Montecristo Club 20

Description

I was sitting on the creaky cedar boards of my ranch porch, which faced into the north pasture as the sun began its slow,bruised-purple descent behind the scrub oaks. I had just signed the last ofthe papers on the forty adjacent to a great big land deal I’d been playing, pursuing, Grailing and bleeding in for five years. My pockets were full, technically the deed was on my kitchen table, there was a weirdlandedness in my chest. You ever get that? You win the big one, you reach the top of your sport, and instead of wanting to scream it from the rooftops all day long, something about it is just … quiet. Melancholic, maybe. As if the chase werebetter than the catch.

I could not take a two-hourDouble Corona. I didn’t want to lie in the dark for half of each nightstaring into space. I just wanted 15 minutes of something real as a marker for the moment before I went inside, heated some coffee andcalled it a day. I wanted a “win” smoke that didn’t mean committing to the whole night but carried enough of the weight of this history I had just written for my family’s land.

That smoke? The Montecristo Club 20. I reached into my jacket pocket and rattled out the yellow tin, where Texas night heat could flirt in a spacey congress with Havana.

The Transition: SmallSize, Big Pedigree

I was occasionally bit of a size snob. 2/ I’ve always felt that if it wasn’t a Robusto or bigger, well, then it justcouldn’teally be called a “real” cigar. But life has a way of accelerating your clock. “So, not just small cigars for the commitment-phobic, these Montecristo Clubs are concentrated Vuelta Abajo shooters. When you do not have the time to waste on a full Montecristo No. 2, but want that one of a kind, earthy spice that can only be obtained from this special patch of soil in Cuba, these are what you pull out for. They are the “shots of espresso” in the cigar world.” Sturdy, punchyand over before they have a chance to grow tiresome.

Product Specifications

Construction: The Cuban “Shorty”

I extracted one from the packet, and I rolled it between my thumb and index finger. OK, understand, these are not something that a master torcedor has been rolling for 50 years on his mahogony table, right? They are made by machine andwith the short filler tobacco of th epremium leaves. But don’t let that fool you. It’s an all Cubanwrap and you get to see it in the texture. It’s that rough, imperfect nude shade — rustic and a little toothy; not perfect, but honest. It feels firm. There’s nothing soft, which is shocking in this small of a ring gauge (22).

This is precisely what I saw in the pre-light draw: an explosion of dried hay and some “barnyard” that defines Cuban sodistinctly. I also didn’t have to cut them out; they’re pre-cut and all ready. I prepared an old wood match, let the sweage run of and then lit it with a burning sulfur, which is used to light fireworks. It burst into flame fast, the tiny cherry in the sky over the darkeningranch horizon.

Flavor Profile: A Fifteen-Minute Journey

The FirstThird: The Wake-Up Alarm

The first few puffs are always a kind of revelation. Despite being small, the Montecristo Club 20 isn’t one to shy away from public attention. Right off the bat, it was like I’d just been slapped in the face with some white pepper and detected a very dry earthy woodiness. It’s not “smooth” inthe way a creamy Connecticut is smooth; it is sonic. I thought about the dust that kicked up from my boots when I walked on that dry creek bed earlier in the day. There is a spiciness here that blossoms at the back of your throat, to inform you that yes it may be diminutive in stature but still; it isaMontecristo.

The SECOND THIRD of the cigar : in This is the meat of this issue!+

Around the 5-minute mark the pepper died down a bit andMontecristo DNA started to shine here. And all the espressonotes now fit. It’s kind of a dark, bitter coffee flavor — imagine a moka pot that had been sitting on the stove too long. There’s a hint of cocoa, but it’s not too sweet. It’s the 90% cacao of dark chocolate. Is rather heavy for a cigarillo, it coats the palate in oil. I sat there, watching a hawk circle the new acreage, and let me tell you: The bitterness of that cocoa was just about right. It was sophisticated but rugged.

The Last Third: The HotFinish

These are on the thin side so if you overpuff theystart to get warm. But I had to remind myself to calm down, even though it was only a few inches away. There was an intense leather, leathery taste that came out in the final third. The spice came back, but now it was black pepper with charred wood around it. It finishes strong. There’s no “tapering offinto airiness”; it stays aggressive until your fingers are almost burning. I smoked it to a nub and flicked the end intothe dirt of my porch planter. It was in a 15 minute ride that feltas substantial as a fast 45 from some inferior brand.

TheHeritage: More Than a Brand

As I sat there, I could not help thinking aboutthe history of this name. Montecristo is not theoldest offering from the Cuban stable — it was introduced in 1935 — but it’s arguably the one that shapes our “Cuban taste” to much of the world. I remember having read that it was called that because the guys working in the factory would sit and listen to (wow, I’m trying to be elegant here as always; more like “bear listening while”) the *lectors* – those who read aloud with a measure of entertainment value added – would give them recitals from Alexander Dumas’ *The Count of Monte Cristo,* as they rolled. There’s something poetic about that. A story of a man who built his fortune, only to run out the clock challenging for what he was owed.

That John Hunter bloke, your Brit who whipped distribution? He was one clever cat. ‘H. Upmann Montecristo Selection’ was quite a mouthful, so (he) boiled it down and said this will be the iconiclogo for the crossed swords.” These days Montecristo represents roughly 25 percent of all sales of Cuban cigars. When you spark up one of those Clubs, it’s not a footnote to the “real” thing; you are smoking that Vuelta Abajo tobacco in your beloved No. 2 or Montecristo A. It is the same dirt, sun and seeds. That matters to me. Especially when I’m sitting there, on the landthat is now mine, and it forces you to recognize that dirt isthe only thing that really remains.

Pairing: What to Drink?

I was sitting on my porch when I heard, so I wasn’t being fancy. I had a black cup of coffee—no cream, no sugar. The coffee’s bitterness worked counterweight to the sweetness of the cigarillo, serving as a bridge for the espresso flavors. If I’d been in a jollier mood, spur of the moment, I might have reached for a large glass of peaty Scotch or high-proof Bourbon. You’ll also want something to deal with the spice from the Montecristo. Some light beers or a good wine would get totally steamrolled by this baby. If you were to attempt a non-alcoholic replacement, I’d say some extremely strong ginger ale with lots of “bite” would do nicely as an occasional palate-cleanser between peppery mouthfuls.

Valueand Use Case: Who Is This For?

OK, let’s be real: These aren’t for the dude who wants to spend three hours in a leatherchair talking about “notes of toasted marshmallow.” These are, essentially, for the working stiff, the cowboy or that dude who’s always outside a bar at 3 a.m. when it’s 20 degrees and blowing snow waiting to bum a “real” smoke even though he doesn’t want to lose his little pinkies out there.

Most come in a cute little tin or cardboard flip-top, 20 to the pack, that slips intoyour breast pocket. They are durable. I have kept a pack in the glove box of my truck all summer down here in Texas and while they didn’t fare as well short-term as you would expect, they did way better than a long filler P*r*A*M*6 would have. Theyare a perfect example of the type of cigar you smoke when you don’t want to overthink it. You save them forwhen life occurs — the small victories, micro-breaks, sad sunsets.

Conclusion: The Verdict

So everything I need to know about the Montecristo Club 20A is in that question: How jacked up would you expect a cigar with three numbers in the name to be?

And that thing is ODing harder than Mac Miller. I was smoking blunts when you were just an itch in your daddy’s⁣ Balls! What do you think Daquan? ⁣ Meanwhile, wish. com all excited like “I want this!” 😂😂 I’m not, actually though 😕🤷‍️ Is the Montecristo Club 20s best thing I’ve smoked?

No. But then that’s exactly what it says on the tin:A great no-nonsense Cuban experience in bite-sized form. It is not pretending to be a Churchill. It doesnotaim to be “creamy” or “mild.” It has the audacious, gamey spiciness of a little devil that respects your time.

To me, in thatporch, it was the best friend. It was equal in weightto the day, and the silent triumph ofthe land purchase. It got me closer to the taste of Havana without asking me for a favor and ignoring my cooling coffee, and backlit receding light conspiring on my new balcony. If you’re yearning for Segundos and have a mere 15 minutes, these are a no-brainer. They are rounded, they stand up and in each tug, they have the weight ofa 1935 legacy.

Final Thought: Carry a pack in your pocket. You just never can tell when you’ll win a battle and simply need to celebrate it right away. Just don’t plan for the ride to be soft or gentle — it’s aMontecristo, after all. It’s got teeth.