[punch]

This cigar is part of a series made by Montecristo for the cigar giant Cigars by Santa Clara. These use a highly aged Connecticut wrapper (circa 1996), a DR binder and aged filler (circa 1993) from the DR and Brazil. These cigars were introduced in 2000 and are sold by JR Cigars and Holts. My particular sample came from Holts and caused me quite a bit of confusion since Holts markets them as having a Havana 2000 wrapper. First, I checked with Cigars by Santa Clara to see if any of these shipped with the Havana 2000 wrapper, and I was told that they were unaware of any Club Cabinets made that way. I then checked with the people from Holts and they informed me that this was their error, and the cigars do indeed ship with the aged Connecticut wrapper. By the way, the Connecticut wrapper on these cigars is quite dark and can easily be confused with the H2000 by sight alone, but the taste will prove the origin as the USA and not Nicaragua.

The particular size that I am reviewing is the No. 10 which is a 5.625 X 42 Corona that comes nude in a cedar cabinet. The external appearance on these, and the No. 40 Lonsdales that I also purchased, is beautiful. The dark wrapper shines and does not appear dried out, as is the case with so many cigars these days. The only flaw that I detected is that the caps tend to be a bit lackluster on the samples that I have. This was not the case with the No. 40 size where the caps were near perfect.

Smoking this cigar was everything that I expected. The first third of the cigar was perfect in burn, smoke and draw. There was no hint of harshness, but this I expected with tobacco of this age. Flavor for the first third was good, but not as intense as the Montecristo Afrique and H2000 lines. I deducted half a point for the lack of flavor intensity which still gave the first third 31.5 points out of a possible 32.0. The middle third of the cigar was the same song, only the second verse. Again 31.5 points out of 32.0. The last third of the cigar remained a strong performer with the flavor remaining the same as before, but incurring a bit of harshness as the band was approached. I deducted a full point for this harshness on the last third. The cigar remained quite smokable well passed the band.

I gave this cigar a final grade of A+ as it averaged 3.93 on my four point scale. Samples of this cigar set me back a reasonable $5.00 a stick purchased as singles. Box price from Holts would but this cigar at $4.00 a stick which is quite reasonable for the Montecristo quality and smooth taste of this cigar. I am still testing the longer and slightly more expensive Lonsdales, but so far they seem to be simply longer versions of the No. 10. I am anxiously awaiting my shipment of the No. 50 Toros to see how they compare with the Montecristo Afrique Jambo Jambo and H2000 Magnum cigars that I currently enjoy.