Montecristo No.4 FSCRC

[ayedfy]

Montecristo No.4. 42x5.125. Year unknown, single purchased mid-late 2022.

Opening third: dark cocoa and wood spice initially, beginning medium-full before losing some of the woody notes and settling down slightly below medium bodied. Creamy coffee aspect developing out of the cocoa, also a dried vegetal/herbal note coming through. Draw is only slightly firm, but the burn is all over the shop and I’m spending a bit of time relighting and fighting tunnelling.

Middle third: woody notes return and cream/coffee/cocoa drops off sharply. Still struggling with the burn. Peppery and bitter, and lacking most of the enjoyable flavours from the opening third. In fact lacking a lot of non-wood flavours in general - I’m smoking this with a black unsweetened English breakfast tea and that’s packing more flavour than the cigar at this point. 

Final third: no evolution, still boring, still getting bad burn issues. Smoked as far down as I could hoping something might happen, but nothing really did.

Earns some points for a satisfactory first third, and it didn’t hit me with anything offensive beyond that, but ultimately a bland smoke that I’m in no hurry to repeat.

I’m not sure whether I’ve just had bad luck, or I simply *don’t get* Monte. I’ve had a few No. 2s over the years and never been wowed (probably my 6th favourite CC piramide!), even an EL that didn’t break into the 90s for my scoring. I still have a few more to try in the humidor (an Especiale no.2, a few Edmundos/DEs) but as it stands I’ve felt unperturbed watching this marca disappear into HSA’s pricing shenanigans.

68/100