Cigar review - Monte Pascoal Brazilian Puro - The Rest of the stogie

Cigar Review - Monte Pascoal Brazilian Puro Robusto

 Monte Pascoal Brazilian Puro

Monte Pascoal cigars are 100% expertly hand-made in Brazil using only the finest estate-grown Mata Fina and Mata Bonsucesso tobaccos from the Bonsucesso Farm of Tabacos Mata Fina. The estate is located in the city of Governador Mangabeira, in the State of Bahia, Brazil.

Wrapper: Mata Bonsucesso (Colorado Maduro)

Binder: Mata Bonsucesso

Filler: Mata Fina, Mata Bonsucesso (Long Filler)

Aging 3+ Months

$10.95 ea. or $239.95 for a Cedar box of 25 www.montepascoalcigars.com

In case you didn't know:

Mata Fina is widely exported to South America, the Caribbeans, and Europe. Many famous brands use Mata Fina for unique lines or to improve their blends. Among these: CAO (notably CAO Brazilia), H. Upmann, Altadis USA, La Aurora Preferido Maduros, Carlos Toraño Signatures, Alec Bradley Trilogy Maduros, Villiger Tobajara Brasil, and more.

Mata Bonsucesso is a unique cultivar developed by Tabacos Mata Fina from Piloto Cubano seed and grown at Bonsucesso Farm. It is dark, sun-grown tobacco, brown to caramel in color after fermentation, with medium to full strength. It is very aromatic, with rich flavor, and a strong influence of the Brazilian terroir. Mata Bonsucesso yields excellent Maduro and Colorado wrappers, with very few veins, and smooth colors. It is also used as binder and filler, to give body to the cigar blend.

Released in Brazil in 2008 and introduced to the US in 2010, these have remained a little known brand of a unique Brazilian made and 100% Brazilian tobacco cigar.

Ring Gauge:  50     Length: 4 7/8"   

According to the Monte Pascoal website: 

Strength: Medium to Strong

Taste: Slightly Bitter with Roasted Notes   

Aroma: Wood, Moss, Leather, Pepper

Smooth, silky, seamless dark wrapper, with some oils. Nuances of earth, Starts with sweet coffee aromas, then come fine cedar, bitter almond notes and the sweetness of nougat and honey. 

Burn time 1hr 15min.

to watch the review go to https://youtu.be/jy9FVGZMx4o

This cigar is beautiful, the construction is everything a cigar should be sturdy, firm, well packed a medium to tight draw that never changes. The wrapper has 1 noticeable vein so that you can still tell its a leaf, yet does nothing to impede the flavour or burn. The seams are difficult to detect and I have to search to find them. 

 I use a light top clip.
Pre-light it has very light cocoa and nutty leather aroma with a hint of cinnamon and honey.

Pre llight draw I get a very pleasant fruity, nut and cocoa, with a noticable cedar/mineral/citrus, or however you may perceive the dry sour taste, but its nice and I don't know why, I hate the twang.  Is it possible this is a blend that can compliment it?  I soon find out.

It lights up nicely and evenly, possibly because of my expert lighting abilities or luck (after 24 years I still get issues) 

The first draws are strangely mild not fresh lit tobacco, sharp hot leaf taste, 

I CHECK IT TO SEE IF IT ACTUALLY LIT.

It lit just fine, by the third draw the flavours show up, I get a very nice nutty, light wood and a powerful but oddly pleasant cedar citrus.  The other flavours seem to compliment it and I am enjoying the taste that usually turns me off.

I typically like a chocoalty, peppery sweet, and strong cigar.  

I am not a fan of Connecticut wrappers, they are typically boring and sharp to me nor am I a fan of Dominican tobaccos because of the sharp taste that many people love and and are distinguishing traits of cigars from the Caribbean including Cuban.... Unless they are blended right,   and this one is....Very right.

One of the reasons I am attracted to the ultra small batch, startup, and boutique in-house cigars is the effort that goes into the blends.  I am finding more cigars outside of my typical profile that I really like, Love in fact. It's a great feeling instead of being corralled into a narrow band of cigars. I do these reviews for people like me who are tired of feeling one dimensional in a world of thousands of choices of cigars. and have started to or are already focused on specific blends, and tobaccos, just because that's what has been available.

Now back to this delicious Monte Pascoal.

The cigar only ashed twice. I expected as much because of the great construction.  The flovours remain consistent and the cedar flavour seems to come and go. at one point it dissipates, and the flavor changes to a Coaoa, hazelnut, and almost a light smokey wood, I love it.

I'm very happy I decided not to pair this with anything and make it the first cigar of the day, I ate rice and nothing more so that my pallet would be fresh.  

I got a sweet nutty cinnamon on the retro, but not a spicy cinnamon just the flavour/aroma, and a bit of earthy cedar.
I retro quite a few times with this, something I'm not always able to do with the pepper/spice bomb sticks I typically smoke.

Just after the ash dropped the flavours changed up to what I considered a sharp, hazelnut, and leathery wood. 

I am assuming these are the flavours that Monte Pascoal describes as Earth, Bitter almond, and honey

The aroma of this cigar is like a fresh cigar as if I hadn't lit it yet.  Possibly the almond, nougat, earth the website described. 

Whatever it is it smells fantastic!

The band is simple elegant and small, I don't even take it off until it's a nub, and it slips off with ease.  The cigar never swelled or changed at all from it's original state other than burning perfectly.

What I really liked about this was the sharp cedar and bitter almond that I typically dislike.  I liked it because it was on the finish and didn't linger. I couldn't taste it 4 hours later, or even a half hour later BIG PLUS for me.

I love cigars and have been enjoying them for close to 25 years and my biggest pet peeve is tasting a cigar in the morning after I smoked it last night. 

Pairings:

I don't drink but for those of you that do This would pair great with a Port Wine after dinner, Sangria for lunch, a mimosa at breakfast or a great spiced rum or sweeter scotch.

For non-drinkers A pairing with a good cream soda, ginger ale, or a mixed juice drink, like pineapple juice with orange crush and a splash of grenadine, or some white grape juice.

Positives

NO touchups

NO relights

NO uneven burn.

Strong ash (only 2)

Medium amount of smoke

Great construction

Unique flavour and aroma

NO lingering "twang"

Negatives:

There are not in more stores

I don't have a box

being picky, without that vein the wrapper would have been flawless.

I'm not going to bother rating this.  It's simply a great cigar. 

I would give it a 96 on aroma, construction, and presentation.

But the flavour is strictly up to you to rate for yourself and that's what I recommend.  Get a few, try them, these should not be a hidden gem, but should be out in front.  

Thank you again to the people at Monte Pascoal for providing me the opportunity to smoke and to review this wonderful cigar.  Congratulations on making a very high quality and unique product. I wish you much success in the future.

Muito Gostoso!