Montecristo No. 2 UTL MAY 19 (49NRW)

[saltbox]

This box was part of my very first order of cuban cigars and finally just passed 3 months of sitting in the humidor acclimating at 62RH. I've previously dipped into a box of Partagas Shorts from the same order earlier on, but otherwise have resisted until now. Clipped off a small bit of the head and fortunately had a great draw.

First third: opens nice and creamy with a bit of twang and a very small bit of spice on the palate that's a bit harsh when retrohaled. There's a touch of coffee and cocoa on the finish but it's much more apparent on the aroma coming off the foot of the cigar between puffs. The construction is great, I end up tapping off the ash as it nears two inches but it takes more effort than expected to break it off.

Middle third: the chocolate starts to become more apparent and the creaminess fades a bit. The spice becomes a bit more harsh in the second half as the cocoa fades and leaves a nice creamy coffee. The harsh "spice" is different and somehow sharper than the peppery spice commonly found in NCs.

Last third: still nice and creamy with intermittent notes of coffee and cocoa, but the harshness continues to build and the cigar seems to burn hotter than expected. As someone coming from NCs, this is a new kind of experience and makes a lot of what I've read/heard in reviews about young cigars smoking hot make sense.

Overall: enjoyable all the way through, even with the harshness, and the construction ended up being solid enough not to need any corrections. Seemed like a good first experience of what a good Cuban cigar that's a bit too young smokes like. 87/100

[Kaptain Karl]

Great review!!! I came over from NC’s 2 years ago. I’ve found that each box is different. Some are brilliant with 30 days of rest and some need 2 years. Really no rhyme or reason! 

[saltbox]

15 hours ago, Kaptain Karl said:

Great review!!! I came over from NC’s 2 years ago. I’ve found that each box is different. Some are brilliant with 30 days of rest and some need 2 years. Really no rhyme or reason! 

I purchased these elsewhere before I discovered FOH and they had arrived quite moist (even a touch of mold iirc), so I’m guessing that’s why they may have been harsher than expected for a box with a year and a half of age, and will probably need a few more months to help the harshness to dissipate.

My first FOH box still has a month to go before they hit the 3 months of rest point I’ve been aiming for. They’re a box of DIC 17 CoRos and I can’t wait!