The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Montecristo Espada Estoque - Torpedo (6 x 50) is based on the journal entry dated 2026-09-02

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Good (3)

The Estoque has a nice dark espresso brown wrapper with a good amount of oil, mottling, and color variation to it. There’s a lot of fine tooth on the wrapper with only a couple of veins, but one is very thick and predominant. The seams are tight, with a little edge lift as this looks to be a thicker leaf. As with every Espada variant, it’s a shame they cover so much of a nice wrapper with multiple huge bands. They’re a bit garish too, not quite as nice as the other Espadas, and easily cover two-thirds or more of the cigar. If you have really nice-looking tobacco, show it off!

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Average (2) / Good (3)

There is a little extra resistance on the draw, but it’s acceptable. The burn starts with a lot of charring of the wrapper before developing a crisp burn line that is very wavy but controlled. The ash is a nearly bright white with some oil crystals hiding out in there. Striations are tightly spaced with super dark cracks accenting the ash. That ash brightness really contrasts against the darkness of the wrapper, too. The burn is uneven and wavy, but doesn’t get to the point of needing a correction in the first third. The ash falls off just past the first third.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Good (3)

Immediate hits of powdery dark chocolate, espresso, a raisin-to-black-cherry sweetness, red pepper, and salt. There’s a mild toasted cedar, earth, and leather that has a slight musty barnyard quality to it. As the red pepper increases, so does the earth. But I’m also getting baking spice, cinnamon, toasted molasses bread notes, and a moderate creaminess. The cigar is showing signs of good complexity even though it’s not a very robust set of flavors. To start, it’s definitely on the milder side of medium.

Into the second third, I’m getting anise and natural bitter dark chocolate notes. It’s not a negative, but it is noticeable, and I fear this might increase with the smoke because it does keep stepping right up to the line of being too bitter. But overall, the cigar is dark, rich, smooth, creamy, and just delightful. What’s also great is when the pepper recedes, you can really appreciate the refinement of the aged tobacco. In those moments, it’s a delightful mocha mix of the chocolate and espresso flavors that’s cut with a raisin-like sweetness. I even pick up the occasional hints of licorice and roasted nuts. If anything, this cigar does a solid job of touching every segment of the flavor wheel at least once with nice balance and complexity.

Unfortunately, the bitterness increases in the final third, turning more into a cheap coffee and slightly sour flavor with a big jump in leather. That habitual line-stepper finally stepped. 🤬 Fortunately, it’s not the entire final third, but it does pop up more than once. Up until that point, it was a really enjoyable blend.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Great (4)

A solid blend that highlights the good qualities of aged tobacco when it shines—until it doesn’t. The Estoque seems to do a really nice job of filling the gap between the original Espada and the Oscuro, bringing qualities of both. I hope time might help with the bitterness in the final third because it’s a really nice blend otherwise.

But as has been the case with every Espada, I’m a broken record on the value proposition. MSRP is pushing $18, and it’s just not that good IMO. That seems to be the general problem I have with Montecristo. Their cigars always strike me as overpriced, though you can find occasional deals that make them worthwhile grabs. At full price, there are better options out there, though by this point, it might be tough to track this one down anyway.

Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries

While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there's a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example!  This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo.  Below you'll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!

The Flavor Wheel

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.