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I was browsing the Habanos SA website earlier, waiting to retry the Verification feature when I saw that Montecristo has a "Tubo" that is a separate Vitola from any of the un tubed sizes. A 42 by 6 1/8" Corona Grande or pretty much the perfect size in my opinion. I have been poking around cubancigarwebsite.com and the internet in general, but I haven't found a lot of good info on these. I guess my main question is why haven't I seen these anywhere before? Monte is my favorite Marca. I regularly smoke 2s, 3s and 4s, but I know nothing of the Tubos. I don't hear anybody talking/raving or bitching about them. In fact, I haven't heard anything at all. What gives? Are they low volume/production or do they suck? From outside appearances, the marca, size, and convenience of the Tubes attracts me, but I dont know anything else about them. Does anybody have experience with these?

I am an unabashed lover of lonsdales. I just love the format. I smoked a couple chickens for my mom, brother and I for an early dinner and after waking up from the food coma I put myself in (desert was delicious and the main cause of the food coma). Anyways when I roused myself from my slumber my brother suggested we have a cigar. I figure it's a good excuse to dig into "the" box of Monte 1s that I insist on a good reason before reaching for it. The cigar is just incredibly smooth. The wrapper is thin, oily and supple. The burn remained perfect from start to finish. Smoke output remained on the voluminous side except right at the end. There was only one transition which happened at the final third, and it was pretty subtle at that. Dark chocolate, cream, and espresso were the main flavors for the first 50 minutes of the cigar. The last 25 minutes added some black pepper and some overall sweetness to the flavors. I love this cigar. I will lose my mind if HSA cuts this cigar.

Monte Media Corona. 20 Aug 2015 Initial draws Green coffee bean, tobacco, sweet cedar. Nice draw, good amount of smoke Getting a bit more sweeter Feels like a mix of a fresh RyJ Ex4 and CoRo. Half way Moving to more milk coffee with a hay undertone. Some backing spices Last inch Licorice, slight increase in strength to medium Feels like it has a bit a problem with the outside RH, purged it. Cleans up a bit on the flavor. Nice smoke, a bit fresh for my taste but a good mood changer. Can see them more elegant with some time on it. 40 minutes smoke. Thanks for reading.

It's Friday on this side of the pond, and after an excellent Monte Especial No. 1 yesterday, thanks to Brad (and Werner by proxy), I figured I celebrate with another Montecristo. The wrapper is silky with a slight sheen to it, and almost has a reddish color in the right light. The cold draw was a little on the tight side, but nothing too worrisome. I noticed a hard spot near the shoulder, which was probably the cause. I fired it up anyways and found the draw was not perfect, but copacetic at least. I immediately get a mouthful of heavenly, creamy milk flavors with some chocolate on the finish. There seemed to be just a hint of leather and maybe some spices as well. Perhaps nutmeg? As I progressed into the second third, the taste of coffee appeared, but was still playing second fiddle to the creaminess of the cigar. The coffee really stepped up in the final third, and was joined by the revisiting leather, and maybe - just maybe - some earthiness as well. I was also still tasting the baking spices, which continued to increase alongside the coffee tones. At the end, the cigar did get a bit bitter and harsh, but I was nearly burning my finger anyways, so I wasn't disappointed. The burn stayed spot on and the ash was dense, so besides the slightly tight draw, construction was great. The flavors were classic, delicious Monte, with medium-full body and medium strength. This is a great box and I look forward to seeing how they mature in the next year or two.