Montecristo Puritos

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Montecristo Puritos Review
I have always found that the best deals are not penned in glass-walled boardrooms with those ergonomic chairs just as expensive — if not more so — than my first car. No, the real business — the takes-Aleve-with-breakfast variety that latches onto your ribs and changes the trajectory of your life — occurs in rooms smelling faintly of dust, old leather and abandoned history. I was exactly that kind of place Tuesday. It was an old private library, the sort with rolling ladders and shelves buckling under the weight of first editions and leather-bound law books that dated to the 19th century.

Product Specifications

The atmosphere was orpiment, laden not so much with the smell of mahogany polish, as with that sweet, musty fragrance of old paper. I had just spent six hours dickering for a small estate. It was brutal, a chess game on numbers and emotion. But when the ink finally dried on the final contract, a deep feeling of peace enveloped me.

The sun was low in the sky, and amber slats of light were streaming across the oriental rug. I sat back in a wingback chair that had likely survived through a dozen owners, and the familiar itch returned. I wanted a smoke. I needed to mark the moment.

But I did not have two hours to kill, and I didn’t want to be the one in the quiet gravity of the room disrespecting it with a monster Churchill that would make me too lightheaded to drive home. I fished a small yellow pack from my jacket pocket. It was time for something short, punchy and true. The Transition: That smoke?

The Montecristo Purito… You ever get to one of those points where you don’t want a symphony, you just need a hard three-minute blues solo? That’s what this is. I’m speaking of the Montecristo Purito.

It’s your younger sibling that doesn’t put too much effort into playing but still manages to do the job. It’s a machine-made Cuban, to be sure — but it has the lineage of the big boys without the attitude. I popped the plastic off one of these skinny sticks, and in that very quiet library, the crackle sounded like a party. I didn’t need a cutter—these are pre-cut and ready to go—and thank God because I think I left my Xikar in the car.

Product Specifications
Build: How does it feel in the hand?\
I have to say, there’s a kind of honesty to a machine-made Cuban.

You’re not looking for the artistic vein-free perfection of a Cohiba Behike here. The Montecristo Purito is luxury for the working man. Getting it out of its pack, the wrapper is dark and rustic brown – classic Vuelta Abajo leaf. There is a little bit of a toothy texture to it, slightly rugged, which I actually like — when I’m in that sort of mood (like when I was pacing around a library).

It’s firm in the fingers; not that squishy sensation you get from some of those cheap dry-cured cigarillos you see at a gas station. 100% tobacco, no additives, no paper shreds; just the good stuff packed into a 27 ring gauge. The pre-draw is much more open than expected. I’ve had hand-rolled sticks that feel like trying to impressively suck a milkshake through a pinhole, but these Puritos are reliable. I took a cold draw and hit some dry hay, a little bit of old leather — perfect for the room I was in — and just enough citrus zest to rouse my palate.

It’s a short-filler stick, so the inside is chopped up leaves rather than full-length ones, but don’t let “machine-made” throw you. This isn’t a cigarette. And through it all I get a shot of Montecristo DNA. Flavor Profile: A Short Story in Three Parts
The First Third: The Greeting
I lit it with a plain, old-fashioned wooden match I had found on the library’s mantel.

The initial puffs are always the most informative. You get that in your face,cuban “twang” right out of the gate… It’s a combination of creamy cedar with light, floral sweetness. It’s not a slammer, it just tells you: I’m here.

The smoke production is decent for such a small ring gauge— enough to see the blue wisps dancing in those amber light beams. There is a dash of mild spice on the retrohale, but it’s sort of like white pepper and it won’t give you a slap in the face. It’s an easy opener, very accessible. I would not be the least bit disappointed to hear that one of my sons had said what Ivanka Trump’s son did upon nearing The Heart of the Matter (pun intended), which is: “This looks boring,” he announced.

After five minutes or so, the flavors began to meld and deepen. The citrus I picked up on the cold draw developed into more of a burnt orange peel feel. The woodiness remained, but it moved from freshly cut cedar to something charred — kind of an ashy oak. This is where Montecristo most excels.

You pick up notes of roasted coffee and a particular nuttiness — toasted almonds. It’s medium-bodied right now, substantial and reliable. And I was looking at the gold lettering on the spines of the books and the smoke coming up between them; it struck me that I wasn’t thinking about the deal. I was just… there.

That’s the mark of a good smoke; it tethers you right to this moment. The Last Third: Parting Shot
The strength increased as the burn line hit the final inch.

It solidly crossed the line into medium-to-full. The sweetness was on aptitude, overshadowed by a weightier leather profile and a punch of spice. There’s a hint of honey right on the back end, a lasting sweetness that prevents the finish from being too bitter. It does get warm, obviously, since it’s a small stick, but mushy never.

I smoked it clear down to the part where I was liable for my fingertips. It’s only 15 to 20 minutes long, but it carries a lot of weight. It doesn’t make you want more; it makes you full. Pairing: What to Sip
And if I had been at home, a peaty Scotch might have found its way into my hand, but in that library, I needed something that wouldn’t compete with the tobacco.

I’d brought a thermos of black coffee — powerful, no sugar. The harshness of the coffee itself was a sort of palate cleanser for my taste buds, and every puff of the Purito tasted like it did when I first took that puff. (But if you want to spike it with something, I’d lean toward a dark rum or a good, aged cognac.) You’re looking for something sweet and caramelized to offset that spicy Cuban finish. Avoid anything too delicate; the Purito has enough kick that it’ll steamroll any light white wine or a pilsner, for example. Value and Use: Who should buy this?

Let’s be real. This isn’t the cigar that you pull out for your wedding or when you’re celebrating a 50th birthday. This is the in-between cigar. It’s for the guy who has twenty minutes in between meetings and wants a bolt of real tobacco flavor without the commitment of a Robusto.

This is for the guy who’s wet behind the ears and wants to try out what all of this Cuban hype is about before he spends fifty bucks on a single stick. And it’s for the fellas like me, who sometimes end up in an old library at the end of a long day and

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