This handsome cigar can be seen delicately balanced between the finely manicured fingers of only the most genteel gentlemen in the pages of Cigar Aficionado. Because, as the ad says, “White goes with everything.” If that’s so, why is the gent wearing a white suit? Lack of imagination?

I decided to test this sartorial statement by wearing only my finest dungarees and a stained t-shirt and taking this toro into the backyard for a test drive. It’s certainly a pretty cigar– the Connecticut shade wrapper is nearly perfect, silky smooth and sporting a perfectly integrated cap. A real looker.

Inside this expensive Connecticut suit is a Nicaraguan binder and a Nicaraguan/Dominican filler. It’s a rather fat toro with a 54 ring gauge. It’s billed as being heavier bodied than the “classic” Montecristo, but I had to test it for myself after reading one review that called it “mild to medium” and another that said it was “medium to full.”

The Montecristo White is a finely constructed mild cigar. I don’t remember who said it was “medium to full” but that is, I must say, flat wrong. It fires up with classic Connecticut Shade flavors of nuts and kitchen spices, ginger maybe, and flattens out into a nice toasty mild smoke. Enjoyable, but definitely a morning or afternoon smoke.

At 8 to 10 USD I probably won’t be buying any more of these, but I don’t really have any complaints about it either. On the other hand, there are more flavorful mild smokes out there for far less– the Gispert natural and the Felipe Dominicana come to mind. Even the brilliant Romeo y Julieta Vintage line, while still pricey, has more to offer… Which doesn’t mean the Monte White is a bad cigar at all. If you favor mild cigars and have a liberal tobacco budget, this is definitely one to try.