Montecruz
- Founded in
- 1961 — Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
- Factories
- Compañía Insular Tabacalera, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
- Countries
- Îles Canaries
Montecruz is the cigar of a man starting again after losing everything. In September 1960 the Cuban nationalisation took from the Menéndez family the Montecristo brand they had carried to the top. The family left the island with nothing.
They chose the Canaries — and that choice is no accident of geography. The archipelago is the homeland of a great many of the farmers who planted Cuban tobacco: the Vuelta Abajo was settled by Canarians, and the tobacco families of Cuba kept ties there for two centuries. Returning to the Canaries was going home.
Benjamín Menéndez opened the Compañía Insular Tabacalera in Las Palmas in 1961 and launched Montecruz — a name so close to the one he had just lost that the intention is not in doubt. The cigar was dressed in Cameroon wrapper, dark and toothy, which proved a convincing substitute for the Havana leaf and helped install it in American taste.
Montecruz had its great years on the American market of the 1960s and 1970s. Production eventually moved to the Dominican Republic, like almost everything born in the Canaries.
Range Depth
Montecruz Sun Grown
The dark Cameroon wrapper that served as a substitute for the Havana on the American market. Leather, toasted hazelnut, mild pepper — and a share of the history of American taste after 1962.
Lonsdale · Corona
Montecruz Claro
The pale version of the same blend, drier and shorter on the palate. The one served to smokers coming from the mild Havana.
Corona
🥃 Pairings
Spanish brandy
The pairing of exile: a spirit from the peninsula with a cigar made by Cubans in the Canaries.
Strong espresso
The hazelnut of the Cameroon wrapper takes a frank roast.
Source : cigaraficionado.com « The Making Of Montecristo » et « The Son of Montecristo » (BENJAMIN MENÉNDEZ, fils d'Alonso — la famille qui faisait Montecristo et H. Upmann à Cuba — ouvre la Compañía Insular Tabacalera à Las Palmas en 1961 et y fait Montecruz, copie assumée du Montecristo jusqu'aux épées croisées ; Dunhill importateur exclusif ; l'arrêt Menendez v. Faber, Coe and Gregg de 1972 établit le droit des exilés à reprendre leurs marques)