Montecristo Petit Edmundo at Mardi Gras

While I was down in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, I started the day off with a Montecristo Petit Edmundo.  Ironically the reason I did this was because I wanted to get the crap out of the way early.  As much as some reviewers go apey over these smokes, I rarely have any good results.    But I will say that I have been lucky in one way.  When I really have to have a performer, the cigar DOES come through.  When I am just sitting out on my porch with a beer and a digital camera, they SUCK in masterful ways.  But when I am someplace where the cigar just has to be great, I have to admit that the MPE fills the bill.  I can recall a fantastic MPE I had up by Sandusky Bay in Ohio while herfing with a hundred of my closest friends.  And just last week, I had a great smoke in Luling, LA for Mardi Gras weekend at the Krewe of Lul.  (clever name, huh?)  It cut and drew perfectly, lit a bit slowly, and gave up tons of creamy, cocoa-ey smoke with a wily little spicy core.  The Monte Petit Edmundo burned slowly and allowed me to smoke it very close to the band, and I even pushed it up for a bit of extra time.  This was a clutch time for the cigar to perform, because I had just offered what I deemed to be a relative Premium Cigar Novice his choice out of my humidor, and he picked the Montecristo No.5, which left me without a cigar I considered key to a great time and a great series of smokes, on a personal level.  So without that Monte 5, things had to start looking up fast, and they did.  I can't say enough about the MPE and its performance.  If there was one tic in the negative column, it might be that it burned a little crooked, but never badly as a whole.  Once the cigar passed halfway, it developed a smoky herbal undertone to the cocoa that I found really enjoyable.  I am not going to go out on a limb and say "Well, Skipper, from here on out it looks like smooth sailing...", but I will say that I often judge a vitola harshly by how it treats me from week to week, but I DO try to admit it when over the long haul, things even out, and that I have to give this MPE it's due, it came through in the Mardi Gras Clutch..........90 points.