Por Larranaga Montecarlo EML SEP 14 (NRW)

[PointFivePast]

Every villain has an origin story and my nemesis is no exception. This box of Montecarlos was picked up sometime in late 2015 or early 2016 when I started buying CCs. They were cheap and of a small ring gauge which of course was the cool thing to buy if you’re in to cigars. I dutifully tucked them away to acclimate and promptly bought a bunch of NC lanceros locally to scratch my itch. Lo and behold, I found that I was not the lover of thin cigars that the internet convinced me I should be. That being said, I usually don’t smoke much larger than 50 or maybe a 52 but I find sub-40 RG to be problematic, even in NCs with the increased quality control. The chance of a plugged panetela or lancero is just too high and so it was with the box. 
 

Out of three cigars I have smoked to date from the box, all have been horrendously plugged. With such a string of failures, I stopped grabbing these at all. If I’m taking sticks to smoke at an event or with friends, I don’t want to take up space with a possible dud. If I’m smoking at home, I’m likely to grab something else over these thinking “Oh I’ll try one again another time” and so it goes. Now it appears I have reason to revisit and without further ado, I present the PLMC!
 

 

To avoid draw issues, I made a generous cut and it seemed to work... perhaps this is the one! Aroma at cold was toasted tobacco with a touch of honey and hay. Cold draw was much the same with a hint of mustiness.

 

1st Third:

Smoke production was solid from the start with a perfect draw. The one time I go to prove this cigar is pure evil and it performs flawlessly... go figure. There’s a touch of honey but the smoke is very dry and suddenly I notice a bit of pepper not unlike that found on some Nicaraguan cigars. Not as powerful but definitely a dry pepper that borders between chili flakes and white peppercorn. An inch in and get the faintest suggestion of caramel that everyone seems to find in Por Larranaga but then it disappears to be replaced by a sort of tea flavor. A bit like someone mixed green, black, Oolong tea all together. Smoke continues to have a be dry quality to it, almost tannic in a way. 

 

2nd Third:

The mixed tea flavor turns more towards toasted barley. Smoke remains dry but softens a bit at the halfway point. Caramel arrives briefly along side a classic hit of Cuban twang. So far the flavors have not been incredibly complex but the burn is razor sharp and the draw is perfect. Go figure.

 

3rd Third:

A bit earthy now with a return of the pepper from the beginning. Malty sweetness comes and goes. Getting a bit tannic now but we are at the end of a panetela so not surprised. Right at the end the cigar throws out some nuttiness, walnuts perhaps, that would have been fantastic earlier.

 

Final Thoughts:

Okay, okay... the entire box isn’t full of cue sticks. The draw here was exceptional and I might have to pull these out on occasion. The whole smoke took me around 55 minutes but I was smoking slow. I could see these being a pleasant 35-40 minute Sunday morning coffee smoke. On the downside, I’m not enthralled by the flavor profile. No big bursts of flavor and no major changes. Everything I noted above rode along the same core of toasty tea notes and a bit of pepper. The dry quality of the smoke wasn’t pleasant either. Not terrible but I was glad I had a beverage and certainly not a cigar for summer heat. Overall I would say this maybe an 82/100 for me but, for now, these PLMC can come out of the penalty box. Still would be unlikely to hand one to buddy to smoke knowing that they’ve been a bit unreliable but I’ll get through them on my own at some point.

 

Thanks for taking the time read and enjoy your weekend!

[SansSin]

damn thats some bad luck, i recently picked up a box of eml abr 14 and the 2 i smoked so far have been perfect in construction and draw with lots of creamy salted caramel flavors