Cigar Review: Montecristo White Vintage Connecticut

• Vitola: No. 2
• 6” x 50 ring gauge Pyramid 
• MSRP $14.50
• Provided by local rep

Background

Yes, it is Sunday and, Yes, it is a little odd for this blog to be posting on a Sunday…this piece was originally supposed to run two days ago, but I forgot to pre-post it. So I pre-posted and scheduled it for Saturday morning…and the scheduler failed to actually get it posted. Third time’s a charm…here’s the review…

I can remember a time when the Altadis Montecristo brand was one that I had pretty much given up on…the Classic was okay, the Platinum was okay, the White was mild and okay…then the attitude change at Altadis started forcing me to pay a little more attention. The Epic was a great cigar in both the regular yellow band version and the limited red band. The Monte by Montecristo was a solid affordable release. The Espada was excellent. So I didn’t immediately discount the White Vintage Connecticut when I heard about it. I did try a sample from the trade show last August and found it pretty good, so when my local area rep handed me a couple samples last month, I thought it would be a good time to give it the “full review treatment.”

The Montecristo White Vintage Connecticut is similar in makeup to the regular White Series, although in addition to the Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers used on the normal White, the Vintage adds some Peruvian. Both cigars have Nicaraguan binder leaves, but the wrapper is where things are markedly different. The regular White uses an Ecuadorian grown Connecticut Shade leaf, while the White Vintage uses U.S. grown Connecticut Shade, grown specifically for Altadis at the “Montecristo Exclusive Farms.” It is a Vintage 2008 leaf.

It’s an excellent opportunity to explore the differences between Connecticut Shade leaf actually grown in Connecticut versus the same seeds grown in Ecuador. I believe Jose Blanco told me that U.S. grown leaf requires longer fermentation and aging in order to dispel all bitterness, but when done right it has more snap and sweetness than the Ecuadorian version…Ecuadorian leaf doesn’t take as long (or as much money) to make usable, but doesn’t generally have the same potential, either (any error in the foregoing statement is down to me remembering Jose’s words incorrectly…NOT him telling me the wrong info).

I’ve smoked 2 Montecristo White Vintage Connecticut cigars before this review sample, which was provided by a company representative…to whom I say, “Thank you!”

Prelight

I have to say at the outset, that I would not have chosen this size simply because I avoid torpedo-tipped cigars whenever possible…but this is what was given to me and I have to admit that the first sample of the same size did smoke very well. The regular White Series has a fairly plain look, with primary and secondary bands of “Montecristo” and “White Series” declarations, respectively. They upped the visual game on this version with the “Montecristo White Series” being contained in the primary band, a secondary band that has a photo of a tobacco field and curing barn on it, plus a foot band that declares “Vintage Connecticut.” It is in line with the triple banding done to the Espada…both cover a large portion of the cigar, but both also declare loudly that they are special editions of the Montecristo line.

What I can see of the wrapper leaf is a golden hue with a minimal amount of smudging and mottling. Taking off the extra bands didn’t change that assessment. The wrapper leaf had a rich, sweet hay aroma to it, along with touches of wood and earth. The foot had more earth in the mix, but hay was there as well.

I clipped what I deemed adequate for the torpedo-shaped tip and got a good draw as a result. The flavor from the cold draw was a mix of earth and hay, with just a touch of paint thinner…yeah, I know, not the most appetizing of notes, and maybe I’m misidentifying it, but there definitely was a bit of an unusual chemical note on the prelight.

Flavor

Once fired up, the Montecristo White Vintage Connecticut had a more-than-expected earthiness up front, with cedar and grassy notes coming in close behind. I had just a touch of citrus in the mix and a very low white pepper on the palate. The retrohale had more citrus snap and a more fiery pepper note to it. After about 10 minutes the pepper mellowed a bit on the nose and some additional citrus notes started to come through on the palate.

In the second third, notes of graham cracker popped up while the citrus notes became even more prominent, mixing well with the grassier flavors. The white pepper on the palate stayed at a consistent low level, while the retrohale had a combination of roasted nuts and cedar.

The last third showed more grassy and citrus notes, although a bit of bitterness crept into the mix, as well. This could have been due to the ever-constricting ring gauge dictated by the pyramid construction.

Construction

I found excellent construction in all samples I’ve had of this cigar…great draw, very even burn line, and solid ash that broke off in almost inch-long chunks.

Value

This is a fairly pricey cigar. Part of that is paying for the Montecristo name, but part is definitely the premium demanded by the specialized leaf used and the fantastic construction. The construction is nothing less than I would expect from a company like Davidoff, and this cigar is about $5 a stick less than the equivalent one from them would be, so I call this good value.

Conclusions

I found the Montecristo White Vintage Connecticut to be a very fine smoke overall, with a mild-to-medium body that mostly had a very pleasant flavor profile. It was complex enough to remaining interesting throughout and definitely holds my interest more than a standard White Series would. As for a recommendation, I have to say that you should only search this one out if you are looking for a milder smoke, although it does stand up pretty well to more expensive offerings from the other White Label company. Because of my predilection for Nicaraguan leaf, my favorite Montecristo remains the Espada, but this is definitely a nice change of pace.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10