Montecristo no. 2 --Unknown codes (MRW)

[J-ROB]

Although  Montecristo MMC and #5 are a constant source of enjoyment for me, and I also quite like the #4, I have had a very low success rate with Monte #2. Out of a 10 box last year, maybe 3 or 4 were impressive and the rest were just OK at best. I later bought a three pack and the trio were scrawny, green spotted, greyish claro rejects. Again, just OK for flavor.

My luck changed with a three pack I got as a premium from a duty free seller in December. I smoked the second of this unknown code pack last weekend and it was one of the best cigars in recent memory. Started out with strong fresh sugar cane, sweet caramel and cocoa, transitioned to an anisette caramel flavor, and ended up with an expresso cedar caramel with sprinkles of black pepper. Wow! That was a delicious and exciting smoke! Unexpected and not-particularly Monte-like in character but wow, it was great.

i decided to review the last of the three pack for MRW, hoping for a replay of the last smoke.

 

This was a good looking #2. Nice colorado wrapper, firm to the squeeze. i was excited for a good smoke on a beautiful day on my front porch in downtown DC.

Cold draw was...wait no draw! i went at it with my Perfect Draw and finally cleared an air channel. Puffed again and got a mouthful of powder but there was a sweet taste that reminded me of the cane of the last one, so I remained optimistic. The roll was rock hard but that is not always a perfect indicator of how well a cigar will smoke when lit and warmed up.

Lit it up and was greeted with the taste of wood, specifically it tasted like chewing on a pencil--not a great intro. Then I picked up on sort of a green tea flavor, which made a certain sense as accompaniment to the woody flavor. I was not feeling that pencil flavor, could almost taste the yellow paint chips...

Burn started to wander after about one inch. A burnt bitter undertone started to enter the picture. YAHH...not what I wanted for the review. Eventually the cigar became hard to keep lit and began tunneling. A rock hard chunk of charred ligero stuck out of the center like a black devil tongue.

 

At this point, this dog would not stay lit, so I chopped off about an inch with my cutter, hoping to get past the nasty part and continue my first review smoke. I also lopped off some of the tip to get a more open draw than my original V cut was providing.

 

I carefully toasted to foot and relit...DANG! SUPER NASTY, bitter. burnt. Yuk. One of the worst taste sensations ever from a cigar. Whoa!

Time to call it a day on this specimen. Maybe smoke a Cohiba Short to cheer up.

Grade FAIL --> construction and flavor

Montecristo #2 is not my lucky cigar.

If I win, hopefully i'll get a box of Monte #3!?

 

 

[aphexafx]

Bummer!  No chance for that one.  *shakes head sadly*  Good luck!  ?

[J-ROB]

I dissected the corpse and didn't see anything amiss but that cigar was waaayyy off.

 

Some times you win sometimes you lose...

especially with Monte Twos.