Yesterday, I caught up with friends Jon, Jill and Nathaniel at Shelley's Back Room tavern on F Street. Beforehand, Nathaniel and I stopped off at W. Curtis Draper Tobacconist right nearby to peruse the selection (which is rather extensive.) I saw a few I liked, looking to savor a nice large-format smoke over some single-malt at Shelley's. This cigar jumped out at me big-time! It's a special Montecristo I have never seen before, and the price was right ($15.50.)
Called the "Espada," my research has shown it's a collaboration cigar between Montecristo and famous tobacconist Nestor Plascencia. The cigar itself is all Nicaraguan, with aged longfillers from Jalapa, Condega, and Ometepe wrapped up in an aged 2010 Habano wrapper. It's billed as a medium-bodied smoke, but I'm wagering it's going to be stronger based on those blends.
Lit up nicely, and burned evenly throughout the smoke without having to relight it once. The flavors were actually milder than I expected, with the chief taste a woodsy sweetness with a hint of grass. The cigar smoked evenly with a dark grey ash, as mentioned, and turned sharp and acrid with a little less than 3 inches left. I'd buy this smoke again - it's a little expensive retail, but it was delicious and paired perfectly with my whiskey of choice, Balvenie 14-year Carribean Cask, as pictured above.
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