Buy the Montecristo White Series at Famous Smoke Shop
- Size: 5″ x 52 (Rothchilde)
- MSRP: $300.00 (box of 27); $11.00 for a single
- Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade
- Binder: Nicaraguan
- Filler: Nicaraguan and Dominican
- Body: Medium
- Strength: Medium
- Humidor Time Prior to Review: 9 months
- Cigars Smoked Prior to Review: 4
- Source: Purchased with Personal Funds
- Date Smoked: September 22, 2018
Today we are smoking the Montecristo White Series. According to the manufacturer this cigar was designed to compliment the original Montecristo cigar. Looking at the two blends, Montecristo has this White Series pegged as a slightly milder blend, but it features an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper and Nicaruaguan leaves in the binder and filler. The regular Montecristo appears to have a Connecticut shade wrapper and Dominican binders and fillers.
I’ve been smoking on a 5 pack I purchased at the beginning of the year in an epic Cigar Bid buying spree. As usual I got these guys on deep discount. Regular retail appears to be around $11 which is quite a bit in my book. I paid under $3. That’s more my style. This is the “Rotchilde” vitola, which is supposed to share the diameter of a Robusto but but be a little shorter, but at 5″ this cigar appears to be about the size of a Robusto.
At this point I’m down to my final cigar so it’s time for a review.
Appearance and Pre-light Aromas
The white series has a light tawny brown wrapper. There is a little tooth to the wrapper and a soft sheen. It’s not the prettiest cigar. The seams are tight, but there are some lumps and bumps, the wrapper is slightly mottled, and there is a small lesion in the wrapper in the first third, exposing a darker binder. The double cap is neatly applied but a couple shades darker than the body of the cigar. The pack is even and firm, and the cigar feels about average for its size.
Sniffing the wrapper yields, sweet cedar, hay, and grass. From the foot I get cedar, earth, hay, sweetness, and some barnyard. I clip the cap and take a test draw. It’s free and easy. I get cream, sugar cookies, and cedar.
Note: This is my second attempt at this review. I started one at 11:30 A.M., but the cigar was plugged, burning poorly and never recovered. After an hour I decided to dig into my humidor and found this final stick. Cigars are natural handmade products. Occasionally you will get a bad stick. I’ve had a few of these to prepare for the review and they all smoked fine. I decided to start over and tossed the bad cigar. Life’s too short, and I’d be doing you a disservice reviewing that outlier.
Time to start toasting and light up. Start time is 12:30 P.M.
First Third
The first puff is sweet and spicy. The second puff yields more pepper and sweetness, with a gentle nuttiness and a graham cracker flavor. A smooth creaminess makes its presence known on the third pull. The draw is easy and plenty of smoke pours out.
This is my first cigar in a couple weeks. Back to school means all the kids are getting back together and getting sick. So the parents get sick. I don’t have kids, but people in my office do, so eventually somehow I get sick as well. It was more an annoyance than anything, but a weekend at home without cigars might as well be a weekend without sunshine in my book. I’m glad to be back.
Cedar flows into the flavor profile. It compliments the cream, nuttiness, and the light sweet tobacco. The sweet tobacco note lingers towards the back of the palate.
Its a nice medium to mild stick so far. That may not be to everyone’s taste, but I’m finding things to enjoy here. Good creaminess with some spice is never a bad combination in my book.
So far the burn qualities are pretty good with this cigar. Good smoke output, with a slightly wavy burn. It appears to be correcting itself.
It’s a warm and humid afternoon in Southwest Florida. We got some rain last night and the ground is still damp. Plenty of clouds in the sky, as a gentle breeze stirs our growing hedge of Areca palms.
At 10 minutes in the White Series has a nice honey sweetness to it. Some complexity is developing to the sweetness, and I’m getting some light floral notes as well. While there may not be a lot of big in your face flavors at this stage, this cigar has some complexity to it. The aroma is sweet and bready.
I’m currently reading Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye. I’ve slowly worked through his Phillip Marlowe series over the past few years and this is the final book. They are short and fun reads, and I use them as a palate cleanser or a treat between denser books. I’ve enjoyed the Chandler’s sparse style in his earlier Marlowe books, and the Long Goodbye departs from that somewhat, but this is probably the slickest dialogue I’ve ever read. Chandler truly is a master of his craft. I’ll be sad to finally finish the series.
Back to the White Series. We are at 20 minutes and the cigar is smoking slowly. Maybe half an inch or so. The cedar has dialed back and I’m getting a light citrus.
Another transition. Now it’s light coffee. Still plenty of sweet cream, bread, nuts, and a little pepper as well.
The sun has decided to come out. I’m under an umbrella, otherwise I’d have melted away. It’s 87 degrees out, but is comfortable in the shade.
I’m picking up some anise on the retrohale. Didn’t notice that with my other cigars, but it’s here. This is a smooth medium mild bodied cigar so far, but clearly has some tricks up its sleeve and good transitions. I’m very happy with the flavors coming off this cigar so far.
The burn line is a little uneven and I can see the tell tale signs of tunneling pulling at the wrapper. I give the high spot a touch up to try and even things out. A flaky gray ash is forming.
Plenty of cream and delicate citrus and floral flavors now. This is a cigar you need to smoke slowly to appreciate. It doesn’t hit you over the head, but if you pay attention there is a lot to like.
The ash is cracking and showing signs of flaking, but it’s also stubborn and won’t fall away easily. I leave it alone. At 45 minutes it tumbles away into the ash tray and we make our way into the second third.
The Second Third
Smoke time is 45 minutes.
The wrapper is still showing some pulling and distortion from the tunneling. With the ash gone, I use this as an opportunity to give the burn line a tune up. That seems to keep this slow smoking cigar moving forward.
Flavors are more or less the same. Cream, toasted nuts, light sweetness, cedar, a delicate citrus, floral notes and a light spice. Smoke output is plentiful. Each puff envelops my head in creamy spicy smoke. The cigar seems to be finding its stride from a combustion standpoint.
Unfortunately, I may have jinxed myself. 10 minutes later the burn line continues to waver, and smoke output waned. I had to touch it up again to keep the cigar lit. I seem to be getting unlucky with the tail end of this 5 pack. I don’t recall the first 3 cigars giving me many issues with the burn, but I’m running into issues with my last 2 cigars. A shame.
I’m getting some herbal notes through the nose now. A small chunk of ash falls off as I set down the cigar. The sweetness from earlier has fallen away. I got some good sweetness throughout the 3rd cigar, and I’m sad to be losing it here.
It has been a still and quiet afternoon. Little in the way of fauna. The neighborhood is almost silent save the occasional passing car. Only the wind in the leaves to keep me and my White Series company.
Cedar is picking back up. Also, I’m getting a little leather. Odd, but I’ll take it. It reminds me of shoe leather. I’m partial to my Allen Edmonds oxfords. Their leather soles are quiet on carpet, complimenting my cat light reflexes.
I put the cigar down for a minute and step inside. Resting the cigar for a couple minutes seems to have helped. When I get back a little of that sweet tobacco has returned. That’s more like it. I knew there was some sweetness hiding somewhere in this blend. I’m also getting a little toasted coconut on the draw and in the aroma. Very nice. Also, the cigar is still quite creamy.
We are slowly approaching the first band and the final third.
The Final Third
Smoke time is 1 hour 20 minutes. The cigar is definitely smoking on the slow side. Its jam packed and taking its sweet time. Good value for money I suppose, but I’m fine with an hour and a half robusto. It seems to be smoking slower than it should.
Once again smoke production has stalled. This time the cigar is beginning to grow bitter. This time around I decide to try a relight. I scrape away the ash carefully and let the stick cool down completely for a few minutes. I take a few swigs of water and bide my time.
I relight the cigar. I get a pungent dose of leather and pepper. The next puff is more consistent with the flavors I was experiencing before. Nuts, some cream, graham crackers, and light sweetness. I’m also getting a little saltiness now.
The first band is getting toasty, so I pull it off. It comes away easily.
It has been a while since I’ve talked about the body. It remains at the mild side of medium. I’m feeling the effects of a little nicotine, but I’ve also been smoking for 2 and a half hours and my stomach is growling. Not a very strong cigar in my book.
Light floral notes have returned, and I’m getting some of that honeyed sweetness back as well. I welcome both flavors back to the flock.
Once again the burn line is doing funky things requiring yet another touch up. I keep my cigars around 64RH with Boveda bags, but the particular tupperdore I got this one out of was sitting at 66. A little on the high side, but not over-humidified. I use the tupperdore for longer term storage, and keep my “on deck” smokes in a small cedar 50 count that breathes a little better. Regardless, with a good 9 months of rest around 65 this cigar should be good to go.
Maybe the high ambient humidity has something to do with it. It’s warm, the breeze has stopped, and I’m sweating.
The aroma has some hay on it, and is a little musty. Coffee is creeping in. The flavors are growing darker and more muddled. Not great. The wrapper is pulling and twisting away. Ash flakes off randomly onto my keyboard. We are limping towards the final band.
Cedar and leather and the main flavors now. Coffee and a little earth fills in the gaps. Pepper remains present on the nose and in the finish. Gone is the sweet creamy profile from the beginning. The White Series has taken a totally different tack. We are fast approaching 2 hours.
The cigar goes out again at the 2 hour mark. I’m done. Nothing more can be accomplished here so I call the review with a couple inches remaining.
Montecristo White Series Rothchilde Review – Final Thoughts
I’m not sure what to make of this one. I enjoyed the first 3 cigars quite a bit. Creamy and sweet, with subtle complexity. I was getting some of that from this review sample, but I was bogged down with burn issues and in the final third the floor dropped out on the sweet creamy flavors. It may have something to do with the humidity today, although in South West Florida it’s always humid and I’m always smoking in humid conditions. I may have simply gotten unlucky here.
Before today’s smoke I would have scored this cigar highly. Especially for those wanting a smooth milder cigar, with some transitions and complexity. And especially if you can get them under $5 like I did. But at this point I’m less confident in my recommendation. I think this can be a great cigar, but the burn issues in my final two sticks have pulled down the average of my experiences.
If I had to average the cigars, I’d rate it at a “3.0” out of 5. Today’s cigar that I finished was maybe a 2.5. It was pretty good up until the final third, but still frustrating to smoke. The ones I had earlier were more like a 3.5. I do think this is a good cigar, and I’d like to try this one again. I try to give everything I smoke a fair shake, and try not to review singles. If and when I do get some more of these I’ll update the review with my thoughts.
Final Score: 3 out of 5. A “1” on my 0-2 scale (I’d buy them again based on the first 3)
Final Smoke Time: 2 hours.
I recommend purchasing the White Series at Famous Smoke Shop. Please consider that purchasing things through any of the links on this website, including Amazon.com, helps support the website and keeps it going. Any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
Drobert says
You should’ve relit that last 2 inches tastes like pink champagne on ice.