Montecristo No. 2

[shortsqueeze]

I should qualify, this is my favorite vitola. It was, then it wasn't, then it was again. The 2002's were bold, powerful cigars, exceptional really. Long gone, but I can only imagine how refined and wonderful they are today. I thought they went dark in '03, '04 and '05. In 2006 they were back to what I remembered, 2007 too, so my "vertical tasting" needed a 2008 installment.

Now here comes the 2008. New box, dark, silky smooth, oily and covered in something I really search out: "banderas" or "flags", those blotchy or oily streaks you see in some cigars, some refer to such examples as "rustic".

Burned slow and steady, draw was perfect with just the right amount of resistance. Cool and collected, all the flavors you'd expect: coffee, tobacco, almost toasted. Real heavy in the vanilla flavor. Very strong (nicotine wise), a real powerhouse. Slightly unbalanced, but given its age, you can't hold that against it. Unmistakable Montecristo flavor. The cigar has balls!

Love them or hate them, this is classic Montecristo and I'm thrilled there has been so much consistency in the blending these past three years. These are huge sellers and it's obvious they are giving them a lot of attention.

To put a number on the experience, I'd say 89 with potential for 93 or so.

[Colt45]

Thanks for the review. I've still a few '05s which are good, but just a tad thin on flavor. I'll have to give some more recent

vintages a try.

[Wiley]

Wow, I'm drooling! Thanks for the info!

[brutusthebuckeye]

Nice review short....i have some 07's dark and oily(oeb mar 07)...that are wonderful right now..

Glad to hear the 08's are nice now but have good potencial...

What box code are on your #2's????

[brutusthebuckeye]

Never mind i just seen it uro....same as my Monte Sublimes...

[Ken Gargett]

a good monte 2 is a wonderful experience. my problem is that i find a bit too much variation. had one - about 6-7 years old - the other night. amazingly dark wrapper. good smoke, not great. expected more but still got a lot of pleasure.

for me, habanos should concentrate on making certain that every monte 2 is an experience. it is an icon cigar, known the world over. it should be a go-to cigar for every single one of us, not just an occasional joy and a sometimes disappointment. so many people see this as a cuban classic and whether or not they stick with cuban cigars might often be determined by the quality of a monte 2. they assume them to be a great cigar and if not overwhelmed, why bother?

for me, an occasional winner but too often only not bad, which is well below expectations.

[demiurgic]

a good monte 2 is a wonderful experience. my problem is that i find a bit too much variation. had one - about 6-7 years old - the other night. amazingly dark wrapper. good smoke, not great. expected more but still got a lot of pleasure.

for me, habanos should concentrate on making certain that every monte 2 is an experience. it is an icon cigar, known the world over. it should be a go-to cigar for every single one of us, not just an occasional joy and a sometimes disappointment. so many people see this as a cuban classic and whether or not they stick with cuban cigars might often be determined by the quality of a monte 2. they assume them to be a great cigar and if not overwhelmed, why bother?

for me, an occasional winner but too often only not bad, which is well below expectations.

seems like this is a Monte 'trait' or sorts. I keep hearing the same about Monte No. 4's. On a side note, should we start a thread on 'steady' blends?

Marcas that have produced a steady winner in xxx vitola over the last, say, 2 years. This would be a treat of a thread for a noob like me who has never bought a 25 box of Habanos, let alone a 50 cab.

I shudder at the thought of getting stuck with a so-so 50 cab!

Food for thought.

[Ken Gargett]

seems like this is a Monte 'trait' or sorts. I keep hearing the same about Monte No. 4's. On a side note, should we start a thread on 'steady' blends?

Marcas that have produced a steady winner in xxx vitola over the last, say, 2 years. This would be a treat of a thread for a noob like me who has never bought a 25 box of Habanos, let alone a 50 cab.

I shudder at the thought of getting stuck with a so-so 50 cab!

Food for thought.

good thought. and i'd be very interested on rob's take on the m/c 2. he has, no doubt, seem far more than i have in recent times.

[Guest rob]

I'll try find the thread.. but I believe there was a thread in the last 3 months where we discussed recent "classics". Got to about 3 pages, I think.

[CigarZen]

On a side note, should we start a thread on 'steady' blends?

Good idea -- and I bet the answer would tie into Ken's point about the inconsistencies on the Monte 2, which i agree wholeheartedly with. Monte 2s should be a crown jewel of the overall HSA brand and likely a smoke that introduces many customers to havanas. It did for me. The problem though is production, as in many many Monte No 2s, probably too many, at too many different factories. This ties in with the "steady" blend point -- I bet it will be small production vitola/marque made at one factory, possibly by the same few workers. A case in point, I heard that ScB El Morros used to be rolled by the same older gentleman a La Corona. Then, you may recall, they were made at a Regional factory -- he supposedly went there to live with his daughter who had his grandbaby. BS? Who knows, you know how that goes. But the blend of the El Morro has been pretty consistent over the years. The same low production, same factory I think can be seen with other consistent blends. For us customers, and I am at fault here, we should think about the smaller brand stuff more often.

On the Monte 2, what needs to be done is make them all at Upmann under the same QC team. But that is not likely.

Ken, Rob, what do you think? I am probably all wet.

[Ken Gargett]

Good idea -- and I bet the answer would tie into Ken's point about the inconsistencies on the Monte 2, which i agree wholeheartedly with. Monte 2s should be a crown jewel of the overall HSA brand and likely a smoke that introduces many customers to havanas. It did for me. The problem though is production, as in many many Monte No 2s, probably too many, at too many different factories. This ties in with the "steady" blend point -- I bet it will be small production vitola/marque made at one factory, possibly by the same few workers. A case in point, I heard that ScB El Morros used to be rolled by the same older gentleman a La Corona. Then, you may recall, they were made at a Regional factory -- he supposedly went there to live with his daughter who had his grandbaby. BS? Who knows, you know how that goes. But the blend of the El Morro has been pretty consistent over the years. The same low production, same factory I think can be seen with other consistent blends. For us customers, and I am at fault here, we should think about the smaller brand stuff more often.

On the Monte 2, what needs to be done is make them all at Upmann under the same QC team. But that is not likely.

Ken, Rob, what do you think? I am probably all wet.

sadly, reality intervenes. at the moment, i suspect it highly unlikely one factory will do the lot. a pity. perhaps rob could raise this in havana.

[Guest rob]

I'll try find the thread.. but I believe there was a thread in the last 3 months where we discussed recent "classics". Got to about 3 pages, I think.

found it.

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/inde...ic=87936&hl

[El Presidente]

Arthur kassos and I had some 08's Friday from an open box in the humidor.

Light tan wrapper, good construction.

Strictly medium bodied but burned cool with excellent Monte flavours of milk coffee and cream. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I would have liked it to be a tad stronger in body but I couldn't complain. It smoked like a 5 year old Monte. 88.

[hellring]

Arthur kassos and I had some 08's Friday from an open box in the humidor.

Light tan wrapper, good construction.

Strictly medium bodied but burned cool with excellent Monte flavours of milk coffee and cream. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I would have liked it to be a tad stronger in body but I couldn't complain. It smoked like a 5 year old Monte. 88.

Rob I have had Monte 2's with light rappers and with dark rappers. Why do these cigars have such a wide range of wrappers?

[El Presidente]

Rob I have had Monte 2's with light rappers and with dark rappers. Why do these cigars have such a wide range of wrappers?

It has been thus for as long as I can remember. Again picture a bellcurve with the mean being Colorado.

They use what they have and given the cigar has such a large production the variance s much larger than say SLR DC.

[shrink]

Rob I have had Monte 2's with light rappers and with dark rappers. Why do these cigars have such a wide range of wrappers?

Rob, perhaps you can direct us to the previous thread where you pictured a 10-box of Montes with 5 dark No. 2's and 5 lighter No. 2's, and compared the flavors. Never saw anything like that before, or after. Recall that one?

[Colt45]

Rob, perhaps you can direct us to the previous thread where you pictured a 10-box of Montes with 5 dark No. 2's and 5 lighter No. 2's, and compared the flavors. Never saw anything like that before, or after. Recall that one?

I'm not RA, but here are the links:

Part 1

Part 2

[PigFish]

a good monte 2 is a wonderful experience. my problem is that i find a bit too much variation. had one - about 6-7 years old - the other night. amazingly dark wrapper. good smoke, not great. expected more but still got a lot of pleasure.

for me, habanos should concentrate on making certain that every monte 2 is an experience. it is an icon cigar, known the world over. it should be a go-to cigar for every single one of us, not just an occasional joy and a sometimes disappointment. so many people see this as a cuban classic and whether or not they stick with cuban cigars might often be determined by the quality of a monte 2. they assume them to be a great cigar and if not overwhelmed, why bother?

for me, an occasional winner but too often only not bad, which is well below expectations.

I think you are right on the money here Ken. I gave up on Montes and all the pointed cigars for many years until '07 when some trusted friends started giving me fond reviews. I am happy to say that I agree. The '07 Monte 2s are very nice. I have not tried the '08 and considering the thickness of my wallet I doubt I will any time soon.

This is an old dead pony but I too wish the best tobacco would go into Cuban heritage cigars not Cuban hyped cigars.

[spree2]

Some of the best cigars I have ever tried have been Monte 2's. Consistency is the key here. Back in '01, the consistency of the boxes were all over the board. Maybe 2 or 3 cigars were exemplary, while 5-10 were almost bad while the rest were ok. '04 I thought the boxes were getting more in line with consistent flavors and by '06 they were truly on there way back. I have smoked more monte 2's then any cigar and have the empty boxes to prove it lol! I would buy an entire box years ago knowing most of the box would by average or worse, but with the caveat that a couple would be some of the finest cigars I would smoke. I have recently(within last 2 years) smoked Monte 2's from early 90's and even a 1981 Dunhill Monte 2 and even their flavors were all over the board-granted aging and storage can also lead to discrepencies. Despite it's drawbacks, I still consistently buy and smoke this vitola. Many people I have read over the years, blast this cigar and refuse to buy it anymore. I am not one of them. Besides, I never see this cigar with much age on it at the various on line web sites, and I don't think they have scaled back production, so I doubt I am alone!

ps. Sorry it took so long for my first post!

[MikeHoncho3133]

I have yet to smoke a Monte 2, but after all the reading I have done, I think tomorrow I'm going to pull the trigger and try one.

[Ken Gargett]

Some of the best cigars I have ever tried have been Monte 2's. Consistency is the key here. Back in '01, the consistency of the boxes were all over the board. Maybe 2 or 3 cigars were exemplary, while 5-10 were almost bad while the rest were ok. '04 I thought the boxes were getting more in line with consistent flavors and by '06 they were truly on there way back. I have smoked more monte 2's then any cigar and have the empty boxes to prove it lol! I would buy an entire box years ago knowing most of the box would by average or worse, but with the caveat that a couple would be some of the finest cigars I would smoke. I have recently(within last 2 years) smoked Monte 2's from early 90's and even a 1981 Dunhill Monte 2 and even their flavors were all over the board-granted aging and storage can also lead to discrepencies. Despite it's drawbacks, I still consistently buy and smoke this vitola. Many people I have read over the years, blast this cigar and refuse to buy it anymore. I am not one of them. Besides, I never see this cigar with much age on it at the various on line web sites, and I don't think they have scaled back production, so I doubt I am alone!

ps. Sorry it took so long for my first post!

post an intro as well. you obviously have a heap of experience.

[genevapics]

Some of the best cigars I have ever tried have been Monte 2's. Consistency is the key here. Back in '01, the consistency of the boxes were all over the board. Maybe 2 or 3 cigars were exemplary, while 5-10 were almost bad while the rest were ok. '04 I thought the boxes were getting more in line with consistent flavors and by '06 they were truly on there way back. I have smoked more monte 2's then any cigar and have the empty boxes to prove it lol! I would buy an entire box years ago knowing most of the box would by average or worse, but with the caveat that a couple would be some of the finest cigars I would smoke. I have recently(within last 2 years) smoked Monte 2's from early 90's and even a 1981 Dunhill Monte 2 and even their flavors were all over the board-granted aging and storage can also lead to discrepencies. Despite it's drawbacks, I still consistently buy and smoke this vitola. Many people I have read over the years, blast this cigar and refuse to buy it anymore. I am not one of them. Besides, I never see this cigar with much age on it at the various on line web sites, and I don't think they have scaled back production, so I doubt I am alone!

ps. Sorry it took so long for my first post!

Nice info spree2. I agree wholeheartedly with your post.

[genevapics]

post an intro as well. you obviously have a heap of experience.

I know spree2 from another board; he is a knowledgeable & experienced smoker.

[Bolismoker]

been looking at two boxes of the #2. Codes are:

USE MAY 08

GEA MAY 08

Any of you guys have any direct experience with either of these codes from last year?

[nocsious]

My Monte #2'sfrom 08 have been nothing short of fantastic. Very oily and relatively dark wrappers. Just loads and loads of smoke and very nice toasted cocoa and cream throughout. I'd rate the July 08 box that I just broke open a 91 right now.