Montecristo is perhaps one of the oldest and most recognized names in the cigar industry, dating back to the early days of its origins in Cuba. Today, Montecristo exists as an entity in Cuba through Habanos S.A. and its non-cuban counterpart in the United States through Altadis U.S.A. Montecristo is one of the first brands I ever smoked and over the years some of their expanded releases have been some of my favorite cigars I have smoked. Montecristo Espada was first introduced in 2014 as the first all Nicaraguan Montecristo. This year, Altadis U.S.A. unveiled a new Montecristo Espada line called Conquistador being made once again, by the Plasencia family.
Under the Lid
- Origin: Nicaragua
- Factory: Plasencia Cigars S.A.
- Wrapper: Nicaragua (Jalapa)
- Binder: Nicaragua
- Filler: Nicaragua
- Size: Guard (6 x 50)
- MSRP: $20.95 (Box of 10, $209.50)
- Production: Regular Production
The Montecristo Espada Conquistador is available three other sizes:
- Ricasso (5 x 54): $19.95
- Quillon (7 x 56): $21.95
- Magnum Especial (6 x 60): $22.50
Pre-Light
This cigar, like others from the Montecristo brand, comes with a primary, a large secondary and a foot band that packaging wise gives it a very beautiful, upscale and luxurious look. Once I remove the lower two band sand cut my cigar, I begin to check the cold draw. I get some very warm, sweet and rich notes of peach with soft, warm baked apple cinnamon with a hint of mint that altogether gives it this really nice refreshing taste and I get excited to actually smoke it and see how it taste as it burns. Visually, the Espada Conquistador is oily with almost a nice broken in leather texture to it. Not perfectly smooth and clean looking but not rough and very toothy either. There are plenty of small minor veins on the wrapper giving it some character.
The draw itself is also pretty average if there was a scale from one to ten on tightness, with one being extremely loose and ten being tight as a bull’s ass, I would call this at six. In fact, maybe I should start implementing that scale into my reviews going forward. I think it would be helpful for the reader.
First Third
Once the cigar is lit I got an inrush of flavor. This is definitely a full bodied cigar with plenty of pepper and spice in the back of my throat right away. I get plenty of anise and licorice flavor that also mixes with fresh leather, cocoa and gochujang believe it or not giving it a complex start. The ash on this is white, bright white in fact with some black mixed in with it letting me know this is some rich tobacco. However, so far it doesn’t seem very tightly packed and looks as though it could be a looser more fragile ash down the line. I only made it 3/4 of an inch in before it broke over my keyboard so we will have to see how that goes. Not very heavy on smoke production, but not minimal either I would call it average.
As I continue to smoke the cigar, I do notice that the burn line is a little bit uneven. It’s not horrible, but it’s not perfect and should be noted. While it doesn’t appear to be creating any other issues with the experience, we will see if it corrects itself through the rest of the cigar.
Second Third
Many of the notes from the beginning of the cigar in the first third have mellowed out, and it has formed into more of a dry earthy overall flavor theme. This Espada Conquistador is giving me notes of espresso, Baker’s chocolate, toasted almond. But I also must add, there is still a very faint hint of that anise from the beginning, but it’s much more muted and it has moved to the very back of the palette. I am curious to see how that continues to develop. Normally I don’t love the presence of that flavor in a cigar but this is working very well with the rest of the flavor to the point where I am satisfied with it being there. I just hope it stays how it is and doesn’t intensify because it can become a very overpowering flavor, especially when its not a huge favorite to begin with.
The ash continues to be soft and somewhat fragile but it isn’t making a huge mess either so I am fine with it. The draw however has moved down to a five, so it has improved slightly with burn which is always a good thing. Also improving is the smoke production which now is much higher than the start. The cigar is really burning better as it goes on which is also nice to see although these are things that you want to see at a hundred percent right out of the gate.
Final Third
As I get toward the end of the Montecristo Espada Conquistador, I feel as though the cigar improved as it burned for the most part, but wish it had more consistency throughout the entire experience. It remains full bodied and full in strength all the way through and somewhat complex in flavors, but the construction had some minor flaws that I wish were a little better. But overall, this has been a decent cigar and I am willing to be that with some age, these could really go up a few points during a re-vist review. The burn line also seems to have evened out more and the flavor does ramp up for that final push at the end giving me more charred notes and spice rather than the dry earth notes I would say dominated the first half. There is more pepper, charred oak, dried apricot and I also notice that the anise I mentioned before has almost completed disappeared at this point which I am not upset about.
Smokin Wrap
Overall, this a good cigar but it has some minor quirks I wish were a little better. It was scoring around 89, almost 90 until the third sample which dropped the average down to 88. I think that with some age, these could get a little better but mostly for me, I wish that everything I saw in the second half of the cigar was the same from the first puff. But as I said, it isn’t a bad cigar and it is still worth trying.
Smokin Facts
- Cigars were purchased by Smokin Tabacco
- Altadis USA does not advertise with Smokin Tabacco
- Plasencia does not advertise with Smokin Tabacco
- Average smoking time: 1 Hour 35 minutes
