Montecristo A SSR

[Ritch]

This weekend was the start of my shooting season (That's hunting to the yanks out there) and I was planning on smoking this cigar the night before to celebrate.

The varnished box had been seductively looking at me for weeks. An exquisite cigar deserves an exquisite box and the box for the Montecristo A is no let down.

I carefully slid back the lid to reveal the beast of a cigar pictured below.

How to cut such a classy cigar? V Cut? Straight cut? Dickman cut? Oh no no no, there was only one way to cut such a cigar in my books and that was to punch it, so I licked the cap like a special needs window cleaner tackles some dirty windows and then I carefully pushed and twisted my punch resulting in...

 

I uncharactoriscally took a pre light draw, normally I don't as I'm in too much if a rush to get down to business but with the cost of this cigar I was going to town on it, I tasted hints of cocoa and a light perfume.  

Then to ensure an even burn, a light toasting with a jet butane lighter, took a few draws whilst rotating, a few more draws and away we went.

Initially I tasted just smoothness. No cream, no cocoa, no nuts. No nothing just smooth smoke with a hint of perfume akin to a Montecristo 5.

The burn was unfortunately uneven and required touching up several times during the first third. My father who was smoking one at the same time also encountered the same problematic burn. 

By the midway point and after 45 minutes of smoking the burn issues evened out, yet no additional taste developed just the steady smoothness of a slightly perfumed Montecristo 5. I was beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about, had I smoked this cigar too soon? Had I got a dud? Should I have just smoked a few Montecristo 5's?

Entering the last third finally the flavours started to pick up, smooth cocoa and a little cream with the underlying perfumed Montecristo 5 flavour. Hints here and there, nothing I could truly wrap my tongue around. I had tried taking slow drags, retrohaling, holding the smoke in my mouth, drinking Dalwhinne but I was left unimpressed.

Leaving the final third and entering the finger burning stage and finally the cigar was hitting it's prime, it was truly getting on its way to being tasty but alas it was too little and just too late. 

Was the Montecristo A deserving of its price tag? I'm afraid not in my eyes, was it even deserving of its immaculate varnished coffin case? Again not. It had been plagued for a third of the time by a bad and uneven burn and for the majority of the cigar it lacked flavour.

In my eyes it was nothing more than a large expensive Montecristo 5 that had taken one hour and a half to smoke. My father too was suitably unimpressed by his. Hopefully I had smoked this one too young, perhaps the others I have will be better when I smoke them after a longer time. Who knows but as it stands I won't buy anymore, there are far better and far cheaper cigars.

Being unfortunately disappointed I had a sandwich and a drink, opting for a mustard and corned beef sandwich. Not being able to leave the pre shoot evening cigar on a bad note, and being child free for the night I decided to smoke a 2016 Bolivar Liberatador that I had only had resting in the humidor a few weeks.

By God, what a cigar. Half the price but twice the pleasure of the Montecristo A. A perfect burn, a perfect draw and exquisite smooth, vegetal and honey flavours from start to finish with a fantastic strengthing crescendo of flavours in the final third. 

I can understand why these were made a regular LDCH release and whilst not being the cheapest cigar around are certainly worth the money.

The Montecristo A was not a bad cigar per se, but it was certainly not a good cigar. And unfortunately when paying such money certain expectations are made. Hopefully the remaining Montecristo As I have and will smoke in the future will be better but only time will tell.

Have you tried a Montecristo A? What are your thoughts?

[David88]

Great review. Although I can’t help thinking, you smoked a Monte A in 90 minutes!? That’s a 2-3 hour cigar for me. 

I find the A a strange one. The few I have had have been fine, but a massive time commitment and I dont find them as interesting as the especial. The coffins look great though. 

[prodigy]

Do you have the box code and date? I have a box from last year that I have not sampled from yet. I hope it's better than your experience!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

[99call]

Great honest review. 

[leafdream54]

I appreciate the honesty in your review as well.  Thank you for sharing it!

[Optic101]

Good review, also appreciate your honesty.
Sorry to hear it was disappointing. 
Wondering about the smoking time though, it is 3 hours plus for me.
Development is slow what make it a very different smoke.

[Derboesekoenig]

90 minute Monte A. That is intense. I have yet to try the A, but I can enjoy a Lusi for a good 2 hrs 10 mins - 2 hrs 30 mins.

[Ritch]

Box code was TPO AVR 18

It wasnt a bad cigar, it just want a $40 good cigar in my books - hopefully with a bit of age they will come good.

The Bolivar Liberatador was however fantastic and that was despite it only have 2/3 weeks rest in the humidor.

[Puros Y Vino]

Hmm. 2018 box code for a Monte A? That's a good sign.   You never know when these come out.  The one's I've smoked have been >5 years old and were excellent.  Perhaps this sample was a bit too young?  And you smoked it in 90 minutes? Perhaps that had an affect on your enjoyment? That's a 2.5 to 3 hour cigar.. Grab another sock it away and forget about it for another 3+ years.  Thanks for the review.

[BrightonCorgi]

An A is a risky investment as so many not perfectly rolled.  Around 2005 one online vendor was dumping 25 count boxes of A's for a giveaway.  I bought few boxes and I don't mind pitching an A to the trash if it's tight since I did not pay so much.  I have some '03 in coffin's that are rolled like a work of art, but saving those until the dress boxes are long gone.

[Puros Y Vino]

30 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

An A is a risky investment as so many not perfectly rolled.  Around 2005 one online vendor was dumping 25 count boxes of A's for a giveaway.  I bought few boxes and I don't mind pitching an A to the trash if it's tight since I did not pay so much.  I have some '03 in coffin's that are rolled like a work of art, but saving those until the dress boxes are long gone.

Interesting. I've always heard tales that Monte A's, Sir Winnies, etc were not rolled and released consistently because the the master blender "didn't feel there was enough proper tobacco" to warrant it. You'd think an iconic cigar like the A would be rolled by the more experienced torceador's?  Same goes with Sir Winnies and I've seen some that were rolled into tent pegs and unsmokeable. 

[BrightonCorgi]

3 hours ago, bundwallah said:

Interesting. I've always heard tales that Monte A's, Sir Winnies, etc were not rolled and released consistently because the the master blender "didn't feel there was enough proper tobacco" to warrant it. You'd think an iconic cigar like the A would be rolled by the more experienced torceador's?  Same goes with Sir Winnies and I've seen some that were rolled into tent pegs and unsmokeable. 

The 25 count boxes were between '99 and '01

[Puros Y Vino]

53 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

The 25 count boxes were between '99 and '01

Oh crap. You're right! The 25 counts show as discontinued in 2010. 

 

[BrightonCorgi]

1 hour ago, db13 said:

MOL box code for Monte A’s in 2018 was El Laguito. El Pres had sold a few coffins on 24:24 a couple months back. Haven’t tried one of those yet but I have a few aging. The wrappers look oily and good.

Was trying to score those for the longest time.  I'd roll the dice on them being well rolled, but never was able to buy them in time.