Montecristo Cigars

Whether you’re smoking a Montecristo, Cohiba or Romeo, chances are, if you live in North America or many parts of Europe, you’re probably sitting outdoors not too far from anything green…. We cigar smokers are finding ourselves farther and farther away from anyone else when we light up and non-smoker’s rights seem to be getting stronger and stronger…. I really feel that they have a good point and don’t need to be subjected to cigarette and cigar smoke if thy don’t want to be….. I feel that there should be more areas where smokers can relax, have a cigar and buy beverages and drink them within the confines of a drinking establishment with separate smoking areas… But here we sit, or stand, away from open doorways and as time goes by, we are getting closer to greener and greener locations, by trees, grass, etc…. Maybe thats not a really bad thing.  I love grass, birds and all kinds of wildlife.. The only enemy my cigar has is the WIND !!!!

This cigar smokin’ guitar playin’ rock star was standing around the front of our house this afternoon making a terrible racket and scaring all of the dogs and children in the neighborhood…. Rock musicians are known for their wild and crazy behaviour and the stories that spring up from backstage antics to tour bus fights and mad raging bouts with drugs and alcohol keep us all entertained for hours but what isn’t really known, or documented, is the amounts of cigars that are smoked by them.  Brian Setzer from the “Stray Cats” is known to be a devoted cigar smoker, as is Tico Torres, the drummer for “Bon Jovi”.  I’m sure that a lot of Montes are smoked back stage as are cigars from many cigar producing countries, whether Cuban or not!!  Stay tuned, as in this next little while I’ll do a lot more research into who is smoking what in the wild world of Rock and Roll….. If you know of any musicians that love the odd stogie, leave a comment.. Thanks!

How else would you ever taste a great Cuban cigar without using the olfactory nerves in your nose…. There are really only a small number of flavors taht our tongue can actually taste and I’m not convinced that either sweet, salty or bitter are really a flavor.. More really a sensation than a taste… I believe that the cigar tasters in Cuba have the job that a few of us in the rest of the world would die for.. I’m serious, to sit in a room and be the person that judges how well a certain batch of cigars taste and whether or not they are the same as the day before would take a palate of immense experience and one that would have a broad range of abilities to be able to detect very very subtle differences…. Could I do it?? Probably not!  Would I want to do it???????? Hmmmmmmmmmm………. Oh yeah!!!!!!!!

This beautiful little Montecristo No 4 will be lit right after I finish this post… I’ve been smoking quite a few lately because I have a wonderful box of them and I’ve beenon a bit of a No 4 kick these days.. I guess you go through phases of different cigars and these are my favorite today…. Speaking of favorite, I just finished Jeannette Walls’ book, “The Glass Castle” !!! WOW !!!!! Talk about a great book filled with stories of a young girl growing up in a family that has it’s own difficulties but a family filled with love and forgiveness…. A LOT of forgiveness….. Jeannette is an example of intelligence, strength and tenacity that has given her the ability to cope in adverse conditions… You may be wondering why I’m speaking about a book in a cigar blog but I know for a fact that many many cigar smokers love to read and I thought, why not mention a good book as I speak about my favorite cigar…. Go out and BUY THIS BOOK, keep in mind that it is a true story and then hang on to your hat!!!!!!!… Oh yeah, happy smoking!!!

Whether visiting friends, family or just winging it, a handbook on getting around Cuba is always a good idea… Just before out last trip to the island of beautiful cigars we picked up this book called Cuba.. A simple title by Christopher P. Parker but this handbook by Moon Handbooks helped us immensely as we traveled around the island and took in as many sights as we could in the 2 weeks we were there..Before we left home we learned from this book about entering the country and the do’s and don’ts on foreign travel..We took along a camera but without checking up on their type of electric plugs in the hotels there, we would have been dead in the water as far as re-charging our cameras and ipods… Learning about local needs led us to take along different items to give away and, believe me, if you have half a heart you’ll be giving away almost half of the clothing you took along…The maps in the handbook helped when walking around Havana and if youre anything like myself you’ll want to visit the cigar factories and it’s all mapped out for you… A must have when traveling!!!!

The iphone is a device that is taking over the world..It has become a very important tool in my everyday life and now I’ve found something that makes it even better… I went to itunes this morning and thought, hey, I wonder if there is any kind of cigar app that is available to us cigar smokers.. No problem!!! I was very surprised when I found 3 that are very useable.. One is called simply “cigar Review” and it is from a site that many people from around the world contribute to.. Not bad…. The next one is called “cigar Handbook For Cigar Lovers” and, well, it is a bit on the light side on options, as far as I’m concerned.. I think the best one is called, “Tasting Notes”… This app has to do with typing your ideas and notes about different wines, cigars, coffees,teas and beer.. This app helps you keep track of your favorite cigars when you are out and about and might not have a pen and paper to record your thoughts about a special cigar..  All in all, the iphone stock has just gone up as far as I’m concerned.

A good friend called me over last night to open his new box of Montecristo Grand Edmundo EL 2010’s… I was very grateful and brought over a beautiful Cab-sav…The first thing that struck us when the box was opened was how dark the wrappers were which could have given us the tip of how much chocolate we were going to be tasting, but at first it was only a visual delight.. The tasting would come later….As you can see the Montes look a bit rough but that didn’t bother us, we were ready to smoke a couple….. The first few puffs quite a smooth taste that was easy to smoke but we waited a moment and then the chocolate appeared….. This was a festival of sweet chocolate that lasted well into the final third and the cigar ended with a little bit of harshness that revealed it’s age but give this 5.9″, 52 ring gauge Robusto Extra a year or so in the humidor and watch out, this will be a cigar that lives up to the legendary status that Montecristo has given us for years.

I have been having the greatest time going back and forth to my humidor the last few weeks and smoking some of the cigars that I’ve been holding on to for the last few years.  I’ve been going through a bit of a run on the Montecristo No 4’s that have been aging and I can’t begin to describe how great they taste after they age and improve… The strong dark chocolate flavors are all still there but seem to have a bit less of an edge than the younger ones I have.. ( I have to be careful not to mix them up).. My Edmundos are coming along nicely and prove to be a “hit” with my occasional cigar smoking buddies that show up… I guess the only thing I have a difficult time with holding on to are the Montecristo No 2’s… They usually taste great out of the box and, yes, aging them only helps with the taste but my problem is keeping them around for any length of time.

I need to get out of town…I’m sure all of you get this feeling from time to time and nothing is better than going on a holiday to a country where cigar smoking is allowed in bars, patio restaurants and hotels… I’m not asking for much, I only want to be able to take a small travel humidor with me and enjoy life the way I see fit….Also too I always take advantage of duty free shops that sell Cuban cigars and I’ve never seen one where Montecristo cigars AREN’T available….Being the most popular Cuban cigar in the world usually means that you can get a Monte of some size and shape at these fine shops where the prices are so agreeable.. A few years back I went to Dubai and it was a smoker’s paradise….You could smoke in your hotel room, hotel lobby, hotel restaurants and, of course, in any of the hotel bars… When shopping in Dubai, and believe me, there’s the world’s best shopping there, an ashtray is brought over to you when you are haggling over the price of either gold, spices or incense….. Many other goods are available in the different Souks but gold is at a fantastic price in the U.A.E……… I need to get out of town!

These three cigars share a lot of the same Montecristo flavors but surprisingly enough there are considerable differences between the Montecristo A, the Montecristo No 4 and the Montecristo Petit Edmundo.  I think that the “A” leads the charge in smoothness, the quality of the tobacco is simply some of the best Cuban tobacco you can find with all of the bean flavors coming through.  The No 4 is a tad stronger and, in my opinion, needs a bit of time in the humidor to settle down..The Petit Edmundo may be one of the best Montes out there with it’s slightly oily wrapper and medium to strong approach… The “A” would probably get my vote for the grand-daddy of taste and elegant smoking experience.