Montecristo No 2 (FIM ABR 05); Seleccion Piramides

[KB24]

» For those who aren’t familiar with the Seleccion Piramides, it is a small, attractive

» cedar box that contains its own humidifier and five cedar troughs each

» nestling a torpedo. The five marquees represented are Cohiba, Montecristo,

» Romeo Y Juileta, Partagas, and Hoyo De Monterrey.

What Cohiba Pyramid comes with this 5er? Is it one of the EL's or the Millenium or what?

-Patrick

[stever]

» What Cohiba Pyramid comes with this 5er? Is it one of the EL's or the

» Millenium or what?

»

» -Patrick

Definitely not an EL. I haven't had a millenium, but I think we're talking a different blend here. Perhaps the closest, that I can think of, is the Cohiba Seleccion Reserva Box containing 8 piramides. Even then, the age of the tobacco is probably different.

[Jimmy2]

Selection of five top quality pyramids: Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Partagás y Hoyo de Monterrey.

[stever]

» Selection of five top quality pyramids: Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y

» Julieta, Partagás y Hoyo de Monterrey.

To iterate, the only regular production pyramide included in this seleccion is the Monte No. 2. Everything else is unavailable outside of the seleccion presentation. In my estimation, the Partagas and the R&J are of interest. The Hoyo and the Cohiba seem to vary considerably from year to year.

[Mel39]

Thanks for the review and further education Steve.

Picked up two of these in Cuba, ROA Nov 06. I thought they would make a nice present and gave one away, DOH. I recall they were quite cheap. I didn't know that four out of the five marques were unavailable outside the box and smoked the R&J, double DOH!

No notes or review I'm afraid as I still don't posess a discernable palate.

:-(

Will certainly hang on to the remainder now but at 68, my concern is that a lot of my stash will live longer than me.:-D

Regards and best wishes,

Mel39

[stever]

Melvin:

Good to hear from you! Hope to be over your side of the pond sometime the first half of April. Now about that London Herf . . . ;-)

With regard to the Seleccion Piramides, Avid Smoker has advised me to remove the cigars immediately from the cedar case. Evidently, there's has been some discussion that the cedar case these are stored in impart a negative flavor on the cigars. Maybe with time the cigars might shed any negative flavors they might have attracted from the case.

I'll be following his advise as I have a few boxes of these. I'll revisit these cigars after they've been out of the case for about a year or so.

Cheers,

Steve

[Colt45]

» Will certainly hang on to the remainder now but at 68, my concern is that

» a lot of my stash will live longer than me.:-D

Why hang on to them, Mel? If you enjoy them, smoke them - are you a smoker or a collector? :-D

[stever]

I smoked a Monte 2 from a Seleccion Piramides, FIM ABR 05. For those who aren’t familiar with the Seleccion Piramides, it is a small, attractive cedar box that contains its own humidifier and five cedar troughs each nestling a torpedo. The five marquees represented are Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo Y Juileta, Partagas, and Hoyo De Monterrey. The Monte 2 is the only regular production piramide of the five. Not sure why this is the case or what exactly is the marketing intention of Habanos, SA with this presentation.

In any event, the Monte 2 from the box is medium brown in color with some slight green tinges and slightly mottled. The cigar has a good weight in hand, and the wrapper sports a light sheen with one noticeable vein running down the back. Overall, construction is very good, and the cigar has a firm resiliency to the touch. The body of the cigar has an aroma of light leather, cocoa and cedar. The odor at the foot is stronger and more pungent, with sweet toasted tobacco, chocolate and cedar. The draw is excellent and the flavor at cold is hearty and rich, with aged leather, cedar and sweet toasted tobacco.

The cigar starts easily and the first draw is of strong smooth tobacco and sweet wood. Smoke production is good and the aroma is strong and spicy in the nose. Vanilla and coffee bean flavors start to develop by the fourth draw, and a strong cedar aroma also starts to develop in the nose. The taste is somewhat creamy, but not enough at this point to balance the strong tobacco and wood notes.

At the one inch mark, there are pronounced cocoa notes and some coffee flavors that seem to linger in the background. This smoke is rather strong and spicy, with more tobacco and wood flavors than I’m used to in a Monte 2. At the 1 ½ inch mark, the cigar is suddenly better balanced with more creamy coffee flavors entering the mix. Just when the smoke seems to be settling down and smoothing out, it suddenly becomes very strong again about halfway through. Strong, almost charred tobacco and wood flavors once again predominate, and the coffee, cocoa and cream flavors recede. The aftertaste, however, always has a nice sweetness to it.

Past the halfway point, the cigar once again is better balanced with the typical Monte creamy coffee flavor predominating. The aftertaste, while sweet, also has a spicy zestiness to it. With two inches left some fruity and tangy flavors appear. With only an inch left, the cigar actually mellows out with some nice sweet toasted tobacco flavors coming through.

Compared to the ‘07s Monte 2s I’ve smoked, this is a more unsettled and stronger cigar that needs more age. However, I wonder if it might age better if it were not surrounded in cedar as it is in the Seleccion presentation. At times, the Monte 2 had too strong a wood flavor to it, and the cedar aroma was often quite strong in the nose.

Does the Monte 2 profile lend itself to this type of storage? Has anyone else smoked Monte 2s from presentations other than the regular dress box? I think the Seleccion presentation helps the aging of the other piramides, but I’m not sure about the Monte. Perhaps ten years of aging in the Seleccion presentation may be required for the Monte 2, but is that the purpose of this presentation?