A Cigar Review: Montecristo Media Noche #2

So to make a long story short, last week I got an email from a gentleman from CigarsCity.com, asking if I would do a cigar review for him.

Of course I said yes.  He didn't even mind that this was a mostly political blog.

The gentleman said he would ship the cigars out to me, and they arrived yesterday, nicely bundled up with a humi-pack to make sure they were good and ready once they got here.  There are two different cigars to be sampled, so you can expect another cigar review tomorrow or Saturday.

First up is the Montecristo Media Noche.  The cigar I had was the #2, which is a box-pressed torpedo.  The wrapper is a flawless dark-colored Connecticut Broadleaf that has a sweet kind of tang and rich tobacco aroma to it when you first pull it from the cellophane.  It's the kind of smell that makes your mouth water.  It feels solid in your hand before you light it.

Once I snipped it, I found the draw to be just a tad tight, but still perfectly smokable.  Lighting it up gave me a good tobacco flavor with hints of chocolate and cedar rounding it out and just a hint of spice on the finish.  It put off a good amount of smoke, and I didn't have to re-light it at all throughout the evening.  As I smoked the first inch it developed a sweeter flavor, more chocolate and less cedar.  The ash was a dark-grey and even in color, and held on for an inch and a half before it finally fell off on it's own.

Halfway through the flavors changed just a bit, adding some toast to the chocolate with the cedar notes still holding on.  The cedar and toast notes increase as you finish the cigar, but towards the end the pure tobacco flavor ends up dominating.

The cigar burned evenly all the way down to my fingertips, with no canoeing or hot spots.  It's a well constructed cigar, which is to be expected from Montecristo.

All in all it was a great medium-bodied smoke.  The flavors were rich but not overbearing, and the sweetness of the Broadleaf wrapper paired well with the cedar and spice from the filler.  All the flavors were very well balanced.

OK, so that's the more technical review.  My less technical review is this:  It's a great cigar, not too strong, goes well with scotch or wine, won't beat up your palate, and smokes better than about 90% of the sticks out there.  Would I grab it if I saw it in my cigar shop's humidor?  Yes.  Would someone who prefers a more mild smoke still enjoy it?  Yes.

Also, if you look in the "Be A Man" block of the sidebar, you'll see CigarsCity.com has been added.  They've got a good selection, good prices, and free shipping for orders of $50 or more.  Plus, if the box I got was any indication (and I think it is) they make sure your cigars get to you in great shape.

So thank you to Anthony from CigarsCity.com for the chance to do this!  I'll be posting my review of the other cigar later.