Montecristo Grupo de Maestros Cigar Pays Tribute to Master Rollers

Source from:  Cigar Aficionado 01/14/2015

This month, Altadis U.S.A. pays homage to the talents of the Grupo de Maestros, a team of highly trained cigar rollers known for their skill, expertise and over 200 years of combined cigar-making experience, by releasing the Montecristo Grupo de Maestros Private Batch, a unique Montecristo cigar with a blend the Maestros have been smoking privately for years.

The blend showcases an Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper from what Altadis calls the "2010 Oliva Los Rios tobacco crop." Los Rios is one of the provinces in Ecuador where the Oliva Tobacco Co. grows wrapper leaf. Altadis also specifies the binder as being a leaf of Dominican olor from the "2010 Villa Gonzalez crop." The filler is a blend of Nicaraguan viso and ligero from Jalapa.

The limited-edition cigar will come in just one size, a 6 inch by 54 ring gauge Toro that retails for $15 each. The smokes are packaged in rustic, 100-count boxes similar to the cases found in cigar factory aging rooms. Only 250 boxes were produced.

The Maestros are led by Javier Elmudesi, general manager of Tabacalera de Garcia in the Dominican Republic. In the past, the team has masterminded a number of well-received Altadis brands including Romeo by Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo Epic.

Montecristo Grupo de Maestros Private Batch is expected to hit store shelves sometime later this month. Enditem