Montecristo Robusto Millennium Reserve Commemorative Jar

Montecristo Robusto Millennium Reserve Commemorative Jar

     The city, Havana.  Month,  February of 1999.  Habanos officially released the Montecristo Robusto cigar, housed in a Millennium Reserve Commemorative Jar.  Each jar is a beautiful white porcelain cylinder.  Gold trimming is used in the logos and trademark swords and dotted stripes that we all have come to recognize as the Montecristo symbols.  Each jar contained 25 Robustos, with cigar bands unlike any other prior to this release.  (two other cigars in Millennium Jars had these bands).  The cigar band reads “Reserva del Milenio // 2000 // Millennium Reserve”.   The release was limited to 10,000 jars.  At the time of release, many of the jars were rejected in the final production stage, resulting in some jars being released in 1999, and some in 2002.  I cannot say with certainty if the cigar featured in this article is from the 1999 or 2002 release.  The only difference being that the ones from 2002 were stored in Havana for the 3 years and not in a jar.

ABOUT THE CIGAR – MONTECRISTO :: ROBUSTO from the Millennium Reserve Commemorative Jar released in 1999.

In the holy grail of Habanos cigar books, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars, the author Min Ron Nee writes of this cigar; “Will certainly develop into a classic if left undisturbed inside the jar.  But it might need a few decades.”

A few decades, two exactly, have passed.  And so, it is time to see how this cigar aged and evolved inside this unique ceramic jar.

The cigar feels great and was properly aged.  It is slightly firm and shows it’s age with the cigar band being a little loose – an aged cigar will shrink in ring gauge over time.

BOX DATE: 1999 or 2002

SIZE:  50 x 4.78 inches.

FACTORY NAME: Robustos

1st Part

Straight cut, with a soft flame light up, and here we go.  It feels great holding an aged, rare cigar in your hands and even better as you are about to take that first taste.  The ritual of the cutting, smelling, and lighting the cigar gives an excitement as you know this will be a rare experience.

The draw is extremely smooth.  It is mild to medium in strength, and has a very pronounced woodsy flavor.  A wood that is freshly cut as opposed to burning wood.  Very interesting.

2nd Part

The Montecristo’s wood-like flavors are developing into a cedar type aroma.  We must keep in mind that these Robustos were stored in a ceramic jar which had a cedar interior lining. It seems as though the cedar made its way into the cigars.

3rd Part

As much as I enjoyed this cigar, I was a little disappointed, thus far, by the fact that there wasn’t much evolution on the flavors.  UNTIL NOW!  The bottom 3^rd of this Millennium Reserve cigar is giving off rich peanut notes.  The last bit produced big huge clouds of smoke and was by far the best part of the cigar.

SUMMARY

This Montecristo Robusto is very good.  However, for me, it does not represent what a 20 year old cigar should taste like.  It lacked the different flavors and complexity we’ve come to expect from vintage cigars.  I would have enjoyed more of an evolution as it smoked, instead, there was one, good “story”.

To be fair, I did not have this cigar when it was initially released, nor after five years or ten years.  Someone who had the privilege of having a full jar and smoking one cigar every few years would be perhaps a better judge on the overall experience with this limited production release.  My experience represents but one cigar from the batch.  If you’re among those who’ve had several from this jar, please leave your comments below!

SCORE

Construction: 10 on 10.

Flavor: 7.5 on 10.

Evolution: 7.5 on 10.

Overall: 8 on 10

PAIRING SUGGESTION: 

A very rich and dark espresso coffee would pair excellent with this cigar.