2007 Montecristo No.5 comedown

As I have been on a bit of a roll with good smokes, I guess it was time for a 'dud' of sorts.  This was not a failure of the torcedores art, but it left me a bit cold.  This is in part due to my activities.  The cigar was taken out for a walk, but someone was sitting on my bench.  It would have smoked a bit better in a seated and stopped position, but it lit well, and burned adequately.  There was a strong dose of nicotine from the start, with intense flavors of spicy chocolate, but not a lot of finish and complexity.  I could detect no good tea flavors, which again, sorry, I LOVE.  A little ragged on the burn and slightly tough on the draw.  It should be noted that I prefer the Montecristo No. 5 aged for five years, and I am set up to smoke at this age, but this stick was taken off the top of my cedar box full of these.  In the cellar, so to speak, at the bottom of the cabinet are the oldies.  I do not rotate them, because as it is, all my sealed dress boxes are 4 years old already, and so the top layer of my cedar cabinet contains cigars of this age.   Had I dug to the bottom, I could have had a 6 year old smoke, but there is no harm in letting them age in the dark. 

I walked with this cigar for half it's length, which is never good in my own experience.  The smoke was good for a 'walker' but not good enough to really go on about.  I pushed up the band and smoked it down to near finger-burning area.  I wish I had smoked it on the porch with a beer, it was obviously trying to be great, and the final inch really knocked me for a nicotine loop.  Easily one of the strongest Montes I have had in years.  I would have liked sweeter, I would have preferred some dusty cocoa, but you gets what you play for.  Handicapped as it was by my activities, 84 points.