Montecristo Number 2

The Montecristo Number 2, the most popular and highest selling Cuban cigar in the world. This torpedo shaped cigar is quintessential to fulling understanding the prowess of Habanos SA when it comes to their ability to develop world class premium cigars. 

Since they are so popular, they are probably one of the easiest Cuban cigars to find and a box of 10 cost around $150 USD while a box of 25 runs around $310 USD. When I purchase these, I usually buy two boxes of 10 because most retailers set them around $275 and they boxes of 10 fit in my already packed tupperdors. Like I said earlier, these cigars are a torpedo vitola that is 6.13" x 52 and all leaves and tobacco come from Cuba. 

Wrapper: Cuba

Binder: Cuba

Filler: Cuba

Length: 6.13"

Ring Gauge: 52
Size: Torpedo

The Smoke: I had this particular cigar while on the road, which was my first work trip in over 5 months due to the covid-19 pandemic. Being on the road again felt good but it was ultra-weird. Anyways, nobody including myself cares to delve into that. What was important is I smoked this cigar in an outside seating area of an airport hotel in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with a great view of planes coming into land which was really cool.

The light tan hued cigar looks and smells very inviting with scents of cocoa and spice. The maroon band along with the gold insignia is a thing of beauty alone. Right away you can tell that this is better than any Altadis produced "fake" Montes that most people in the United States are smoking. 

The cap of this cigar came off with ease with my straight cutter. The South Dakota wind made it slightly more painful to toast and light this cigar with my Bic lighter but eventually I got it going once I found a corner outside of the hotel that I could duck into. The draw of the cigar is good through the entire smoking session which lasted just over an hour.

This cigar is medium bodied with a smooth and creamy smoke. The flavors that this cigar produces is cinnamon, cedar, pepper along with some light floral notes. At times, the flavors are light and other times they are very pronounced. To me the first third and the last third of the cigar are when the smoke is more full and the middle third is when the flavors are more subdued. Still, this is a relatively easy cigar to enjoy but I think the smoker should be aware that the flavors and the body of the cigar vary during the length of the stick.

Overall, this is a great cigar. Truly, the word world-class should be used when describing this smoke. This is a smoke that is consistent and one that every connoisseur should have a box in their humidors to enjoy.

The Score: Buy a Box of 20