Theme Weeks 13 = Montecristo
My next 'theme' week will actually take me two weeks. This will be for Montecristo which is among my top three favorite labels, and is the second largest selection of truly fine cigars in my humidors.

A significant number of these cigars are 15 years old and the Monte box is 6 years old.

The Diamante is obviously recent. I also have some 25 year old Cubans (top right of tray photo) and an impossible to find 25 year old Year 2000 celebration commemorative.

So I will devote 2 weeks to this 'theme'.

History
The history of Montecristo cigars is rich and complex, dating back to 1935 in Cuba.

Alonso Menéndez and Pepe Garcia founded the Montecristo brand in 1935 after Menéndez bought the Particulares factory. The brand's name was inspired by Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, a popular novel among the factory's cigar rollers.

The Montecristo brand quickly became well-known for its quality and exceptional blends. In 1937, Menéndez bought the H. Upmann factory and moved production there.

During the Cuban Revolution, the communists stole everything and Montecristo was nationalized. Menéndez fled to the Canary Islands, but was unable to resume production there after losing a legal battle.

The court case Menendez v. Faber, Coe and Gregg, in 1972, resulted in the Menendez family winning a lawsuit that restored the rights of exiled Cuban cigar makers to use their original brand names.

The Menendez family moved production to the Dominican Republic, where they were able to sell directly to the U.S. Today, Montecristo cigars are still made in the La Romana factory in the Dominican Republic.

The brand's portfolio includes a variety of cigars, including the OPEN range, which was intended to be a lighter expression of the Montecristo line.