Montecristo

In the middle of New Jersey, in the middle of nowhere really, along the side of a busy highway, is a large non-descript building, looking mostly like a warehouse, that advertises itself as the world’s biggest cigar store. J&R cigars. G-Man and I had decided we needed a smoke, to go with G-man’s malt collection, and since we had a couple hours to kill, we drove down to New Jersey Route 10E in the town of East Hanover. (I mention those details only because all my readers will be running for their cars, by the time they get to the end of this posting.)

Inside J&R, one walks through the gift shop, where all sorts of junk is on sale, into what is certainly the biggest cigar store I have ever seen. Actually it’s a gigantic humidor, with twenty foot ceilings, and fans blowing mist around up near the ceiling, to help keep the room and its cargo moist. Along the outer walls, cigar boxes are stacked up to the stratosphere, so high you cannot possibly read the labels, nor reach them without a helicopter. Then there are racks and racks of what I’m guessing to be the more moderately priced inventory. And in the middle of the store is an enormous rectangular glass case, surrounding the clerks and cash registers, with thousands of different cigars displayed inside. So many we didn’t know where to start.

We had confessed to Casey, our helpful clerk, that we knew very little about cigars, when one of us noticed, through a wrought-iron divide, a retail liquor inventory. In a very little time, Casey learned that we were lovers of malt whisky, after which he recommended cigars to be paired with particular malts. G-Man treated us to a couple good cigars, but all of this was a prelude to our visit to the liquor emporium, which then opened into the Montecristo Lounge. The liquor store had an interesting collection of malts, most notable for its high end product. Lots of stuff we had rarely or even never seen before, like 29 year old Cragganmore, 25 year old Macallan, some special bottling of Ardbeg – lots of stuff running from $250 to $600. I noticed the Talisker 175 for $110. The malts we would have been able to afford were no better priced than at our neighborhood stores, so we passed on the bottles, but we did stop off at the Lounge.

Montecristo Lounge is as old school a bar as one can find – dark, smoky (what better place to smoke your new Dominican cigar?), plenty of taps, dozens of beers by the bottle, and whisky, lots of whisky. The malts behind the bar were more of the standard brands and bottlings, not the special inventory we had found in the liquor store, or at the Last Hurrah, but as far as most bars go, a very good selection. Our cigar mentor, Casey, had told us that the perfect compliment to the Romeo and Juliet Vintage he had sold us was a malt know as “Old Sheep Dip”. This is apparently a blended 8 year old whisky, nothing spectacular, but smooth and drinkable nonetheless. We really drank it to stay in Casey’s good graces, as it had immediately become apparent to G-Man that he would be making return visits to J&R. To compliment the Sheep Dip, we ordered a pour of Macallan 18, never a bad choice, even if it’s a tad overpriced. The 18 has a richness and character that’s almost unmatched.

So add J & R cigars to the map of outstanding whisky bars along the east coast. For good measure later last night, after dinner, G and I and Steven, the young G-man, finished the HP12 we had bought in Colorado last March, after Jon’s memorial service (a special drink for the two of us), and tasted some of Chcuk’s cask strength Coal Ila. While we enjoyed the Romeo and Juliet. How much fun was that, malt and cigars on Chuck’s deck? More to come.

Pops