Search the Community

About the cigar Founded in 1935, the Montecristo marca remains one of Cuba's top-selling brands each year, with the brand's Montecristo No. 2 still the best-selling cigar coming out of Cuba. In 2004, Habanos S.A. extended the Montecristo line and released a 5 3/8" x 52 Robusto called the Montecristo Edmundo. Because of its success Habanos S.A. released two variations on the Edmundo vitola: the Petite Edmundo (a 4 3/8" x 52 Petite Robusto) in 2007 and—the focus of today's review—the Double Edmundo, a 6 1/4" x 50 Doble in 2013. Let's see how it smokes. Brand: Montecristo Cigar: Double Edmundo Country of origin: Cuba Wrapper: Cuban Binder: Cuban Filler: Cuban Length: 6 1/4" Ring gauge: 52 Vitola: Dobles Factory: EOT box code Box date: DIC 15 (December 2015) Released: 2013 Price: $399 / box of 25 (depending on source; does not include duties, taxes, etc.) Smoking story The review took place in mid-afternoon on a 75 degrees Fahrenheit day with about 40% relative humidity outside. Appearance The cigars come in a well-constructed cedar box and they look gorgeous. It's wrapped in a light brown wrapper reminiscent of coffee with milk. And it has a slight reddish hue. There aren't many veins, and those veins that do exist are small. The wrapper is fairly smooth with a subtle tooth. It's slightly oily, but not outstandingly so. The size of the cigar is nice. I'm glad they decided to go with a 50 ring gauge instead of 52, as that would've been overwhelming. I almost wish they had gone with something even smaller, like 48. Construction looks solid. The traditional triple cap is perfect, and the seams are minimal. The only negative is it seems a bit firm. The band is the classic Montecristo band, updated for the 21st century. Everything looks crisp, and the band's simplicity paired with the elegance of the cigar make for an enticing stick. Pre-light On the foot I'm getting cedar, raisins, and cacao. It's light but present The cigar cuts easily. The cold draw flavors are similar to the aromas, and there's a bit of pepper on the tongue and salt on the lips. Unfortunately, the draw seems fairly tight. It's not plugged, but it's tight enough that I expect some smoke problems and burn problems. In fact, I decide to cut a bit more off the cap to possibly alleviate the draw issue. It helps a little, but not much. This is something that seems to happen with more regularity in Cuban cigars, so I'm not surprised. But it's a bit disappointing. I'm hoping that it corrects itself as the cigar smokes down. First third The Montecristo Double Edmundo opens quite nicely. You're hit first with white pepper, salt, and cedar. Cream follows those flavors, along with a bit of tanginess. There's almost no sweetness to start, and behind it all is the dusty cacao that first showed up in the cold draw. As the first third progresses, some sweetness enters, along with a bit of milk chocolate. In fact, this particular type of sweetness and chocolate reminds me a bit of a Tootsie Roll (for those of you who've had them!). The cedar is still there, and now a bit of leather enters. As the first third winds up, the sweetness continues to increase. The finish is quite nice: a lingering, sweet, creamy cedar. At this stage, both the strength and body are on the light side of medium. Flavor is medium. As suspected, there are some construction issues. The draw is still too tight, and so the smoke production is lighter than I would like. It's not terrible by any means, but it detracts from the experience. Second third As this Doble puro heads into its second third, a bit of white pepper shows up. It's subtle but there. The cedar and milk chocolate remain, and a nice graham cracker note joins those flavors. Now the cigar shows some darker, dustier flavors like dry coco powder, toasted tobacco, dry earth, and leather. Some salt appears too. There's also a hint of black tea in the background. Strength and body have increased into solidly medium territory. The draw and smoke production have improved a bit. The burn has stayed relatively solid. So far it has required only two minor touch-ups. Final third Sadly, the last third is where this cigar falters a bit. It was really on the way to a great score. Had the flavors continued to increase in intensity and the construction held up, this would've been a low-to-mid 90s cigar. But it wasn't to be. There were some nice flavors in the last third. A nice sourness appeared, and there was chocolate, leather, tobacco, and pepper too. But there was nothing new, and the flavors became less intense and more muddled as the cigar progressed. The strength and body, if anything, decreased. And the smoke production and draw got worse. The cigar ended by getting a little bit too hot, damp, and slightly bitter. A disappointing final third to what was otherwise a lovely cigar. Score Flavor (63 of 70 points) Taste: The flavors were thoroughly enjoyable. The Monte loses one point because the flavors also somewhat common and another for the slight bitterness at the end. 23 points (-2). Complexity: The flavors worked very nicely and there were lots of them. The problem is they didn't change much, especially between the second and final thirds. 13 points (-2). Refinement: It got rough at the end. 8 points (-2). Body: At times (especially in the final third) the body was a bit light. That's probably because of the smoke production issues, so only one point gets deducted here. 5 points (-1). Strength: The strength was spot-on. It was a medium-flavored, medium-bodied cigar, and the strength (at medium) complimented that well; it didn't overshadow things. 5 points (-0). Finish: Nothing wrong with the finish. It lingered, it was sweet, it was creamy, it was full of cedar. Very nice. 5 points (-0). Aroma: Like the finish, the Aroma was also quite nice. Cedar and raisins at pre-light, and more cedar and coco in the room. 5 points (-0). Construction (16 of 20 points) Appearance: A quite lovely cigar. I couldn't wait to smoke it. 5 points (-0). Draw: It was too tight for the first third. It would have lost more points how tight it was, but it corrected itself about halfway through. 3 points (-2). Burn: Needed a slight touch-up but that due to my own obsessiveness about perfect burn lines. I think it would have been fine on its own. It really loses a point here because it got too hot at the end. 4 points (-1) Integrity: Toward the end the wrapper cracked a bit. 4 points (-1). Overall Experience (8 of 10 points) This was an enjoyable smoke. The first two thirds were quite exceptional, actually. It just fell flat at the end. I don't want to be too harsh. The final third wasn't bad; it was above-average. It simply did not live up to the other two thirds or to what I would expect from Montecristo. In the end, I imagine the construction issues plagued this cigar from the start by forcing me to smoke too quickly to keep it lit and keep the smoke flowing. Perhaps a bit more time in the humidor will allow it to settle down even more, though I doubt it. This might just be a specific box of Montes that I put down after the first two thirds. Final score: 87 points.