Montecristo 80th Anniversary – arriving any day!

The legendary Montecristo marca celebrates its 80th anniversary this year and Altadis U.S.A is marking the occasion with a worthy cigar: the Montecristo 80th Anniversary. It’s a 6” x 54 Belicoso in the iconic No. 2 format and box pressed. The Montecristo 80th Anniversary cigar is composed of some rare Dominican tobaccos and blended and crafted by Altadis’ most-skilled Grupo de Maestros cigar makers at the Tabacalera de García factory in La Romana, Dominican Republic.  Anthony’s Cigar Emporium placed its order for the Montecristo 80th Anniversary cigar at the 2015 IPCPR Convention in July, and after a suspenseful wait, we are finally going to get it any day now.

The Montecristo 80th Anniversary features a dark, rich and oily Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper that burns well with a full-bodied and spicy taste. The binder is a Dominican Olor, from a  2010 vintage crop grown by Villa Gonzalez Crop that is notable for its slightly natural sweetness and floral tones. The filler is a blend of a new and exclusive Dominican Pilotico leaf combined with Nicaraguan Criollo ’98, a dark, heavy bodied tobacco noted for its strength and robust taste, as well as Nicaraguan Corojo ’99, a wonderfully aromatic tobacco well known for a great burn and uniform white ash.  All put together, this is an ultra-premium full bodied cigar and a testament to the Grupo de Maestros.

In 1935, Alonso Menendez and José Manuel Pepe García started a brand in Cuba inspired by the Alexandre Dumas novel, The Count of Montecristo, appropriately titled Montecristo.  Following the Cuban revolution, Menendez and Garcia fled to the Canary Islands and then to Dominican Republic. While the brand still exists in Cuba, Menendez and García would eventually re-establish the brand in the Dominican Republic exclusively for the American market.  When the duo settled in the Dominican Republic, they met another Cuban refugee named Pepe Mendez who would source the premium tobaccos used in the Montecristo.

When Pepe Mendez had fled Cuba, he took some seeds with him where they were set aside. Recently the Mendez family grew some tobacco in the Navarrese region of the Dominican Republic from those seeds. That tobacco is known as Dominican Pilotico. This tobacco is quite scarce because it is difficult to grow due to the fact that it is very susceptible to mold resulting in much lower yields. What makes the Montecristo 80th anniversary special is that it uses Dominican Pilotico in the filler of the blend.  Naturally producing fewer and smaller leaves, the Pilotico leaf is rich, strong, and wonderfully complex.

The Montecristo 80th Anniversary come in black, stained-oak boxes of 12 emblazoned with the Montecristo fleur-de-lis. Only 3,000 of these 12-count boxes  have been produced, making the Montecristo 80th Anniversary a coveted collectible limited edition cigar.

All Montecristo 80th Anniversary boxes come with Free Shipping at Anthony’s Cigar Emporium.

Order the Montecristo 80th Anniversary here!