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Intro To Montecristo Cigars

Montecristo is one of the best brands of Cuban cigars according to popular cigar reviews. In Cuba, the brand is made by Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company. The Montecristo brand was created by Alonso Menendez in 1935 after he purchased the Particulares Factory. Altadis U.S.A. manufactures the brand in the U.S., Honduras, and the Dominican Republic, where it has been making Montecristos since 1918.

Inspiration for the brand name came from the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, authored by Alexandre Dumas. Reportedly, cigar rollers within the factory liked this novel read to them while they were working. British distributor John Hunter Morris and Elkan Co. Ltd, developed the famous brand logo, a triangle comprised of six swords that surround a fleur-de-lis.

In 1937, production of Montecristos was moved to the H. Upmann Factory that Mr. Menendez purchased from J. Frankau SA earlier that year. In 1963, J. Frankau merged with John Hunter Morris and Elkan to form Hunters & Frankau, the only importer and distributor of Cuban cigars in the UK. The company Alfred Dunhill helped popularize the brand worldwide.

Today, Montecristos represent about 25 percent of the worldwide cigar sales for Habanos SA. This makes the brand the most popular Cuban cigar on the planet. Originally, there were five numbered sizes and a tubed cigar joined them in the 1940s. Five new sizes were added during the 1970s and 1980s: the Petit Tubo, Joyita, A, Especial No. 1, and Especial No. 2.

Three other sizes were released but later discontinued and in 2004, the Edmundo was added. A Montecristo blend is used in the Edmundo Dantes Conde 109, released in 2007, and the lighter-bodied Open line was released at the 11^th Habanos Festival in 2009. To date, the Montecristo No. 4 is the most popular cigar worldwide, considered the gold standard and an ideal beginner cigar.