Montecristo No.2

📌 Brand: Montecristo
📌 Line: No. 2
📌 Size: Pirámide (6 1/8" × 52)
📌 Weight: 12.4 g
📌 Age: 19 years
📌 Origin: Cuba

Tasting Notes

• Cedar – Clean, classic Cuban woodiness

• Sweet Cream – Soft, elegant sweetness through the mid-profile

• Almond – Gentle nutty warmth

• White Pepper – Refined, controlled retrohale lift

First Impressions

A beautifully rolled pirámide with a silky Colorado wrapper and tight seams. Pre-light aromas show cedar, sweet hay, and a faint citrus note. Cold draw is perfect — smooth resistance with hints of pepper and cream.

Smoking Experience

• First Third – Cedar and cream open in harmony, with almond sneaking in softly. Burn is nearly perfect and smoke is dense.

• Second Third – Sweet cream builds, almond becomes more defined, and white pepper peaks on the retrohale. Balanced and elegant.

• Final Third – Pepper sharpens and earthiness joins lightly. A single touch-up needed as the burn drifts, but flavor remains refined and clean to the end.

Pairings

• Alcohol – Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 14 , rich port-finished sweetness with berries, citrus, and oak lifting the cigar’s cream, cedar, and almond tones.

• Tea – Ceylon Kandy Black Tea (Sri Lanka), bright and lightly citrusy, enhancing the sweet-cream complexity without overpowering it.

Music Pairing

“Sailing” – Christopher Cross
Light, breezy energy that pairs with the cigar’s creamy, effortless draw.

Final Thoughts

The Montecristo No. 2 remains a benchmark Cuban — creamy, smooth, gently complex, and effortlessly balanced. Cedar, cream, almond, and pepper weave together with classic elegance. One touch-up kept it from a perfect score, but overall it’s a standout experience.

Final Score: 9/10
Why not a 10?
A single burn correction interrupted otherwise flawless construction and balance.

Only cigars that deliver flawless draw, balance, flavour evolution, construction and satisfaction get a 10.