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Carlos Lázaro Valdés Carballea
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Heard of a brand with a name of its own? That’s Montecristo. The Montecristo legend was born from the reading of Alejandro Dumas’ famous novel The Count of Montecristo to cigar rollers at the H.Upmann factory in Havana. Since then, the legend has grown larger than life, as the famous character.

Penciled in as a tasting benchmark to size up the other Habanos, Montecristo will step on the limelight during this Festival with the launch of two new vitolas and the presentation, with absolute respect for its history, of a new band in an effort to boost its value and image. Now a new proposal, aimed at reveling all that taste in a shorter span of time, has popped up.

Yet it had been a long time since the ­Classic Line didn’t have a range launch, a move that give twice as much significance to the unveiling of Petit No. 2 because it clings to the brand’s tradition by now adding a figurado, a niche in which the Montecristo No. 2 is quite a benchmark.

Completely rolled by hand with long filler, the ring gauge will catch on among smokers because of the easy grip and good burning that makes each puff a thrilling moment. For its part, the midsize length makes customers love every minute of it, despite a tough working day. 

The exquisite blend of tobacco, exclusively rolled with filler and binder leaves hailing from Vuelta Abajo, guarantees faithfulness to the original Linea Clasica’s mild-to-strong taste and captivating scent that enthrall both seasoned smokers and those who are now cutting their teeth in the realm of Habanos.

The Edmundo line grows on with the coming of Double Edmundo, also featuring the new Montecristo band and bigger size. This Habano of Dobles factory vitola delivers this blend’s classic scent and taste for approximately a one-hour-long smoke.

Though featuring thinner ring gauge –large enough the delight passionate smokers– its length guarantees slow pleasure and intimate contact between smoke and spirit. In a word, this is a great opportunity to grab all the taste Montecristo has to offer… unhurriedly.

Carlos Lazaro Valdes Carballea

The House, founded in 1844, is honored to have the H.Upmann and Montecristo brands as part of its portfolio. The latter, that was born in 1935 and is celebrating its 78th anniversary, now boasts two new vitolas: Petit No. 2 and Double Edmundo, whose blends were presented to a panel within our factory and then endured the opinion of an expert tasting group provided by Habanos, that eventually gave it the green light.

The blend was made in coordination with the Tobacco Research Institute and Habanos, S.A., based on the demanded features and with full respect to the tastes of each and every brand. Since mid-2012, we started searching for the Montecristo blend. That endeavor gathered a number of blenders and conditioners from our company, quality experts, production technicians and master cigar rollers who set out to find the perfect combination for these Habanos that are due out in 2013.

The job for the new vitolas was very demanding because the world market for thick-ring-gauge cigars is highly acclaimed. That raised our expectations because these two formats are pretty affordable and we’ve certainly come up with the perfect recipe, without having to rely on previous blends. As something exceptional, we outdid our job in this sense and we hope these new products will get great acclaim on the part of both Habano connoisseurs and those who are getting their break in this realm, its culture and its traditions.

Our staff is so proud of representing two of the world’s bestselling Habano brands and counting on a team of seasoned cigar hand rollers. In all, we have a payroll of 402 workers which includes 178 highly-trained cigar rollers who are ready to meet the yearly plans. Moreover, we teach courses for 42 apprentices in an effort to guarantee the continuation of this trade and clinch lifetime outputs. In our factory, a cigar roller churns out an average of 100 Habanos a day, so the overall production reaches somewhere between 17,000 and 18,000 cigars, a figure which is pretty much in line with the market’s demand.

In addition, our factory also came up with the Gran Reserva de Montecristo, a piramide of tremendous acclaim, and we’re also producing the Julieta No. 2 vitola; the Romeo y Julieta brand’s Reserve, which is a Churchill, an equally-acclaimed cigar in the market. The Petit Robusto, also sought after by Habano lovers everywhere, also joins that top-quality bunch.