Montecristo (cigar brand)

Montecristo is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in La Romana, Dominican Republic for the Franco-Spanish tobacco monopoly Altadis SA.

History

The Montecristo brand was created in 1935 by Menéndez, García y Cía, Fact|date=April 2008 then the owners of the popular H. Upmann brand of cigars. Having just purchased the H. Upmann marque from J. Frankau & Co., Menéndez and García decided to produce their own subset of the regular H. Upmann line, called the "H. Upmann Montecristo Selection".

The name for the brand was inspired by the Alexandre Dumas, père novel "The Count of Monte Cristo", which was supposedly a very popular choice among the "torcedores" (cigar rollers) in their factory to have read by the "lector" on the rolling floor.

On the insistence of the John Hunter firm of Great Britain (which would later merge with J. Frankau & Co. to form Hunter & Frankau, Britain's sole importer of Cuban cigars to this day), the name was shortened to simply "Montecristo" and a new logo was designed for it: the yellow and red "crossed swords" logo the brand still bears today.

Through the efforts of Alfred Dunhill (the company), the Montecristo brand became incredibly popular worldwide and to this day accounts for roughly 50% of Habanos SA's worldwide cigar sales, making it the most popular Cuban cigar in the world. After the Cuban Revolution and the nationalization of the cigar industry in Cuba in 1961, Menéndez and García fled to the Canary Islands where they re-established the brand, but were later forced to quit due to copyright disputes with Cubatabaco. In the mid-1970s, the operation was moved to La Romana in the Dominican Republic and released for the US market, where Cuba's rights to the brand weren't recognized due to the embargo. Menéndez, García, y Cía is now owned by Altadis SA, who controls its distribution and marketing in the United States.

The original line had only five numbered sizes, with a tubed cigar added during the 1940s, but otherwise remained unchanged until after nationalization. With Menendez and Garcia gone after 1959, one of the top grade "torcedores", José Manuel Gonzalez, was promoted to floor manager and proceeded to breathe new life into the brand. In the 1970s and 1980s, five new sizes were added: the A, the Especial No. 1 and 2, the Joyita, and the Petit Tubo. Three other sizes, the Montecristo No. 6, No. 7, and B, were released but subsequently discontinued, though the B can occasionally be found in very small releases each year in Cuba.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Montecristo continued to rise in popularity among cigar smokers and firmly entrenched itself as one of Cuba's top selling cigar lines. The Montecristo No. 4 is, itself, the most popular cigar in the world market.

In 2004, another new edition to the regular line was made with the Edmundo, a large robusto-sized cigar, named for the hero of Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo", Edmond Dantès.

Montecristo is also regularly chosen to be featured in Habanos SA's annual "Edición Limitada" selection of cigars with a darker vintage wrapper and there are numerous limited edition releases of special Montecristo cigars for special occasions, anniversaries, the annual Habanos Festival, charities, etc.

In 2007, a cigar called the Edmundo Dantes Conde 109 was released as a part of Habanos' regional edition series. It uses a Montecristo blend and is believed to have a different name because of trademark right problems in Mexico.

Montecristo also produces three machine-made cigarillos: the Mini, the Club, and the Purito.

"Vitolas" in the Cuban Montecristo Line

The following list of "vitolas" (sizes) within the Montecristo line lists their measurements in English and metric, their "vitolas de galera" (factory name), and their conventional name in American cigar slang.

"Hand-Made Vitolas"
* No. 1 - 6 1/2" x 42 (165 x 16.67 mm) Cervantes, a lonsdale
* No. 2 - 6 1/8" x 52 (156 x 20.64 mm) Pirámide, a pyramid or torpedo
* No. 3 - 5 5/8" x 42 (142 x 16.67 mm) Corona, a corona
* No. 4 - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Mareva, a petit corona
* No. 5 - 4" x 40 (102 x 15.87 mm) Perla, a tres petit corona
* A - 9 1/4" x 47 (235 x 18.65 mm) Gran Corona, a presidente or giant
* Especial No. 1 - 7 1/2" x 38 (192 x 15.08 mm) Laguito No. 1, a long panetela
* Especial No. 2 - 6" x 38 (152 x 15.08 mm) Laguito No. 2, a panetela
* Joyita - 4 1/2" x 26 (115 x 10.32 mm) Laguito No. 3, a cigarillo
* Tubo - 6 1/8" x 42 (155 x 16.67 mm) Corona Grande, a long corona
* Petit Tubo - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Mareva, a petit corona
* Edmundo - 5 3/8" x 52 (135 x 20.64 mm) Edmundo, a robusto
* Petit Edmundo - 4 3/8" x 52 (135 x 20.64 mm) Petit Edmundo, a petit robusto

"Edición Limitada Releases"
* Double Corona (2001) - 7 5/8" x 49 (194 x 19.45 mm) Prominente, a double corona
* Robusto (2001) - 4 7/8" x 50 (124 x 19.84 mm) Robusto, a robusto or rothschild
* C (2003) - 5 5/8" x 46 (143 x 18.26 mm) Corona Gorda, a toro
* D (2005) - 6 3/4" x 43 (170 x 17.07 mm) Dalia, a lonsdale
* Robusto (2006) - 4 7/8" x 50 (124 x 19.84 mm) Robusto, a robusto or rothschild

"Regional Releases"
* Edmundo Dantes Conde 109 (2007) - 7 2/8" x 50 (184 x 19.84 mm) No. 109, a double corona

"Special Releases"
* Millennium Reserve Robusto - 4 7/8" x 50 (124 x 19.84 mm) Robusto, a robusto or rothschild
* B - 5 3/8" x 42 (135 x 16.67 mm) Cosaco, a corona

References

* Nee, Min Ron - "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars" (2003, Reprinted: 2005), ISBN 3-9809308-2-3

See also

* Cigar brands

External links

* [http://www.habanos.com Official website of Habanos S.A.]