Montecristo Especial No. 1 1997

Measures: 189 mm x 14,5 mm
Age: The cigar came from a wonderful selection of fine smokes I received from a fellow cigar smoker. It dates from 1997.
Setting: Today was my 51st birthday, although I somehow prefer to think of it as the third time I become 17. Other than that, 51 is not a special number, so the celebrations were quite modest: nice lunch followed by birthday cake with the closest family. A good cigar felt nevertheless a proper complement on top of this. This time I did not have to search long for the suitable choice: I had recently received aged Montecristo Especials from a fellow smoker as part of a selection of fine cigars, and by this time they had had a good rest for recovering from the long voyage.

Suggestions from more experienced smokers have lately turned my attention to the classical long thin cigars, of which the Montecristo Especial is a fine example. The Laguito No 1 format is indeed impressive, without being intimidating. It is substantial, but with a playful twist. This cigar was clad in very beautiful colorado wrapper that still felt oily after the many years of storage. It was uniformly covered with white dust particles that reflected the afternoon sunshine. Overall, the construction of the cigar appeared to just as perfect as one might hope. I cut the cigar, and tried the draw which proved to be perfectly resistive, confirming that this cigar indeed had been stored in perfect conditions. The cold aroma was slightly salty, with exotic spices over earthy tobacco.

The cigar lit easily and eagerly: a benefit of the small ring size. I was greeted with a substantial earthy aroma with hints of coffee and cacao, even chocolate. There was a good dose of spice too that tingled my palate: for once I was thinking of wasabi, intermittently also citrus. At later stages, the richness and intensity of the flavour increased gradually. While the cigar clearly had Montecristo profile, it still was a unique expression of it in its balance of mature tobacco and sweetish elements. The cigar produced very light grey ash with yellowish shade; it held quite firm in 1-inch increments. The burn of the cigar was perfect, never requiring any attention from my part. The smoking session lasted some 90 minutes.

All in all, this is indeed a special cigar, as the vitola name suggests. In my mind, the experience of smoking it was like admiring a classical piece of art: the mastery of expression, the balance of elements, the strong personality. This is perhaps a cigar that should be smoked in the top floor of a high-rise building, wearing a tuxedo, watching the city lights, thinking of the passage of time and the ups and downs of life.