I was trying to review cigars more often then I got busy, then I got sick, then I had 5,672 weddings to attend and reviews fell by the wayside. But tonight I decided to light up something nice for what might be one of the last nights of the year in MI at 70 degrees. I picked out a Monte Especial No 1, box code ARG OCT 14. I bought these fresh and have been pulling as slowly as I can manage from the box over the last few years.
Appearance and prelight experience: It looks pretty solid. Not great, not exactly what I dream of when I open a box of cigars from 2014, but pretty damn solid. A little bit light on the oils perhaps and the color is just OK. But it looks nice, theres excellent box aroma and the cigar feels good, no soft spots or anything that sends off alarms. Prelight draws are the dumbest thing in the history of ever, so we'll be skipping that nonsense and just start lighting.
First third: Spicy up front post light, kinda like cinnamon fucked paprika. One thing that pops out immediately is the smoke production. I like a nice mouthful of smoke when I take a pull and these deliver in spades. The spice fades relatively quickly and is replaced by cedar. Cedar on cedar on cedar for a little less than an inch and my God is it fucking boring.This is the cigar smoking equivalent to banging a brawd who just goes starfish on you. Sure, its still sex, but you find yourself checking your watch a couple times anyway wondering when you can just be done with it. Around an inch some transition and extra flavors mercifully come to save the day. The wood notes are still present but a flavor like buttered seasoned grilled mushrooms pops in with some bready toasty flavors.
Second third: At some point between the end of the first third and the beginning of the second some coffee flavors pop up that are quite enjoyable. Its worth noting that its windy and getting windier but this burn line is razor sharp and this cigar is performing well in spite of less than optimal conditions. We're cooking with gasoline now cuz this bitch is really firing on all cylinders at this point. At some point the wood flavors come back to the forefront before fading again and getting replaced by the buttered grilled mushroom flavor once more. Hints of dark chocolate here and there but not like a top quality Monte 2 level or anything like that. Still, a nice variety of flavors. Randomly, towards the end of the cigar I get a couple pulls that remind me of BBQ pulled pork with a vinegary yet sweet North Carolina BBQ sauce. Very interesting, very different, very unexpected.
Final third: The wind, which is being a little bitch right now, knocked my cigar in to the ashtray. Its a Stinky, so its deep, but thankfully it falls in lit side first. I blow it off quickly and somehow, it manages to stay lit and keep going with nary a touchup. This is performing like a fucking champ. Some more chocolate flavors pop in here and there along with a black coffee and sometimes a creamed coffee. More cedar, which is pleasant when it mixes in instead of just dominating the profile.
Prelight: 8/10 Like I said before, its solid, but not great. Little lacking in appearance causes this cigar to drop a couple points.
Construction and burning properties: 25/25 Even on a windy night, I didn't have to even touch this up one time. You can't get a better burn than that. And the constuction was on point all the way through. Hats off to whoever rolled this gem.
Draw and smoke production: 25/25 I didn't mention this at all, but the draw was pure perfection from the cut onwards. I don't mind having to use a draw tool for 30 seconds here and there, but there was really no need to mess with this even one iota. I already mentioned the smoke production, it was bountiful and lovely.
Flavor: 25/30 Save the boring first inch, the flavors were pretty good. There was a nice variety of flavors and couple surprises as well which made for a nice profile. Still, nothing over the top amazing to give a perfect score for and I have to deduct points for the first inch as well. This feels about right.
Value: 8/10 This was a tough one to pin down, they're good cigars and I've had a couple that were great. I know these are gems down the road with more time on them. But they're expensive, I paid $325 for this box back in early 2015. These days, a fresh box is running around $400 at the cheapest. They're good, but are they $16/stick good for fresh stuff? Rating this particular cigar with a $13 cost with close to 5 years on it, the value is good at this point in time.
Total: 91 This is a solid, albeit not amazing example. These aren't strong nicotine wise but I feel like theres still more left in the tank on these as time goes on. I'm excited to see how good these can get as there is definitely potential for more here.
Final thoughts: I enjoy a good lancero, but unfortunately Habanos has cut the shit out of the vitola. There's these and CoLa and that's it as far as current regular release cigars go. I fell out of love with the size when I smoked only NCs for a large variety reasons: lack of smoke production, poor rolls, or blends simply not working in the format. I learned the hard way that simply putting a blend into a lancero doesn't mean it will be better, quite often it made it much worse.
Appearance and prelight experience: It looks pretty solid. Not great, not exactly what I dream of when I open a box of cigars from 2014, but pretty damn solid. A little bit light on the oils perhaps and the color is just OK. But it looks nice, theres excellent box aroma and the cigar feels good, no soft spots or anything that sends off alarms. Prelight draws are the dumbest thing in the history of ever, so we'll be skipping that nonsense and just start lighting.
First third: Spicy up front post light, kinda like cinnamon fucked paprika. One thing that pops out immediately is the smoke production. I like a nice mouthful of smoke when I take a pull and these deliver in spades. The spice fades relatively quickly and is replaced by cedar. Cedar on cedar on cedar for a little less than an inch and my God is it fucking boring.This is the cigar smoking equivalent to banging a brawd who just goes starfish on you. Sure, its still sex, but you find yourself checking your watch a couple times anyway wondering when you can just be done with it. Around an inch some transition and extra flavors mercifully come to save the day. The wood notes are still present but a flavor like buttered seasoned grilled mushrooms pops in with some bready toasty flavors.
Second third: At some point between the end of the first third and the beginning of the second some coffee flavors pop up that are quite enjoyable. Its worth noting that its windy and getting windier but this burn line is razor sharp and this cigar is performing well in spite of less than optimal conditions. We're cooking with gasoline now cuz this bitch is really firing on all cylinders at this point. At some point the wood flavors come back to the forefront before fading again and getting replaced by the buttered grilled mushroom flavor once more. Hints of dark chocolate here and there but not like a top quality Monte 2 level or anything like that. Still, a nice variety of flavors. Randomly, towards the end of the cigar I get a couple pulls that remind me of BBQ pulled pork with a vinegary yet sweet North Carolina BBQ sauce. Very interesting, very different, very unexpected.
Final third: The wind, which is being a little bitch right now, knocked my cigar in to the ashtray. Its a Stinky, so its deep, but thankfully it falls in lit side first. I blow it off quickly and somehow, it manages to stay lit and keep going with nary a touchup. This is performing like a fucking champ. Some more chocolate flavors pop in here and there along with a black coffee and sometimes a creamed coffee. More cedar, which is pleasant when it mixes in instead of just dominating the profile.
Prelight: 8/10 Like I said before, its solid, but not great. Little lacking in appearance causes this cigar to drop a couple points.
Construction and burning properties: 25/25 Even on a windy night, I didn't have to even touch this up one time. You can't get a better burn than that. And the constuction was on point all the way through. Hats off to whoever rolled this gem.
Draw and smoke production: 25/25 I didn't mention this at all, but the draw was pure perfection from the cut onwards. I don't mind having to use a draw tool for 30 seconds here and there, but there was really no need to mess with this even one iota. I already mentioned the smoke production, it was bountiful and lovely.
Flavor: 25/30 Save the boring first inch, the flavors were pretty good. There was a nice variety of flavors and couple surprises as well which made for a nice profile. Still, nothing over the top amazing to give a perfect score for and I have to deduct points for the first inch as well. This feels about right.
Value: 8/10 This was a tough one to pin down, they're good cigars and I've had a couple that were great. I know these are gems down the road with more time on them. But they're expensive, I paid $325 for this box back in early 2015. These days, a fresh box is running around $400 at the cheapest. They're good, but are they $16/stick good for fresh stuff? Rating this particular cigar with a $13 cost with close to 5 years on it, the value is good at this point in time.
Total: 91 This is a solid, albeit not amazing example. These aren't strong nicotine wise but I feel like theres still more left in the tank on these as time goes on. I'm excited to see how good these can get as there is definitely potential for more here.
Final thoughts: I enjoy a good lancero, but unfortunately Habanos has cut the shit out of the vitola. There's these and CoLa and that's it as far as current regular release cigars go. I fell out of love with the size when I smoked only NCs for a large variety reasons: lack of smoke production, poor rolls, or blends simply not working in the format. I learned the hard way that simply putting a blend into a lancero doesn't mean it will be better, quite often it made it much worse.
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. Great smoke! Still love the lance!