Montecristo Shouts “on guard” With Its New Puro Espada Series

Montecristo continues to launch innovative high quality cigars year after year. One of this year’s launches is the Espada (sword) series that is a Nicaraguan puro made in cooperation with Plasencia. For this series, Montecristo takes a page from the wine industry playbook by identifying the “vintage” and the growing region of the tobaccos used. So the Espada series has an Habano Jalapa Vintage 2010 wrapper and an Habano Jalapa Vintage 2009 binder. The filler is a real mouthful due to its blend of 3 tobaccos – Habano Jalapa Seco Vintage 2008, Habano Jalapa Viso Ometepe Vintage 2008 and Habano Condega Ligero Vintage 2008. This is an impressive sounding pedigree for a new cigar! However the proof will be in the tasting of the sample provided to me by Altadis, a 6 X 50 they call the “Guard”.

The first item to notice on the Guard is the triple banding. The band near the cap and the band at the foot are narrow and identify the brand and series. The middle band is ornate and identifies the partners that made the cigar and a crossed swords emblem. The middle band separates the Guard from the crowd and fortunately, was easily removed so it did not detract from the experience.

The Guard is elegantly shaped and very well constructed with a dark Habano wrapper. The draw was a little short of easy so it was just right for this cigar. The initial flavor was woodsy and charred cedar while the aftertaste was slightly sweet and nutty. The smoke volume was good but the ash was only average. Past the middle, the flavor profile changed to dark cocoa and coffee and sweetness disappeared from the aftertaste while the nuttiness remained. It took 1 hour and 10 minutes to smoke this full bodied cigar. It was good looking, well-constructed and flavorful. However the SRP of $11 to $12 is a little beyond the cigar so I rate it a 4 out of 5.