Montecristo Dantes Limited Edition 2016 - 10 cigars

Montecristo Dantes Limited Edition 2016 - 10 cigars [6.6" x 48]

Excellent Medium-Full cigar that makes for a great after dinner smoke

• • Rich flavors of cedar, earth, leather and chocolate
• • Spicy cigar, lots of white pepper but, it still also some enjoyable sweetness and the flavor profile is very well balanced
  

Despite being still a young cigar, it already shows a great character that should only improve after some aging in your humidor.

Presentation:

The Montecristo Dantes Limited Edition 2016 comes in a varnished Semi Boite Nature Box of 10 cigars with Habanos packing code SPB-n-n-n-10

Dimensions:

Length: 167 mm (6.6 inches)

Ring Gauge: 48

Shape: 

Grand Corona

Appearance:

Montecristo Dantes Limited Edition 2016, named after the main character of the novel The Count of Monte Cristo (Edmundo Dantes), is a massive cigar, almost a Churchill in size, the name of the vitola is Hermosos No.1 (the only one in the brand’s line-up). Because it was rolled using carefully selected tobacco leaves that have been aged for at least two years, the wrapper is darker than the usual Montecristo, it’s not quite as dark as a maduro, but darker than a Claro, so probably a wrapper of Colorado tone, a nice uniform deep brown color. The wrapper is fairly toothy, not the smoothest but still soft, so it has a somewhat rustic look. However it is oily enough with no dominant veins that makes a beauty to behold. The triple cap is beautiful, while there are no soft spots, the stick is tightly packed from the head to the foot. As it is a Limited Edition cigar, there is a secondary black and golden band that reads “Edición Limitada 2016”.

Smoking Notes:

Before lighting up

There are aromas of moist earth, plants and grass coming from the wrapper. On the foot, sweeter notes, sweet chocolate, cedar, flowers and freshly cut grass. The dry draw is dominated by some nice earthy, leathery and cedar flavors. There is also some sweetness, from chocolate and from some spiciness, like a cinnamon candy flavor.

Burn/ Draw

The draw is good, with the perfect resistance. And right from the start there are rich flavors, lots of cocoa, creamy butter, toastiness and lots of cedar too. The body is at a medium level for the first puffs. Each of them release a rich and white creamy smoke.

Initial third:

In the first third, the dominant flavors are typical Montecristo, cedar, plenty of chocolate and also some roasted coffee beans. Some leather and very soon some spiciness comes to the forefront. It is not some harsh pepper, but rather some white pepper, it goes very well with the chocolate, almost like a chili chocolate kind of taste. The body is just over the medium mark, close to a medium-full. The construction of the Dantes is great, still lots of smoke, the draw is still perfect and the ash is holding for a good third of the cigar. Very enjoyable first third, very creamy.

Middle third:

The middle section of the cigar is still excellent. Still lots of wood, coffee and some rich cocoa flavors. The chocolate flavor evolved from a dark chocolate to now a milk chocolate. The pepper has receded a bit to the background but it is still present. The body went up a notch and is now a true medium-full. The ash is solid and holds on in dark grey rims.

Final third:

In the final third, the Dantes has now reached the full body mark, it starts to warm up a bit but the flavors have increased in strength, the coffee, the cocoa are stronger as well as the leather. The white pepper is also back. It is a very rich cigar in the final part.

In summary: the Montecristo Dantes is a great after dinner smoke that is still a quite young cigar (Released in February 2017) and should age beautifully.

1 hour 30 minutes – 2 hours