Tag Archives: hoyo de monterrey

by Craig Vanderslice | January 29, 2023 · 9:14 am

Protocol, Hoyo de Monterrey and Diesel Cigars

A few weeks back I bought a five pack of Protocol Churchills from Discount Cigar Warehouse. From what I know, this was exclusive to them and Churchills aren’t available in all the blends regularly. I happen to be a big fan of the Churchill size, although these are only 6½” x 48, not quite the 7″ x 47 that is truly a Churchill. Call it what you will, it’s still a great size in my book. I’m pretty happy with anything from 5½” to 7″ and 46 to 60 ring. I’m pretty happy with a lot of cigars to be honest. Anyway, of the five blends in the sampler, I hadn’t smoked two of them, the aforementioned Cyber Crimes Unit, and the Official Misconduct. The Official Misconduct has been around since 2018, not sure how I haven’t smoked it yet, but I really quite enjoyed it. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made in the La Zona factory. Two of my favorite cigar brands make (or made, as in the case of the latter) cigars in this factory, La Sirena and Cornelius and Anthony. I enjoy many of the Espinosa cigars too, I just don’t seem to smoke as many of them as I should, I guess. Arandoza is another defunct brand that I really liked that was made there. Anyway, this cigar made me happy. It was a nice, spicy Habano that hit the spot for me. I toy with the notion of ordering another five pack, these “Churchills” were very good.

I made a stop on the way home from work the other day and picked up a couple new-to-me cigars that looked interesting. First of which was the Diesel Atonement, a TAA exclusive. This is a fairly priced cigar at $10 (in PA), has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s made in the AJ Fernandez factory, as I believe all Diesel cigars to be. It’s a 6″ x 52 which made it an easy sell for me. It’s a nice looking cigar, smooth and dark with some oiliness to the wrapper. It was loaded with pepper from the light. It reminded me a lot of the Puro Esteli, which I found to be fairly strong. I have a pair of those set aside, now that I think about it, one I took the cedar sleeve off, one I left it on, with the intention of seeing how the cedar sleeve affects the flavor after aging, a project for warmer weather. The Atonement remained strong, the pepper remained throughout, although it deadened my palate after a while. I’ve smoked my share of Diesel Cigars, and this was a pretty good one. I have a hankering for a Whiskey Row Sherry Cask now, which is probably my favorite Diesel.

The other cigar I picked up was the Hoyo de Monterrey El Torcedor. I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of this one, apparently released in 2019. I searched my archive of press releases and came up with nuthin. This is a rustic 6½” x 49 Figurado, very much like the Cuban Partagas Presidente (the vitola de galera on that one is Taco, by the way). It seems like I smoked another cigar in a similar shape, but I’ll be darned if I can remember what it was. I dig the size and shape. It lit easily, the foot has a small surface area, not a formed “nipple” like a Hemingway. it burned perfectly and had a pleasing flavor. It had some sweet spice and wood. I bought the last one the shop had in this size, I may stop for a couple of the larger size one day. It’s a wonder I hadn’t heard about this one before. I still need to try the Illusione/Excalibur cigar, anyone know where I can buy a couple? I just looked, and Fox Cigars sells singles, but they are no cheap date!

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Atonement, cigar, cigars, diesel, El Torcedor, hoyo de monterrey, Official Misconduct, Protocol, TAA

by Craig Vanderslice | June 9, 2022 · 6:21 pm

News: Announcing The Illusione of Excalibur Cigar

This is pretty interesting. Back when I first started smoking cigars in the ’90s one of the cigars I bought and kept around for special occasions was the Excalibur No. 1. This was a pricey cigar for me at the time at around $5, but I liked keeping a few around. It was, and is, a pretty large cigar, the same size as this new release, 7¼” x 54, which was a very large ring cigar for the time. I eventually progressed to the Excalibur Maduro. Any time Dion has his hand in a cigar, one can expect it’s going to be good, so I hope I get to try this, even if it’s four times the price of the Excaliburs I remember!

Excalibur will roll out its first collaboration next month with The Illusione of Excalibur, a limited-edition blend that marks the first Excalibur to be made in Nicaragua.

The Illusione of Excalibur was blended by Dion Giolito and STG’s Justin Andrews. The new expression harnesses aged Nicaraguan tobaccos to deliver a rich and layered smoking experience befitting of both Excalibur and Illusione.

Justin commented, “Dion Giolito and Illusione’s success in the premium cigar category has been driven by his rigorous standards for tobacco and his ability to create cigars that wow the market. So when it came to developing a blend for Excalibur, Dion was our hands-down first choice. I’m very proud of how this project came together. My only regret is that we couldn’t make this a full-time launch.”

Dion Giolito said, ““When GCC asked me to do a collaboration and offered up Excalibur, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. In college, the Excalibur #1 Maduro was my go-to when I could afford them on a college budget. My buddy George and I would enjoy them after class or band practice. They were a real treat back then, and they still are to this day. For my part, I wanted to make a cigar in the spirit of Excalibur with a bold character and packaging that pays homage to the brand’s origins. I believe this blend really hits the mark.”

Handcrafted at the TABSA factory in Nicaragua, the Illusione by Excalibur is a puro featuring a Nicaraguan Corojo 1999 wrapper from Jalapa, a 2012 Nicaraguan Corojo binder from Jalapa and a blend of Criollo and Corojo tobaccos from 1998, 1999 and 2006 grown in Esteli. The result is a smoking experience that is chewy and rich, producing notes of Christmas spices, leather and espresso in a refined, medium-plus profile.

The Illusione of Excalibur will be released in just one size, chosen by Dion and Justin to best represent the aged tobaccos of its blend.

In a nod to the legendary sword of King Arthur that inspired its name, Excalibur Illusione will be presented in royal blue lacquered boxes with gold detailing, each containing ten cigars. The cigars will be available for purchase starting on July 4. A total of 4,960 boxes will be released.

No 1. (7.25” x 54); SRP per cigar $19.99

About Excalibur Cigars

Excalibur cigars are produced by General Cigar Co. Inc., which manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar also produces Macanudo®, Cohiba®, Partagas® Hoyo de Monterrey®, Excalibur®, La Gloria Cubana® and several other leading premium brands. In addition, the company grows its own premium Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through tobacconists nationwide. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com.

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Excalibur, hoyo de monterrey, illusione

by Craig Vanderslice | June 20, 2021 · 10:18 am

HVC Hotcakes, Patina Maduro and Hoyo Excalibur Black Cigars

Happy Father’s Day. I find myself in an interesting position. For the last 15 years or so I’ve smoked the same cigar, a special project that Christian Eiroa did with a group of alt.smoker.cigars newsgroup members to help children orphaned by hurricane Mitch in 1998. I had bought. box for Father’s day in ’99, and at some point started smoking them annually on Father’s day. Last year I smoked the last one. I don’t see myself finding one cigar to smoke every year, so I think I’m just going to smoke a special cigar today. I had a good run with the Esperanza Para Los Niños, good memories, and they were very good cigars. I imagine Christian used the blend in something somewhere along the line. Enjoy the day!

One of the cigars that had been on my 2020 list of cigars I didn’t smoke was the HVC Hot Cakes, so I bought a couple at the Wooden Indian a few weeks back. I’ve since smoked them. I got the Laguito No. 5 size, a 6″ x 54 toro with a San Andrés wrapper, a double binder of Jalapa Corojo 99 and Esteli Corojo 98 and Corojo 06 Maduro filler, which is interesting. I would have liked for these to have been a little drier, and they seemed like they should have been ready to go by Humidimeter readings, but they smoked like they were a little too moist. Not bad, I just would have liked more smoke output. I’ll get more and drybox them. If the filler is “maduro”, that implies to me a heavier leaf which can hold more moisture which makes sense now. I should have looked at the blend before smoking them, but I rarely do that. It had great flavor, very rich and earthy with some coffee notes. I liked it. I’m working on sampling more Aganorsa product a can acquire it.

A few weeks ago when I was at Cigar Mojo, disappointed that I couldn’t buy any Stolen Throne cigars, then disappointed once again by the Mil Dias that I bought instead, I picked up a few Patina Maduro Oxidations, their 6″ x 56 offering. I’ve heard a lot about this line from listening to the Sultans of Smoke podcast, which features Mo Maali, Patina’s owner. Of course, Maduro is my go-to, but I would have picked up the Habanos if they had them as well. If I understand correctly, these are made at the same factory that Saka’s Mi Querida and Umbagog (and Unstolen Valor) are made, so I felt confident in my purchase. I don’t find any blend information on this cigar. The wrapper is a lighter shade of maduro, it’s not dark at all like the Hot Cake, which is maduro but isn’t billed that way, or the next cigar, which is blatantly called “black”. The cigar was nice and smooth, with little bite and was simply a darned tasty cigar. I’m looking forward to smoking the other one, and getting ahold of the Habano.

Finally, I had received some samples of the new Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Black Toros from General Cigar a few weeks ago and smoked a few of them. Excalibur is one of the brands that goes back to the beginning of my cigar smoking career. The Excalibur No. 1 was one of my splurge cigars when it was about $5 and that was an expensive cigar. It’s nice to see that they are still offering this cigar in that size, which is a whopping 7¼” x 54, normal by today’s standards, but a veritable the baseball bat in 1996. The Toro is 6″ x 52 and has a dark U.S. Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. The binder is a Sumatra leaf from Ecuador and the fillers are Ligeros from Nicaragua and Honduras. This cigar has a bit of a punch to it, I made sure this one was on the drier side because of those heavier tobaccos, and it poured smoke. Lots of spice, bitter chocolate and espresso flavors. It was nothing like the Excaliburs I remember, of course they had a Connecticut shade wrapper, and for some reason I rarely smoked the maduros then, my shop may note have had them. I Like a lot of Hoyo’s and this is another one I like!

I still need to hear from the contest winner, before I smoke all the cigars. Mitchell Smith, second notice! Don’t make me track you down! Anyway, I think one of today’s cigars will be a Julius Caeser, that’s a nice cigar. It’s appropriate too because I’ve got some pain in my back…any way…have a great day, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Excalibur, Hot Cake, hoyo de monterrey, HVC, Patina

by Craig Vanderslice | May 31, 2020 · 10:46 am

Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Seleccion, Tarazona and Jacoubs Cigars

I’ve been a fan of Hoyo de Monterrey cigars for just about as long as I’ve been a fan of cigars. I used to splurge on a huge $5 Excalibur No. 1 from time to time, and have smoked tons of Rothschilds and Sabrosos over he years. I’ve enjoyed a great many of the recent iterations of the Hoyos from the AJ Fernandez collaboration as well. I finally got around to smoking the newest Hoyo de Monterrey, made at the HATSA factory in Honduras, the Epicure Selección. I smoked the No. 1, which is a corona gorda, 5 5/8″ x 46, a size I really enjoy. They also make a No.2 (4.9″ x 50) and a Toro Especiale (6″x50). Certainly I’ll be seeking out the Toro at some point. This was a really good smoke. Very bold and straight forward Honduran heavy, dark tobacco. It was rich and earthy with some spice. I enjoyed it a lot. I didn’t find it to be complex, and it lacked any subtlety whatsoever, which is what I liked about it. It screamed “cigar” and was unapologetic. I dug it. I think Frank Llaneza would be pleased. Once again, neither the Hoyo, nor the new CigarWorld sites are updated with information about this cigar.

I ran into Eddie Tarazona at the TPE show and I hadn’t seen Eddie in a few years. I think I met Eddie in 2011 or ’12 at one of the Delaware Cigar Festivals that were held at Delaware Park racetrack. At the TPE he gave me a couple cigars, one of which was a Tarazona Guerilla 305 El Jefe Flaco. This is a 6 ½” x 42 lonsdale-ish sized cigar, with a H2000 wrapper grown in Ecuador, Sumatra binder and Piloto Viso, Criollo 98, Corojo Seco, Connecticut Broadleaf fillers. One does not often see Broadleaf in the filler blend. H2000 wrapper has come a long way. When it was developed in 2000 it didn’t burn. It was better suited for wrapping electrical wires or making jumpsuits for Indy car drivers than cigar wrappers. If those analogies need further explanation, the stuff was flame retardant, it didn’t burn. In the last twenty years the pre-industry tobacco folks have figured out how to ferment the stuff and now it works like cigar wrappers should work, and it tastes pretty yummy too. Platinum Nova Cigars uses it on a lot of their cigars and they are quite expensive and pretty darned good. Something makes me thing Saka used it one of his special editions, although I can’t bring it to mind, and I could be wrong. Anyway, the El Jefe Flaco was a nice smoke, it burned perfectly, and I was careful not to over-smoke it lest it heat up and get bitter. It was smooth and had a great flavor, medium bodied and nutty, with some sweetness, no doubt from the Broadleaf in the filler. It was a good smoke. Eddie’s a good dude, and he puts out some good cigars. I have another he gave me that I can’t wait to sample.

My last cigar was a one-off that probably doesn’t even warrant discussion, because I don’t even know if it’s available and I don’t know much about it. I was rummaging around the humidor as I’ve been doing lately, just sort of selecting oddities to smoke that have been around a while, or things that I don’t need to write about, or are just random one-offs. This torpedo came from my first visit to a shop in Ridley Park, PA, which is about 5 miles from the Philadelphia International Airport, called Jacoubs. It’s a nice little shop with a lounge, take some change for the on street parking meters, it’s better than the airports cell-phone lot to wait for an airport pick up. It’s owned by a guy named, now get this: Jacoub. Weird, huh? This torpedo came from my first visit to this shop which was in the spring of 2016, so it somehow got buried for the last 4 years. I had the good sense to put a post-it on it with “Jacoubs” on it, so at least I had some idea of it’s provenance. Sadly, it was an exceptional cigar. I say “sadly” of course, because I’ll not have the chance to smoke it again. It’s not that big of a deal really, because, while it was a really great cigar, it wasn’t one that was particularly distinctive or different, know what I mean? It was a cigar that, while smoking one thinks “that’s a really good” smoke, but there’s no point where you think, “gee, there’s a flavor I’ve never had in a cigar before, that’s really unique”. So it was a good, well aged, well made torpedo, obviously made with good materials. I suppose the next time I’m down that way I’ll ask Jacoub about it.

That’s all for today. Don’t forget to go back to Wednesday’s post and enter the contest if you haven’t already. If you have, good luck, don’t enter again! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | April 22, 2020 · 11:32 pm

News: Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Selección Announced

It seems like it’s been a busy news week! This is interesting to someone who’s been a fan of Hoyo de Monterrey for a long time. I used to love smoking Excalibur No.1s when I’d splurge and spend $5 for a cigar!

Hoyo de Monterrey is proud to present Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Selección, a collection that pays homage to the country where the brand has been made for more than five decades. The Honduran puro channels Hoyo de Monterrey’s rich history and celebrates the tradition of Honduran cigars and Honduran tobacco that began in the 1950s when the Villazon Cigar Factory was established.

Ed Lahmann, senior brand manager for Hoyo de Monterrey said, “Epicure Selección speaks to the legacy of Hoyo de Monterrey which is one of the first brands to have been made in Honduras, and one of the first to feature bold blends made with native Cuban seeds cultivated in Central America. The history of Hoyo de Monterrey was carved out by some of the most revered tobacco men that ever lived, and we honor their contributions to the handmade cigar category with this new collection.”

Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Selección is an artisanal line featuring proprietary aging techniques and old world craftsmanship. The exceptionally well-balanced blend delivers a true Honduran smoking experience, derived from proprietary, Cuban seed wrapper, binder and filler tobaccos. The result is a medium-full cigar rich with peppery and earthy notes, and striking complexity.

Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Selección is presented in understated cabinet style boxes that each contain 20 cigars. Inside, the cigars pop against an ornate, old-world-inspired band.