Montecristo Petit No. 2 Prelight
Montecristo was formed in Havana in 1935. The Montecristo name comes from the novel “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexander Dumas. It was (and still is) a common practice for someone to read a book aloud to the cigar rollers as they were working, and “The Count of Monte Cristo” was a favorite amongst the rollers.
The Petit No. 2 was released in 2013 as a little brother to the original No. 2 and as the most recent addition to the Línea Clásica. It’s the Petit No. 2 vitola a 4.75″x 52 Figurado. The wrapper, binder, and filler are all from Pinar del Río, Cuba. Visually this example is near perfect, great looking wrapper, and pack. A straight cut showed a snug, but serviceable draw. The cold draw didn’t show much besides a bit of toasted tobacco and earth. This cigar was dry boxed for 16 hours before lighting with a torch lighter.
Montecristo Petit No. 2 First Third
Pretty mellow start to the smoke here. The palate is all natural toasted tobacco, and whole wheat bread. The retrohale is showing cocoa powder, coffee and floral spice. About an inch in the sweetness is starting to creep up. I’m picking up on sweeter chocolate, and some graham cracker. The floral notes are also ramping up here. There’s a bitter baking chocolate flavor joining the cocoa powder on the retro. The finish is exceptionally long, a lot of lingering chocolate flavor accompanied by the floral spice on the finish. Ash, smoke output, and combustion are all top notch so far.
Montecristo Petit No. 2 Second Third
Slowly starting to pick up on some additional flavors here in the second third. The palate is showing toasted wheat, cedar and natural tobacco. The retro is a heavy dose of floral spice, cocoa powder, baker’s chocolate and a bit of creamy coffee. The dominant flavors here are the cedar and floral spice, with the chocolate mingling as an undertone. The overall profile is very dry with those wood and floral tones being in the forefront. The construction and ash have held up beautifully.
Montecristo Petit No. 2 Final Third
The final third is continuing to lean heavily on the wood flavors. Woody vanilla, cedar, and even some sandalwood are the main tones on the palate. The retrohale is mainly that floral spice, with a bit of cocoa and coffee lingering in the background. Not harsh at all, but the smoke texture and flavors are pretty arid. I put this one down with about an inch and half left.
Montecristo Petit No. 2 Conclusions
This cigar was purchased as a single at the legendary Davidoff Of Geneva’s London location last year on a business trip, so I don’t have the box code or date, but I’d say that this cigar having between 12-24 months of age would be a safe bet. Objectively, this cigar was nearly perfect, the construction, smoke output, ash were all flawless. Subjectively, I just don’t think this flavor profile is to my palate. Wood and floral spice have just never been my favorite as dominant flavors, those are best as secondary or tertiary tones in my opinion. I wouldn’t say this cigar tasted young at all, but I could see some age diminishing the floral spice, and making the overall blend a bit more palatable to me. Overall, the list of cigars I’d pick before this one is a long one, and especially at these prices I don’t see myself coming back to the Petit No. 2.
