Montecristo #4

Smoke: Montecristo #4
Drink: The Dalwhinnie 15
Tunes:

Prelight: Corona size cigar. Very yellowed band. Construction appears consistent with other monte's I've seen. The bunching at the foot looks plausable, and the triple cap looks good. A colorado shade wrapper. Decent musty tobacco scent. I'm consulting the CC Website for the label. Nothing jumps out as too hinkey from my limited expertise, except that the stamping seems just a tad unsymmetrical. The design is consistent with the 1940s-2003 fleur de lis. A little tight on the prelight draw, but not bad. Slightly spicy. While smoking the cigar, I researched a little more on the sizes, and I noticed that this one is at about 4.5" long, and maybe a 42 ring, which doesn't match the description of Monte #4. This is, to me, a dead giveaway that these are not authentic.

Light: Pretty simple with a Bic

1st 3rd: There's a weird flavor off the light. Not bad, just not characteristic of other CCs I've had. That said, there are some consistent CC flavors in here, like the telltale (for me) saltwater taffy background flavor. I'm going to let it go a little more and see if it clears up. Possibly it took on some flavors from the basement they were discovered? Burning very nice, however and the draw is pretty spot on. Some woodsy, nutty notes complimenting a slightly spicy tobacco flavor. It does seem like some of the flavor is muted.

Ash: Even burn, and mottled gray and white ash. Seems solid, but looks like it's going to fracture around 3/4"

2nd 3rd: Similar flavor profile, actually being a bit overwhelmed by this scotch. I can't believe the Dalwhinnie would do that! Anyway, there are decent nutty, woodsy flavors in there reminicent of other Montes, but there is a kind of cardboard-y something in there that is kind of an off flavor. Not offensive, but just not quite on. Still getting the saltwater taffy background and the burn is still pretty nice, along with the draw. Actually just got into a strata of funny burny bitter flavor. Hmmm.

3rd 3rd: Not quite in the 3rd 3rd yet, but going to start the description. Some of the same flavors, but there are more burny, harsh flavors mixing in now. Something like a waxy flavor and a burning hair aroma. Hopefully that's not my beard. I know that sounds bad, but that's the best I can do. Still going to keep going. Officially in the 3rd 3rd now, and the flavors are getting less appealing. Still burning great, but yikes. I'll give it a purge and check my tar / clip if necessary. Clipped a little off the end, and going again. Seemed to help a bit, but I'm kinda thinking that maybe while this might have some CC tobacco in it, it's not the real deal.

Overall Impression: Pretty cool experiment, and thanks for the opportunity, however I'm going to call counterfeit on these based on size inconsistency, and flavor profile, and finish off the scotch.

Will

Thanks for trying it and for giving a review. I've had 2 so far. The 1st one I got some strange flavors from and had to bail a little more than halfway through. That wasn't long after I got them so I wondered if maybe they were still not humidified as well as they needed to be. The 2nd one was last summer, I think. It smoked really, really well. Flavors were a little muted and it was mild but that could have been from age and/or the years in basement storage. But overall I did think that one was very good.

I have 4 left that me and knives are going to split. Hopefully when we light these up they'll be more like my 2nd experience.

I recently landed a fake one. Will add fake comments after smoking.