Montecristo No.2- LAR ABR 13 (JBWP4RW)*

[joeruby]

Time to try an Aged Monte 2 from a box of 10, I have which I think just get better and better. Paired with iced water.
Excellent construction, feel and aroma at cold is sweet honey tobacco. Draw is perfect for me.

1/3 -Milky coffee cream, right of the bat, heaps of smoke that coates the palate with rich flavour that lasts for some time. Light to medium in strength. Flavour didn’t evolve beyond this for the first third , which I didn’t mind, as it’s the flavour profile I love. 
2/3- strength increased to just on medium but only a just touching  it. Some evolution now to black coffee, which is more intense than the first  third but only for about 15 mins or so and then back to sweet milky cream coffee, any sweetness is like condensed milk that creeps in. Trying hard to taste some chocolate but it’s just not there. I sense that this middle third is about as good as it gets which I’m more than happy with. 
The ash is an ugly brown/ olive green colour not appealing to look at, but the flavour holds as does the rich smoke.

3/3- More of the same coffee cream, still medium in strength with hints of sweetness, more like almond nougat than honey. Other examples from this box have shown chocolate notes but not this one. Only have 3 left and I reckon they have hit their zenith. I could be wrong, but guessing is half the fun..
No bitterness or heat almost to the nub. Just on an hour and 45 mins of perfect (for me), flavour profile 

I give it a 91-93.

 

[RDB]

Nice, thanks for the review. Still quite a bit of oil in that by the look of the ash.

[Bagman]

I had a lot of 2013 monty 2's.  Took me a long time to go thru them.  They were best between 4 to 6 years.  7 was not bad.  8 was where I was glad I only had a few left.  Definitely not the flavor power from when they were 4 to 6.    I'm with others here in thinking that Monty just doesn't age well.  After that chocolate disappears after year 6, they just aren't the same.

[oneizzzz]

7 hours ago, RDB said:

Nice, thanks for the review. Still quite a bit of oil in that by the look of the ash.

Could you explain that, please?  What do you notice about the ash that tells you about the oil?  I don't know much about ash science...

[RDB]

1 hour ago, oneizzzz said:

Could you explain that, please?  What do you notice about the ash that tells you about the oil?  I don't know much about ash science...

I see that darker ash in cigars that seem to still have lots of oil in them. Young sticks especially. As they age and dry out, it moves towards a more complete combustion and a dry, white ash.  That’s my experience anyway.

[Bagman]

41 minutes ago, RDB said:

I see that darker ash in cigars that seem to still have lots of oil in them. Young sticks especially. As they age and dry out, it moves towards a more complete combustion and a dry, white ash.  That’s my experience anyway.

Huh?  The white/gray has more to do with the magnesium level in the soil.  Cuban soil has less magnesium apparently, so that is why they are not as likely to burn white like non cubans.

[RDB]

I’m happy to be corrected. I’ve noticed a correlation with young and oily / dark ash, vs older and paler / ‘cleaner’ looking ash. But I ain’t a chemist or farmer!

[joeruby]

Learnt something here about Ash, thanks. A nice long white ash always always enhanced the cigar experience for me . Darker murky brown / green just ruins the aesthetics a bit, No bearing on taste. Interesting that it’s the oil bleeding through. I wonder if colour of ash and oil content plays a role in how even the cigar burns .

[Bagman]

6 hours ago, joeruby said:

Learnt something here about Ash, thanks. A nice long white ash always always enhanced the cigar experience for me . Darker murky brown / green just ruins the aesthetics a bit, No bearing on taste. Interesting that it’s the oil bleeding through. I wonder if colour of ash and oil content plays a role in how even the cigar burns .

oil of the cigar plays zero impact on the color of the ash.

if anything, oil would make the ash darker.

[Bijan]

8 hours ago, Monterey said:

oil of the cigar plays zero impact on the color of the ash.

if anything, oil would make the ash darker.

I think that's what he said. Oily/young dark, dry/aged white.

[Bagman]

2 hours ago, Bijan said:

I think that's what he said. Oily/young dark, dry/aged white.

as I said, oil of the cigar plays no role in the color of the ash.  Only the magnesium level.    But good catch.