Montecristo Tubos ISOM Review

JonathanE

If you haven’t read my review on the Romeo y Julieta, Romeo No. 1 cigar, go read it now because you’ll find it amusing how similar the lineage of these two brands are. Montecristo cigars, like RyJ cigars were founded and proliferated by enterprising individuals before their kingdoms were stolen (nationalized) by Uncle Fidel.

In this case, the story begins in 1935 with Alonso Menéndez’ purchase of a Particulares factory and his generation of a new brand, “Montecristo,” named after Alexandre Dumas’ famous novel, “The Count of Monte Cristo.” You may recognize the fleur-de-lis in the Montecristo logo thanks to its use as a brand for identifying condemned criminals in Dumas’s “The Three Musketeers” novel. The Montecristo brand label fittingly consists of a fleur-de-lis surrounded by six rapier swords.

In 1936 Menéndez formed a firm with his new partner called Menéndez, García y Cía (if you read my RyJ review, you should see some familiar ownerships here), purchased the H. Upmann brand from J. Frankau SA and moved Montecristo production to the H. Upmann factory which continued producing the Montecristo line up until the Cuban revolution and the nationalization of the cigar industry (1960-1961).

I don’t know if the brand owners of Romeo y Julieta put up a fight to stave off Cuba’s copyright claims against their use of the Romeo y Julieta name after they relocated operations to the Dominican Republic but, when Uncle Fidel tried to help himself to the “Montecristo” brand label after the evacuation of Menéndez, García, Cía and friends to the Canary Islands (yeah, rough, I know), these gentlemen did put up a fight…

…and lost.

As with RyJ, however, the true owners re-relocated to La Romana of the Dominican Republic, reestablished the brand and began marketing their cigars in the United States where, thanks to the embargo, Cubatabaco’s claim against the brand was not recognized. Repititiously, as with RyJ, Menéndez, García, y Cía is now owned and distributed by Altadis SA.
(As a reminder from my RyJ review, Altadis SA has a 50% stake in Cuba’s nationalized cigar industry de-bastardizing Cuban Montecristo cigars by way of adoption. Let’s not forget, however, that, like RyJ, the true owners of the Monetecristo brand are historically estranged from their counterpart nationalized Cuban brands.)



Next time you see a Cuban cigar, ask it, “Who’s yo daddy!?” You might be surprised to find out that Cuba has little legitimate claim against some of its most famous brands!

Does it come as much of a surprise that a cigar with such a shaky childhood failed to impress? Maybe I should have gotten a Dominican Montecristo that grew up with daddy Menéndez instead of a cheat that grew up with Uncle Fidel! Maybe this proves that you can’t nationalize an art form and expect it to maintain the same standards as established by the artisans of the free world. Whatever the case, this Cuban is not on par with its free-world rivals.

Next time someone hands you a Montecristo “Tubos,” go ahead and start by cutting off the first inch of the cigar or you might end up throwing the whole thing away before it gets a chance to redeem itself. The initial flavor was really awful but I stuck with it until it began to improve. The smoke production was poor and the draw was almost impossible at first but, like the flavor, it improved with time.

The taste was extremely complex and evolving but poorly blended/balanced. It started out with an earthy, leathery taste mixed with a touch of bitterness and liquor and then morphed into a semisweet, wheat bread espresso blend with a little pepper before closing out with the addition of hickory and spice. Like I said, complexity was there but complexity is nothing if it amounts to a conglomeration of second rate ingredients. Unlike the RyJ, I don’t think this cigar has any gains to enjoy by aging. Aged trash = compost in my book.

Rereading what I’ve written so far I think I may have been a tad harsh but it was fun so leave me alone. Specifically, I rated the Montecristo Tubos at 64. My current overall average cigar rating is a 78.

I would buy the RyJ again but this Montecristo is definitely not going to make my list of future purchases. That being said, I really do hope to find a Cuban that absolutely blows me away, lives up to the hype and makes me regret the embargo but, for now, I’m standing by my judgments.

Cuba is 0/2.

JDE

docbp87

While the owners of the Monte name may not be the same anymore in Cuba, it's the tobacco used that matters. Just because Menendez owned the name, doesn't change the fact that Montecristo was made with certain Cuban tobacco. Just because the name, and owner are the same, the product doesn't compare... Also, unfortunately the Monte tubos is the worst of the brand, aside from the Monte Open line, IMO. Not surprised you weren't impressed. Monte is hit and miss to begin with, even.