56 out of 56 people found this review helpful.
$10 cigar ~ Huge Disappointment: Montecristo Kilmanjaro
Date of Review: Jun 13, 2001
The Bottom Line: A poor performer on the price-vs-quality scale. I enjoyed the smaller sized Xanadu, but this H2000 version of the Montecristo Churchill is deficient in so many ways.
Not that I deserved it, but I tried a new H2000 Montecristo Kilmanjaro this past weekend.
The hype behind this cigar is that -- with the new H2000 wrapper -- it is "very close in flavor and quality to the Cuban Montecristo."
Lew Rothman, owner of J.R. Cigars -- one of the largest cigar retailers (discounters) in America and a very respected expert in cigar marketing and manufacture -- once said something to the effect: "Sometimes, the difference between a $10 cigar and a $2 cigar is $8." Unfortunately, in the case of this new Montecristo, I'd also have to add that I've have smoked $2 cigars that were more flavorful and enjoyable than this $10 bomb from the Dominican Republic.
Note: This is a review of the new Montecristo Kilmanjaro - which is not currently linked on the site. This cigar is a Churchill-sized cigar, but it features the new H2000 Nicaraguan wrapper instead of the classic Connecticut-shade wrapper.
The Montecristo H2000 Kilmanjaro
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This cigar is 7-inches long and has a ring size of 46 (46/64ths of an inch in diameter). This cigar is hand made in the Dominican Republic. The wrapper is the new H2000 grown in Nicaragua, while the binder and filler tobaccos are grown in the Dominican Republic.
The wrapper used on this cigar is beautiful, Colorado-colored (medium brown), silky-textured and elastic. It is fragrant and features wonderful earth and cedar aromas. No doubt about it: the outward appearance of this cigar is excellent. It simply looks beautiful and looks like it is very well made. However, it's what's inside that counts, and I found -- like the Montecristo Magnum I smoked last month -- that the barrel of this Kilmanjaro was soft and in my opinion I found this cigar to be under-filled. During the smoke, the cigar lost all firmness and became limp, soft, and burned so evenly as too create a condition that I am forced to conclude that the cigar is defective in its manufacture.
This is a medium-bodied smoke; the burn was a little more acrid and less smooth than I expected for this size of a cigar. As to the condition of the cigar, it was perfectly maintained and was not overly moist or dried out. I don't know for sure what the problem was: either not enough filler tobacco... or the new H2000 wrapper.
The H2000 Wrapper - I Don't Like It
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The wrapper tobacco used in on this cigar is a specially-engineered hybrid strain of tobacco (H2000, or Habana-2000) produced by cross-breeding Cuban Corojo and Cuban-grown Connecticut shade tobaccos. H2000 is a tobacco seed varietal that is engineered to grow in greater quantities and it is more resistant to diseases that affect tobacco plants. (Note: Corojo tobacco plants are specifically grown to produce the highest quality leaf needed for cigar wrappers. This type of plant is usually grown under the shade of gauze sheets that retard by a small degree the amount of photosynthesis that a plant experiences and it thereby keeps the tobacco leaf from growing too thick.)
A test crop of this hybrid tobacco grown outside of Cuba was first cultivated in Nicaragua in 1996. I've smoked three different Montecristo H2000 cigars in the past month and have only had a positive experience with one of them: the Montecristo Xanadu -- a 5" x 50 robusto.
Purchase and Availability
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The manufacturer's suggested retail price for this cigar is $10. The cigar I purchased was packaged in a glass tube and was sheathed in a thin cedar blanket. There is a price break if you purchase this cigar in quantity. I purchased this cigar from J.R. Cigars. A box of 20 Montecristo Kilmanjaro cigars normally retails for $200; JR Cigars is selling this particular cigar at a $70 discount per box, or about $130 for 20 cigars.
Recommendation
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I was very disappointed by this cigar and expected better. I smoked this cigar with a three-fingers of Justerini & Brooks (J&B) Scotch Whisky.
So long as it is being sold at such a premium price, I don't recommend the Montechristo Kilmanjaro to others. There are better cigars on the market for substantially less money. For example, yesterday I tried an Aristoff Imperiales Churchill cigar (6-7/8" x 48 ring gauge; about $4 per cigar) that was twice the cigar at half the price. This "boutique" cigar used to retail for around $10 as well, but since Lew Rothman (JR Cigars) bought the brand, prices have been cut dramatically.
Before buying any of the H2000 cigars, I recommend that you try a single cigar before buying a box. My experience with this new Nicaraguan grown wrapper has been less than enthusiastic. As far as Montecristo cigars are concerned, I'd recommend that others stick with the traditional Connecticut-shade wrapper versions.
