Montecristo #2 LGR NOV 2017 (XNYRW2)

[Jfeath74]

A cold and rainy morning has it finally feeling like winter in Southern Cal. The dogs love to play in the rain, so I fired up a fresh pot of coffee and sat down with a Monte 2 to get the week started off right!

Cigar appears to have been decently constructed, with no large veins. It doesn’t have an overly dark wrapper but nice sheen with a slight texture to the wrapper. Not rough or tacky, but not smooth to the touch either. Draw cold appears spot on with a slight resistance. 

1/3 - Coco powder is the primary flavor with hints of dark roasted coffee and cream. Montecristo DNA to the core. Perfect draw, burn is a bit wonky but not horrible. 

Outside of whiskey, coffee is my favorite pairing choice, especially when paired with a good Monte, hard to beat! This coffee is Onyx Monarch, a blend of Ethiopian and Columbian beans. Onyx claims the coffee to have notes of dark chocolate, red wine and dried berries. Don’t know about all that jazz, but it’s a tasty coffee that pairs very well with Montecristo.

2/3 - Dark roasted coffee has taken over as the primary note, with cream and coco powder still present as secondary notes. Not overly complex but the flavors that are present are rich and delicious.

3/3 - burn seemed to straighten out in the final third, was never bad and didn’t have to touch up, but was a little uneven throughout a majority of the cigar. Coco notes fade in the final third but coffee and cream remain present throughout. 

Overall this has everything I look for in a good Monte, coffee, cream & coco in a medium body, full flavor cigar. Outside a less then perfect burn, only criticism would be the smoke felt a bit thin and didn’t have that lush texture which coats the entire palate, like you would want from a top tier cigar. That said, draw was perfect and flavors were on point, can’t ask for much more then that. 

75 minute smoke time

Construction 9/10

Draw 10/10

Burn 8/10

Aroma 9/10

Complexity 7/10

Taste 47/50

Score 90

Pictures of dogs playing in the rain, this may have been a mistake…