Montecristo Relentless + Contest Winner

By Tony Casas | January 19, 2015

The Montecristo Relentless is a shop exclusive cigar that easily flies under the radar. Today, we bring a bit of light to the release with my first full review in a while. I’m here, alive, and healthy so I’m back for good.

The Good Stuff:

The Montecristo Relentless is a Famous Smoke Shop exclusive that states that though a bold experience will be “relentless” on your taste buds. The blend starts out with an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper, Mexican San Andreas Binder, and a mix of Nicaraguan and Brazilian Mata Fina Fillers. The Relentless is offered in 5 sizes: The Churchill (7 x 56), the Magnum (6 x 60), The No.2 (6 1/8 x 52 torpedo), The Robusto (5 1/2 x 48), and the Toro (6 x 54). The Relentless comes in boxes of 10 ranging from $9.65 to $12.50 a stick and can purchased here directly from Famous Smoke Shop who is currently running a promotion that includes free bonus deals with a box purchase. Big thanks goes out to our friends at Famous for sending these bad boys our way for review.

Size: 5.5 x 54
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Mexican San Andreas
Filler: Nicaraguan / Brazilian Mata Fina
Body: Medium
Strength: Medium
Price: $9.65
Pairing: Keweenaw Widow Maker (5.2% Black Ale)

Prelight:

The Montecristo Relentless carries a smooth, silky, light brown wrapper that showcases some great natural oils. The wrapper is very thin, and very delicate with some very light veining and some darker, almost greenish-brown areas around the cap and the foot. The cigar feels very tightly packed with a bit of sponginess around the foot while leading up to a beautiful round triple cap. The Relentless carries the standard round Montecristo band we all know so well with a bit of a twist. First, the color scheme is pretty interesting using a yellow dominant color with red and black accents. Underneath the Montecristo crest band there is a red one with the word “Relentless” sprawled across it which lays over yet another more elegant black band with some spot-uv coated Montecristo Logos.

The Montecristo Relentless’s wrapper gives off some nice, buttery tobacco flavors with some light cedar while the foot of the cigar has much more spice and earthiness to it. The cap cut clean and easy using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw is very grainy/oaty with some soft spice and lots of cedar.

First Third:

I was expecting lots more pepper given the Nicaraguan fillers, but the Montecristo Relentless stared out rather tame in that department with only enough pepper to tickle my tongue. The rest of the flavor profile consisted of some strong cedar, cashew, soft spice, and a bit of that butter that I picked up in the prelight. The draw is perfect and plentiful. Each little puff kicks out a whole mess of thick, white smoke. the burn line is a bit wavy and a bit dense, but nothing concerning at all as I close out the first third of the Relentless. The ash left behind is a medium grey which is very tightly compacted holding on for over an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Much the same into the second third of this Monte Cristo Relentless. Still lots of cedar and cashew over some slight spice, butter, and natural tobacco flavors. The body and strength remain both in the medium area while the nicotine is almost non-existent. The burn line has pretty much corrected itself and is now burning completely solid without the help of my torch. The retrohale is really smooth coating my nasal passage with some soft cedar and spice which actually helps add a bit of body to the experience.

Final Third:

Into the final third of the Montecristo Relentless and it’s still remaining true to the experience by delivering the exact same as it did when I first lit it up. That has it’s good and it’s bad depending on what you look for in a cigar. If you like medium/consistent smoked then this is perfect, but if you’re like me and you like bold/complexity this probably isn’t going to be your cup of tea. The burn has been perfect though and in the hour and a half it took to take this cigar down I never once had to reach for my torch. The finish was very soft and creamy too with absolutely no harshness whatsoever.

Overview:

While the Montecristo Relentless is a good cigar, it left quite a bit to be desired, especially in the flavor department. The cigar seldom switched up, and the flavors became pretty muted and muddy from the halfway point on. This may actually be appealing to those who want a solid, medium body cigar and especially those of you who are looking for a great morning coffee smoke. Flavor profile aside the Relentless preformed rather well in terms of construction and burn/draw experience. No touch ups or relights were ever needed and the cigar just quietly did what it was born to do. Taking that in consideration the price point for a cigar of that stature is pretty high on the Relentless and it’s probably not something I’d consider adding to my regular rotation.

Pairing:

I decided to pair the Montecristo Relentless with a brew that was brought back from the Upper Peninsula by none other than Mr. Jeremy. Big thanks dude. Keweenaw’s Widow Maker is a black ale found all over the UP that comes in a 5.2% ABV. The beer is a solid black ale leading with some nice roasted malt, barley, and caramel which finishes crisp with some slight espresso and chocolate. I’ve always been a fan of Black Ales especially when they are as solid as this one. The theory behind this pairing was the hope of brining a bit more dimension to the smoking experience, which it did by placing some great flavors that didn’t already exist in the cigar into the experience. I still think the best possible pairing for this cigar is a morning coffee or even some sweet tea.

Contest Winner:

First of all, thank you all who took the time to enter. Also, thank you guys for the support you have shown us over the years. YOU are why we do this and this site wouldn’t exist without you. Give yourselves a pat on the back.

Now to the good stuff. We used Rafflecopter to pick a winner at random (It’s easy that way). The system chose, at random, Texican8! If you haven’t received and email from us yet, you will soon. Thanks again and be on the lookout as we are planning some more giveaways in the very near future.