Created in 1935 by then-owner of the Particulares factory Alonso Menendez, these very fine cigars take their name from Alexander Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo," a novel often requested of the lector by the torcedores of the Particulares factory. After Menendez's firm, Menendez, Garcia y Cia, purchased the H. Uppmann factory in 1937, production of the Montecristo was transferred there permanently and remained there after the revolution. Throughout the nineteen seventies and eighties the popularity of the Montecristo marque rose steadily and Montecristo was established, once and for all, as one of Cuba's top-selling cigar brands.
During the eleventh Habanos festival in 2009 a special series of cigars was released under the Montecristo marque. The "Open" series were designed to appeal to the tastes of disccerning, but casual, cigar smokers, and feature lighter bodies and smoother flavours than the standard Montecristo blends. Intended as accompaniment to outdoor sporting events, the Open series are named, and designed, for those events they best compliment; the Regata is ideal for yachters and boating, while the Eagle is an excellent cigar for the sophisticated linksman.