Montecristo Espada Oscuro

Purchased: 10-pack Guard (6 X 50 Toro)
Price: $53.00
Store: Atlantic Cigar
Buy Again: Yes
Box Worthy: Yes – but since I can get 10-packs for half the price of a box, that’s what I will be buying.
Experience Rating: 96

A lot of snobs love to throw shade on Altadis or STG or General because of their collection of regular production/catalogue sticks and often accuse them of dumbing down the original brands after they purchase them. There’s some truth in that. For instance, many feel Camacho cigars were better before the brand was purchased by Davidoff. But the plain fact of the matter is that they own lots of brands that I happen to like and frequent.

I’ve known for a long time that Altadis owned the non-Cuban Montecristo brand. But I found that out only after I had been smoking Monte Whites and Classics for years. They were just damn good smokes. And when Monte released the Espada and Signature series, I was confident I’d enjoy the smokes. And I did, and still do.

I found it a little amusing that I’m only now coming around to writing about the Espada Oscuro because I’ve had several over the years. But like Padrons, I’ve only smoked them in shops. But I got a bunch for a great price and now that I’ve got some in my collection, I realized that it was high time I wrote about it.

Here’s the thing that has always intrigued me about this smoke: It’s not your daddy’s Montecristo. The Espada series is the first Nic puro produced by Montecristo. On top of that, Plasencia produces the cigar. You still get that smoothness you’d expect from a Monte, but make no mistake, this has Plasencia’s signature all over it. What I mean by that is that Plasencia has had this uncanny ability to mask a cigar’s strength and a complexity with a creamy smoothness. Smoke an Alma de Fuego and you’ll see what I mean. You don’t know you’re smoking an ass-kicker until you’re over halfway through the smoke.

And that’s how it is with the Espada Oscuro. It starts out smooth and creamy and it just feels like a medium-body smoke. But by the end of the cigar, I’m like, “WTF! That was frickin’ strong!” I must hand it to Plasencia. They’re masters of providing this type of experience! And now that I can get these at an awesome price (can’t believe I’ve been paying $20/stick at a lounge for these), I will be keeping them in stock going forward.

As for the profile, it’s as expected with a Nic puro. You get the classic flavors we all know: Cedar and white pepper upfront evolving into black pepper, baking spices, lots of cacao and coffee, roasted nuts, and a background fruity sweetness throughout the smoke. I know, we’ve all tasted this before.

And though there is a definite familiarity about its flavor profile, it’s the presentation of those flavors that makes this a special smoke. This is a complex, full-body cigar. The smoothness masks what’s really going on. And while the familiar flavors provide a nice backdrop to the profile, it’s the subtle flavors that pop in and out throughout the smoke that make this a special cigar. There are floral notes, honey, hazelnut, lemon peel, guacamole (that was a surprise), oaky tannins, cashew nut, cashew fruit, molasses. The dance is beautiful!

I’ve opted not to describe the profile in thirds because this is a cigar that constantly evolves in both flavor and intensity, especially intensity. By the time I got to the end of the cigar, I felt like my eyeballs were going to come out of their sockets, it was so strong. But I loved every second of this smoke. But that said, because it’s so strong, it’s not something I could smoke on a daily basis.