Montecristo No. 4 TBS JUN 06

[zuma]

Got this box early last year, as a gift from my wifey. They were strong yet quite nice then... but not necessarily complex. They then turned against me and developed an unpleasant bitter edge and sourish finish. So, I let them rest for a few months with the hope that they would sleep their unpleasantness off. About three weeks ago, a mate visiting from Italy chose one of these out of the box, smelled it and said "this one is ready for me...". I tried to steer him to a Parti shorts or a Trini Reyes, but he said he'd be fine... as he smoked it he kept looking at it and raving about how good it was... I though "maybe..."

So,I got me-self a weak unsweetened black coffee, and I pulled a monte 4 out... it had a soft scent of coffee and honey, a chocolate brown and slightly oily wrapper with a few veins; it felt firm to touch but had no evident hard or soft spots. At cold, the draw was spot-on, leaving on the lips sweet leathery tobacco.

It opened with strong coffee and a dash of milk (actually, like a good macchiato), no sweetness, with a leather and coffee finish that was faintly sour. After the first inch, the texture became creamier with hints of sweet marzipan embedded in the macchiato core, with cedar and leather lingering in the palate after each draw. Through the nose there was no spice nor pepper.

Near the midpoint, the body became fuller and stronger, dominated by a clean espresso core with abundant smoke volume which had a delicious sweet leathery texture. no milk, no cream. Through the nose, the smoke became unbearably sharp and spicy (I did not try again). However, within less than an inch, the marzipan hints returned bringing in also a nice sharp cinnamon bite, that gave the core a turkish-coffee character.

Beginning the last third, some cream was chucked into the marginally-sweet spicy espresso core, the smoke retained the leathery texture but acquired a certain chewiness... toward the very end, the cinnamon spice built up nicely.

The burn was well behaved throughout, relatively straight, with striated light grey ash. The aroma was rich and inviting...

I thoroughly enjoyed it... guess my italian mate could spot they had turned around just from the smell!

Fortunately, I have half a box left of this box code. I hope that my unopened OCT 06 will be just as good and improving...

I'll give it 91/100

Edited (07.10.08): Thread moved to the "Habanos Review Forum"

[El Presidente]

Remarkable what a little rest time can do :-)

Great review Zuma