Montecristo No2 Comparison


asmith

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Rob and I sat down and tried two Montecristo No2 but before we started we cut them open and worked out how much of each different style of tobacco was used in each. How does the different percentage of tobacco in each change the flavour and body of each. A really interesting experiment.

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Awesome experiment. Really enjoyed it.

This is a fantastic video as a followup to my questions in the thread "Blending Cigars 101". It shows exactly what I was trying to get at.

Also, how do you detect what leaf is what when you disassemble the cigar?

Wrapper and binder a self explanatory... but what distinguishes ligero, seco and valado from one another?

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Rob, I will go through your blending 101 thread tomorrow so I can dedicate the necessary time to it. I have to read the next chapter of "Franklin goes to the Circus" to Tom tonight :P

Dissecting the filler leaves is relatively easy. Touch, colour and aroma determine the seco, volado and Ligero. Volado is paler, more brittle with less aroma. Seco is a shade darker in colour, more pungeant in aroma, silkier to the touch. Ligero (in general) darker again, pepper notes to the aroma (quite distinctive).

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Very informative review guys, thanks for that. Rob, do you see the 08 Monte developing any of that creaminess and complexity with age or is the profile pretty much going to stay the same, minus some of the rough edges of a younger cigar, because of the lack of seco leaf? If a blend is what it is right off the bat based on the percentages of the different leaves in the blend how is it then that ageing a cigar will actually affect it's profile?

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Extremely interesting... And two great reviews to go with it.

Was also thinking if they need 35% or so ligero just to reach medium body then how will these smoke in 5 years when they have settled and some of the mongrel is muted? Not to mention the smaller amount of seco, thus taking away some of the finesse and nuance potential... Are we entering a period of cuban cigars where aging actually moves the cigar away from its marque and is almost to a point, redundant? Are the current cigars at their best within the first 1-2 years?

Again extremely interesting and thought provoking!

Many Thanks.

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I just want to point out that the opinions/observations in this review are very subjective, based on two boxes and a sample size which really makes it near irrelevant.

I would like to do one in every 4 video reviews along these lines so that we can gain a greater understanding (over time) of the correlation between blend, body and flavour.

In the next one I would like to take an older HDM E2 and compare it to an 08 Epi 2 which has really increased in body.

As for the question on Seco laden cigars...go no further than HDM le Hoyo series (Des Dieux being a benchmark).

On the question of youth affecting the tasting....certainly plausible. However many other 08's have been utterly rich with loads of cream and coffee with no astringency whatsoever. There was a hollowness in flavour in this 08 Monte 2 which I don't think time will improve. We think we know from its dissection where the hollowness is coming from. Still, only an opinion.

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Thanks very much for that experiment, very informative. I look forward to future comparison reviews such as this

Rob I know you mentioned the Epi 2 but I would like to see the BBF which has returned to form so to speak. Let's see an 04 BBF compared tothe great 07's and 08's.

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Very interesting and thought provoking review, boyz. Thanks much! Think I'll pull out one of my KMM DIC04 Monte 2's and see what you're talking about.

Edit: I burned that DIC04 Monte No. 2 tonight, and found it to be quite enjoyable. The prelight aromas were aged tobacco and light cocoa. It was a nice medium-bodied smoke all the way, with lots of beany notes, including bittersweet cocoa, milk coffee and light caramel. Very smooth and well-balanced. I'd give it a 90 or 91.

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Thanx a bunch! Closer pics would have been great though. ^_^

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Great review.

Rob/Smithy, I'd love you opinion on this statement I hear a lot: "wrapper provides 90% of the flavor".

NinJack, I'm not Rob or Smithy (and thankfully so - I can make my own trouble), and at the risk of being called a dobber by a certain irascible

member of the forum, check out the classic posts forum. There are a number of "wrapper exchange" threads, and a couple of Montecristo

No.2 Light vs. Dark wrapper threads. These should shed a bit of real life light on the subject.

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Great video... very informative.

If you're open to suggestions... if I may... I'd like to suggest that you review the cigars first, then cut them open and see if the review matches the results. I am a firm believer that expectations influence the enjoyment and even the taste of a cigar, and I've read a study somewhere that support this.

Again, this is a great concept and was very interesting to watch. Thanks for sacrificing a couple of cigars for the experiment.

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