It has been awhile since I have graced the retinal portions of your eyeballs with a cigar review. Your collective sighing does not fool me, I know that I have been missed, after all I have not received any hate mail or threats of bodily harm in over a month.
For this glorious return I have been asked to review something new from Montecristo. The name alone caused me to heavily speculate about the cigar before I even had them in my hot little hands. Relentless as an appellation certainly allowed the mind to wander about as I waited for them to show up in the mail. What could it possibly mean? Was it going to be full bodied? That would certainly be something new for Monetcristo as they are known for more mild and medium offerings. Was it going to be expensive? A relentless assault on your pocketbook as Montecristo has done in the past? A million questions came immediately to mind and as I was about to retire from my day job my brain had the ability to really mull this over for several days. I am sure you think as my wife does, and would speculate that I was wasting time while I could have been doing things around the house or whatever it is women think men should do when we have nothing else to do. I say hooey to all of that jazz, if I am sitting around throwing cigar conjecture around in the box that I call my head then I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing brothers and sisters.
The cigar presents well, the wrapper is a nice medium brown Connecticut from Ecuador which is nice, because I actually prefer the Ecuadorian variety of this particular wrapper. The construction appears to be pretty solid, but it is hard to tell with the overwhelmingly large band that is draped all over this bad boy.
A note on this, what is the deal with the huge bands? What is the manufacturer trying to hide? Or is it more about catching the eye with some fancy art work? Let the cigar speak for itself for crying out loud! Additionally, the larger the band the more pectin is required to secure it and the more potential there is for wrapper damage when it is finally disbanded. Alas, on this cigar there are actually two overlapping bands! Insanity!
The pre light aroma smacks of light wood and cinnamon. The pre light draw shows some white pepper notes and some thoughts of dry wood like balsa and cedar.
The cigar begins with a profile that has some real zest in the front notes. There are some sharp blasts of pepper right off the bat, the smoke is a bit dry in the early stages and there is a woody note that contributes to the dry feeling. At the back of the palate there is a slight grassy tone that is not quite off putting, but it is not the best either. The draw is tight, at this point I realize how thick the end cap was. One shallow snip, which is my preferred cut, will not do it on this cigar. You will need to cut deeper, but don't get too deep and cut through the shoulder. The burn is razor sharp and nice gray ash is forming.
The first half of the cigar moves along relatively well delivering a nice experience. The core profile has warmed considerably and there are notes of cinnamon and other spice here over a nice under layer of white pepper that has toned down from the opening moments. The back of the palate continues to show a nice balsa wood tone with the occasional splash of cedar. The grassy notes are hanging around a bit, but they are not hurting the cigar at all. The draw is now wide open, I did a little more cutting after the initial tightness, and it delivers very nice amounts of smoke. The burn continues to be very solid.
The second half of the cigar shows some issues. First, as I approach the band and it becomes time to remove it the wrapper starts to crack, I hate this when it happens because it will derail the experience as the cigar continues because the wrapper will unravel or not burn correctly. As I remove the band my earlier fears are realized, it is stuck to the wrapper! Oh the calamity! My long experience helps me get through this without doing too much damage, but there is still some cracking and subsequent running that takes place. The overall profile continues to be pleasant. Cinnamon and spice notes dominate the front of the profile, I do wish there was some more complexity here, but it is a nice presentation of the flavors that are there. The back of the palate continues to be mostly wood notes with some hints of grass every so often.
The finish was bit short and had some bitter notes, but also showed a nice warm cinnamon flavor as well.
If you would like to get some of these cigars you can buy them here and get them shipped right into your greedy paws...
Appearance- 88 a nice looking and well made cigar
Taste- 87 could use some more depth and complexity of flavor, but it was solid offering
Construction- 83 I have to take away points for the horrible band work which led to performance issues
Strength- 88 a nice medium smoke
Overall- 86 a slightly above average experience that could have been better
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