as 27 ring size (10,6 mm diameter) with 109 mm in length making it 2 mm larger than a club in diameter and considerably (13 mm) longer. All puritos are machine made and short filler (as are all Cuban cigarillos). Puritos are produced in ICT factory in Cuba and come pre cut. They come cellophane wrapped and are packaged with bands. Most common packaging is a pack of 5 with each cigar being cellophane wrapped (P5c). Packs should come cellophane wrapped as well however in the shops over here this is not the case. The pack of 5 puritos is going for about 6 euro making the price of one cigarillo about 1,20 euro putting puritos into the same price range with clubs.

Montecristo Purito – I have smoked few packs of these (one in Phuket last winter and few during the summer), there is not much flavor to write about, there is some plastic bitterness and besides that the draw is quite empty of taste, not far from a club experience, I would even say that the clubs had more flavor.

H. Upmann Purito – these look to be discontinued and not made any more, however these are still available in supermarkets around here, some of the people I was smoking these with preferred these to Montes, I personally couldn’t differentiate between the two (even when smoking side by side), both have the same kind of bitterness and empty draw.

There are few other brands of puritos made in Cuba such as Partagas (known as Chicos) and Romeo y Julieta but these are not available in Estonia. I have heard good things about the Chicos and would like to try these at some point but based on my experiences this far I am not too optimistic. Out of all the Cuban cigarillos I liked Cohiba Clubs the best. These are inconsistent but at their best these delivered some of the grassy milk-chocolaty Cohiba flavors and were quite enjoyable with late morning coffee (especially considering the price point). Still I doubt I will be buying these again. As an afterthought I can see that I had too high of an expectation when buying cigarillos as I was expecting these to somehow compare to hand rolled long filler experience which even at similar small panetela size is at least 3 or 4 times the price. They don’t and these are a very different experience.

[MontrealRon]

I bought quite a few puritos back in '06-'07, and still occasionally pick up a box or two to replenish the stock. I use them mainly for a quick summertime afternoon break at work, and am still smoking from the 5-7 year old original purchases. The aging has done them a world of good; they are much smoother, and are starting to show the characteristic tastes of the marcas. The trick is to smoke them very slowly and gently, as they are usually rather loosely packed, and can easily overheat, making them bitter and tarry.

I am looking forward to trying some at 10+ years old.

Fresh ones are also fun from time to time, for a quick blast of rough but rich Cuban tobacco.

Even the Guantanameras are OK, the best of this otherwise horrible marca.

They have their place in my cigar world.

[MC4]

I just saw on another site that there is a white version of Cohiba Club and Cohiba mini, which is supposed to be a lighter version.