Montecristo White No. 3 Especial

Purchased: 20-pack Corona (5.5 X 44)
Store: Cigar Page
Price: $95.00 on a special
Buy again? Fuck yeah

As some may know, I’m also a wine afficionado and have had a passion for fine wines – especially Pinot Noir and Burgundy – for years. Yesterday I wrote about the Arturo Fuente Candela being like Pinot Noir. The Monecristo White that I’m smoking today falls right into that category as well.

And if was to compare the two to Pinot Noir, I’d say the Fuente is a Duckhorn Pinot, while the Montecristo is a pre-sale Williams-Selyem. Both are super good wines, but the Williams-Selyem is just that much better. If ratings are your thing, the Duckhorn is an 88-89 pointer, while the Selyem is a 95+. And this opinion is based not only on taste but on a variety of things like construction and burn quality.

But flavor-wise, at least for me, the Montecristo just brings more to the table in terms of complexity. The Fuente has all sorts of flavor on tap, and I wrote about that. But the Montecristo just feels much more sophisticated. And while the Fuente changed flavor profiles over the course of the smoke, the Montecristo starts with a base of nuts, leather, honey, spice, and hay and just brings you more of it as you go through the smoke but manages to bring all that without coating your mouth. It’s a very delicate mouthfeel that I find incredibly alluring.

And unlike the Fuente which I felt had a bit of loose roll, the Montecristo is solid. There’s very little give when I hold it. For lesser cigars, this would mean a tight draw. But the draw on this is perfect. Just a little resistance, which is how I like it.

As for the vitola, I definitely prefer it in this size. I recently had a Churchill and it was just as magnificent, but the corona’s flavor is more intense. And by the way, I read reviews on this where reviewers put this in the medium range. At least to me, because of the light mouthfeel, it’s medium-low at best.

Since I got twenty of these sticks, it’ll be a while before I get more. But I think I’ll always have a few of these sticks in my humidor.