A New Year & a New Cigar: Montecristo No.1 2007

Nothing is more pathetic than the statistics for a blog that has good content but an unmotivated author.  I had weeks and weeks of no one visiting.  Why should they?  To re-read old posts?  Hardly.  People want me to smoke something.  I whine when its too hot and I whine when its too cold.  Something had to give.  And in the end it was New Year's Eve.  And in terms of the title "a new cigar", I have been smoking havana cigars since 1994 and have never had a Montecristo No.1.

I don't go out on New Year's Eve anymore.  When I was a kid in New Orleans, I always went out with friends.  When I was in the service, I think we just hung out together and got drunk in the dorm.  But it was in my post-military years in college in the bible belt that I had to stop going out.  I am no advocate for drinking and driving, certainly, but in Mississippi, they DARE you to go out and have fun.  They set up 3-5 road blocks in a given city and they just wait for you.  Never mind that most of the people they claim you are a threat to are in bed or at home.  But again, I don't advocate drunk driving.  But like any poor old mutt dog, you beat me enough times and I am going to cower in the presence of your mighty power.  So the cigar and a shot of Rare Breed had to be consumed with two pairs of sweatpants on the bottom and a long sleeve shirt and hoodie coverup on top, with a watch cap on the head.  I selected a nice light stick to keep the possibility of a plugged smoke at bay, and I cut it and lit it quite easily.  

I passed on a BHK52, a Montecristo Sublime and a Montecristo Especiale before settling on this cigar, and I instantly regretted it.  One thing I love about a typical Montecristo is the outpouring of powdery cocoa flavor and light and sweet spice.  None of that was waiting for me.  Out of the entire 2/3 of the stick, I might have gotten 5 good, tasty puffs.  The rest were not even hay-like.  They were just bland.  I love havana cigars, but I really HATE Habanos and their total lack of consistency in ANYTHING.  The only consistent factor is their total lack of control.  

They can make a box of cigars totally uniform in all appearances, but can't make 25 cigars taste alike.  Not even close.  It leads to what I call the Habanos rule.  Every box of cigars will contain on average, 5 stellar cigars, 12 cigars that are passable but totally unremarkable, and 8 cigars that are totally crap.  Its a real shame.  I expect another 3-4 bad ones in this box, as it was a box of ten.  I will try again soon and see if the whole box is shot or not.