Monte Open Master

[chalkstreamangler]

Well, this was my first Monte Open Master and I have heard good and bad so was keen to fire one up and see for myself.
Initial impressions upon opening the tube, a lovely looking cigar with a smooth and pretty perfect wrapper along with a beautiful fragrant aroma of tobacco and cedar - overall a great start. So I clipped the end and sparked her up with great anticipation.
Things went wrong pretty quickly with a monumentaly uneven burn which continued the whole way down the cigar despite 2 attempted corrections. The draw was too loose and the smoke, whilst plentiful, was pretty tasteless but still managed to be pretty acrid - quite a combo. I managed to smoke to just over halfway before writing it off as a bad job.

So, in summary a bloody huge dissapointment with a further sting in the tail that I have 2 more in the humi!
It will be interesting to see if the others are poor or whether this was an unfortunate one off - the only other Open series I have tried was the Open Junior and whilst I would have to say it wasn't to my personal taste it was a perfectly acceptable smoke.

I would be interested in other opinions of these cigars.

[larrysputnik]

Definitely not my favorite. I had a lot of them and for a small time the smokes were pleasant enough with a strong taste of vanilla, but the majority of them had awful burns and bland flavor.

[Sludgie]

I've only tried one and I have to say that my experiences were similar to those above - terrible uneven burn that required constant touch ups and a fairly forgettable experience. I can't say that I'm in a hurry to buy another one - there are too many other good Montes around to even need to bother!

[Reaver2145]

My problem with the montie opens to the letter beautifully made but the burns crap the flavours mute and for what i can see as a "beginner" cigar its damn expensive.

[NathanJD]

I've always maintained my dislike of these cigars. Stevegriff is looking for Monte opens at the moment! If you're not looking forward to your
Smoking them I'm sure he'll appreciate a PM

Sent directly from my mind

[chalkstreamangler]

I'm glad it's not just me!

Thanks NathanJD - as soon as I can send PM's I'll get in touch with him.

[SteveGriff]

Just catching up with this thread. I smoked one of the Montecristo Open Master's that you sent me last week and my thoughts about the Cigar mirror yours. The blend is too light and therefore just tastes bland. I was happy with the construction and burn... but give me a tasty cigar any day!

[larrysputnik]

It's pretty interesting how many people agree with how unexciting this cigar is. It's just a bad blend. It might be pleasant to beginning cigar smokers because it is mild, but I would think that this one will begin to disappear if the majority of smokers are looking for something else when they purchase.

[smokeysoup]

A complete bobbins cigar almost on par with the Guantamamera garbage...dont waste your money, even if you dont pay UK prices

[Deano]

Rubbish. They're quite smokeable, much more so than a Guantamamera, and I had a few in Cuba which were much more passable that the first batch.

[nicwing]

Deano, remember it's much better to let people rubbish these babies, then there will be much more aged stock for those of us 'in the know'

[Vortigan]

I think I might pick a couple of these up at some point,just to satisfy my curiosity.Always good to make your own judgment too,I think.

[smokeysoup]

Rubbish. They're quite smokeable, much more so than a Guantamamera, and I had a few in Cuba which were much more passable that the first batch.

As you show no respect to my opinion, I'll do the same to yours...I say tomato, you say red sauce.

I think the Open Series is a huge failure of taste and decency along the lines of the Guan brand.

You go for it Vortigan and make your own mind up, I'll respect your opinion on them

[Zigatoh]

Where are they all coming from lately? Seriously...

[Deano]

No idea, but good fun!