Monte GR Review/brief comparison

[insight]

As many may know there have been a ton of fakes floating around recently and I have been involved in the examination of quite a few. One of the most common 'elite' cigars we have seen is the Monte GR, a not yet released torpedo in the gran reserva series of HSA releases.  I have smoked two now, one from each of the suspect central sources of the fakes.  During this little experiment I was contacted by a fellow on another board who was able to get a legit sample of the Monte GR while at the festival.  He sent one to Moki for review and one to me. 
A fair way to start the review is with a comparison to the other cigars (the Limor version, henceforth "Monte GRL" and the TripleLigero version, henceforth "Monte GRT".  I am not going to provide comprehensive tasting notes on the other two but I would say they had some monte flavors to them.  The GRL was characterized by raw strength in terms of a very rough flavor profile.  I could imagine it being a legit monte 2 that is literally brand new or very very sick and markedly bitter.  The GRT was characterized by extremely muted flavors and, although having hints of a monte profile, a bizarre minty finish.   Physically, the three cigars are worlds apart.  The GRL had an old style monte band, with variance in the wrapper shades from a light Colorado to oscuro shades.  The GRT had a bulbous misshapen head and a very rough, toothy wrapper.  

Now let’s talk about the legit specimen.  I will not provide a ton of pics and physical side by sides as frankly Andrew is much better at that than I am. I will point out however, how much smoother, more consistent and clean the wrapper is.  Also of note the head is well shaped as you would expect of a cigar commanding the high price tag these are/will be.  

Upon initial lighting there is no bitterness to this cigar, which is an instant significant difference from both of the two fakes.  The smoke is extremely smooth and almost floral.  Through the first third there is a sweet nuttiness to the smoke but it is very smooth.  I am not a huge monte smoker in general, although I do have a fair amount of experience with specific releases/vitolas within the marca.  This is certainly a departure from your every day Monte to my tastes.  Nosing this cigar is effortless and it has underlying complexity to the flavor that is extremely pleasant.  

The second third actually lightens in flavor quite a bit.  The flavor profile is consistent but just a bit more subdued.  There are hints of caramel but no spice to speak of.  The most remarkable thing about this cigar to me is that it just doesn't taste young to me.  I know the hype surrounding aged wrapper etc. but my experience with the Cohiba GR has been very lack luster and I didn't get a feeling that the aged wrapper really added much depth.  That is not the case here.  As a side note in comparison, I definitely think this has more in common with TL's cigar than Limor's, leading me to agree with Andrew's conclusion that TL probably rebanded some regular monte 2s.    The final third brings a little tar build up and inherent unpleasantness, but after adjusting a bit it starts to right itself.  I had to clip a bit more of the cigar so the draw opens up as well and brings a bit rawer flavor.  The profile stays consistent down to the nub and I'm done.

My verdict is... I really enjoyed this cigar as a nice change of pace from endlessly smoking fakes.  It was actually much more complex than I was expecting, sort of nice when you get reverse sticker shock.  Would I buy some?  Yes.  Will I pay what they want?  Probably not.  If HSA surprises me and puts a $20 price tag on these I could probably justify the cost.

Also, a big thank you Gibbleguts for the opportunity to try the real deal of one of these, it is quite a treat and much appreciated.

[moki]

Did it look like this?

[img]http://people.ambrosiasw.com/~andrew/cigars/tl_cigars_smoked6.jpg[/img]

[gibbleguts]

Great review and I am glad you enjoyed it.  I believe that all the tobacco is from one year 2005.  These I do believe are vintage sticks all using 5 year old tobacco that was deemed back then to be of a higher quality then the rest of the tobacco grown.  I can't find the pamphlet that was given out at the dinner to confirm this but it is what I remember.  This is also the reason I have not confirmed any details with Moki about the cigar.  I think but again this is only my guess that there was around 700 people at the dinner and everyone got the coffin of 2 to take home and a single cigar to smoke at the dinner.  So I guess there should be about 2100 of these sticks that authenticity can be confirmed floating around the world at the moment. Now on thoughts on pricing I would expect these to hit a lot of retailers around $70 as stick as most had the CGR for $100.  Some place will have them cheaper as some sold the CGR for $70 so maybe $50ish.  Finally inside of Cuba I think these will go for $40ish as the CGR was $55.  It is always tough to justify prices like these but there will be some that do and as a special occasion stick I don't think it is too crazy. 

[Ryan]

When I was in LCDH (Fincato) in Rome...the price for the Monte GR was 41 Euros...hope that helps.  The price is set by the state....they had the 1966 Cohiba on it as well...wish I could remember the price...I believe it was around 35 Euros or so. 

Thanks Insight for the insight.  :)