Montecristo Cigars
Montecristo cigars are very famous and widely sought-after with a brand name that enjoys deep roots in the business and a recognizable Cuban heritage. Montecristo has certainly evolved with a broad portfolio of Dominican and Nicaraguan blends that satisfy a diverse spectrum of strength and flavor preferences with mild, approachable cigars as well as more full-bodied, full-flavored options.
CIGARS
Montecristo
Price Per Cigar:$2.32 - $23.9714 options availableStrength: MildCountry: Dominican RepublicWrapper: Connecticut Shade89 Reviewsread more
Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua
Price Per Cigar:$17.70 - $21.576 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Nicaraguan8 Reviewsread more
Montecristo Classic
Price Per Cigar:$14.96 - $22.278 options availableStrength: MildCountry: Dominican RepublicWrapper: Connecticut Shade16 Reviewsread more
Montecristo Epic
Price Per Cigar:$16.38 - $20.476 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: Dominican RepublicWrapper: Ecuador Habano2 Reviewsread more
Montecristo Monte
Price Per Cigar:$12.42 - $14.326 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: Dominican RepublicWrapper: Ecuador Habano8 Reviewsread more
Montecristo Nicaragua
Price Per Cigar:$13.69 - $17.746 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Nicaraguan4 Reviewsread more
Montecristo Platinum
Price Per Cigar:$9.98 - $14.616 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: Dominican RepublicWrapper: San Andres11 Reviewsread more
Montecristo White
Price Per Cigar:$11.47 - $20.7010 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: Dominican RepublicWrapper: Ecuador Connecticut24 Reviewsread more
SAMPLERS
ACCESSORIES
MONTECRISTO BRAND HISTORY
A handful of brand names immediately conjure an image when they’re uttered. In the cigar industry, it’s hard to beat the immediacy with which brands like Montecristo, Cohiba, Partagas, and Romeo y Julieta plant a picture of a cigar in your head. Montecristo is an enduring brand with dualistic roots, both in its origination in Cuba and in its rebirth in the Dominican Republic following the Cuban Trade Embargo in the early 1960s.
Back in 1844, French writer and author of The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas published another iconic work of literature, The Count of Monte Cristo. The book’s elaborate plot of betrayal, vengeance, and murder has become a prominent work in Western literature. Alonzo Menendez, however, is credited with eternally linking the story with a cigar.
Dating back to the mid-1800s, lectors (known as lectores in Cuba, meaning lecturer or reader) were introduced to educate and alleviate boredom among cigar rollers by reading books or newspapers aloud in the factories. The tradition actually continues to this day. Cigar rollers frequently requested Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo as the book’s dramatic storyline captivated many workers. Equally enamored with the story was Alonzo Menendez, who had acquired the Particulares cigar factory in Cuba in 1935. Shortly after taking over Particulares, Menendez created a new brand he christened Montecristo, taken from the Dumas novel. Montecristo translates to ‘mountain of Christ.’ Montecristo is actually an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Italy and serves as a pivotal setting in the novel.
Today, the Montecristo brand logo is among the most recognized of any on a cigar band. The iconic design of six swords arranged in a triangle around a fleur-de-lis was created by the brand’s British distributor, John Hunter Morris and Elkan Co Ltd. The Cuban Montecristo accounts for roughly a quarter of the sales for Habanos S.A., parent company of the Cuban brand, making it the most popular Cuban cigar in the world. Although the blend is available in a number of shapes, the Cuban Montecristo No. 2, a gently tapering Torpedo, roughly 6 inches by a 52-ring gauge, is the most popular single cigar in the entire world.
Following the Cuban Revolution, Menendez, like many other premium Cuban cigar-makers chose to flee as the cigar industry was nationalized by Fidel Castro. Leaving the country with a only a few dollars in his pocket, Menendez along with his son, Benjamin, exercised tremendous determination in recreating their beloved Montecristo cigars outside of Cuba. Due to trademark issues, however, they were forced to change the cigar’s name. Undeterred, they selected ‘Montecruz’ and designed a band and box logo that heavily mirrored the original Montecristo. Perhaps as a testament to their convictions, Menedez and his son effectively built Montecruz into one of the top-selling premium cigars in the U.S. market in the wake of the Cuban embargo. The cigar’s succulent Cameroon wrapper leaf proved a worthy alternative to the Havana version in a market with a robust appetite for quality cigars, despite the ban on Cuban imports.
Montecristo was, however, reintroduced to the U.S. in the 1970s when rights to the brand’s U.S. distribution were acquired from General Cigar. Production of Montecristo for the U.S. market was shifted to the Dominican Republic. In a few twists of irony, Alfonso Menendez’s son Benji, would enjoy an illustrious decades-long career with a host of prominent companies, including General Cigar, where he developed numerous Cuban-legacy blends for equally iconic brands like Partagas. Meanwhile, present-day distribution and production of the Dominican-made Montecristo resides in the portfolio of Altadis U.S.A. whose parent company, Altadis S.A., is also responsible for the production and distribution of Cuban Montecristo cigars. Today, two renowned Montecristo portfolios provide a tremendous number historic blends guaranteed to impress.
MONTECRISTO BRAND OVERVIEW
Regardless of whether you’ve tried a Cuban Montecristo cigar, or your mouth waters to taste its incredibly sought-after legacy one day, there are a plethora of top-rated Dominican Montecristo blends to indulge in. And, many aficionados can argue, the consistency of Dominican Montecristo cigars far outweighs that of the Cubans.
The original Dominican-made Montecristo blend, sometimes simply called Montecristo Yellow for its flagship yellow boxes, delivers a mild, approachable profile of cashews, buttered toast, and coffee with cream. Its golden Connecticut Shade wrapper conceals a luscious recipe of Dominican binder and filler tobaccos that continue to satisfy scores of novices who are just getting into cigars, as well as devoted connoisseurs who fell in love with cigars years ago.
The brand’s portfolio actually includes several well-developed variations of milder Dominican profiles, such as the 91-rated Montecristo Classic and the 91-rated Montecristo White. Montecristo Classic brandishes mild notes of coffee beans, caramel, and cedar that culminate in sweet finish. Montecristo White is drawn from a blond Ecuador Connecticut wrapper over a blend of long-fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua that display a medium-bodied profile of honey, ginger and a bit of black pepper.
The company has also introduced a number of medium and medium to full-bodied releases like Montecristo Epic and Montecristo Monte that appeal to consumers’ growing tastes for cigars that display a bit more backbone. The 91-rated Montecristo Epic is drafted from a Cuban-seed wrapper grown in Ecuador over Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos that pulse with an earthy profile of leather, wheat, and sweet grasses with a floral aroma. Montecristo Monte (also called Monte by Montecristo) reveals a medium to full-bodied portrait of leather, spices, and chocolate. Cigar Aficionado awarded the blend 93-points and named it one of the publication’s ‘Top 10 Cigars of the Year’ in 2014 for Jacopo, an elegantly balanced Figurado at 6 1/8 x 54. A complex core of Dominican and Nicaraguan Corojo tobaccos rests beneath an Ecuador Habano wrapper leaf.
Other notable smokes include Montecristo White Vintage Connecticut, an enhanced and more complex take on the original Montecristo. It presents a medium-bodied, aged recipe with a Connecticut Shade wrapper over an intricate amalgam of long-fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Peru. Try Montecristo Platinum for a medium to full-bodied, meaty fusion of roasted almonds, wood, and black pepper courtesy of a toasty wrapper leaf from San Andrés over Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Peruvian tobaccos. In 2020, Montecristo commemorated its 85th year in business with the 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua, a soft box-pressed collection blended by AJ Fernandez from a rich and creamy marriage of Nicaraguan long-fillers under a toothy Nicaraguan wrapper leaf. The critics have been fond of Montecristo 1935 Anniversary, rating it 93 points on multiple occasions.
Once you’re ready to buy your first Montecristo cigars, you’ll have no trouble spotting an iconic Montecristo cigar box on the shelves of nearly every premium cigar retailer on the planet. If you’re unsure where to begin exploring the brand’s popular library, take a gander at the many reviews our customers have left, or pick out a bestselling Montecristo sampler. No journey into premium cigars is complete without making a stop at Montecristo.
Related Articles
Jump To:
