Cigar Review: Hoyo by Hoyo de Monterrey

• Vitola: Robusto
• 5” x 54 ring gauge
• MSRP $6.59
• Samples provided by General Cigar

Background

I’ve said it before…I have to give General Cigar credit for trying to update their lines, their image, and their blends. It’s a process, surely, but the progress is noticeable with every passing year. The latest brand to undergo some extensive re-working is Hoyo de Monterrey. I reserve a special place in my heart for Hoyo de Monterrey because it was the first brand of premium cigars I smoked…specifically the regular Excalibur blend. Time passed and I grew away from that blend, but others caught my eye, at least for a little while…Dark Knight, Excalibur Sterling, Hoyo de Tradición, Reposado en Cedros. Several times General seemed to being trying to make a meaningful update to the line…some were only temporary, some just didn’t last. Which brings us to Hoyo.

Hoyo is a blend made exclusively for brick and mortar shops. It has four sizes and prices from $5.49 to $6.99. While it is still made in their Honduran factory, it is one of the few Hoyo de Monterrey products that does not include any Honduran leaf. They use three types of filler: Pennsylvania Ligero, and Nicaraguan Estelí and Ometepe. That is bound with an Ecuadorian Sumatra leaf and it’s all wrapped in a Proprietary Estelí Habano Shade leaf. “Cultivated by the Placencia Group exclusively for Hoyo, it is the first Cuban-seed, shade-grown wrapper, and is also one of the heaviest wrappers used in premium cigars.” The wrapper is fermented for two years, which is said to bring a deeper dimension to the flavor.

This whole project was inspired by the Hoyo Edición de Cumpleaños 150, a limited edition cigar celebrating 150 years of the Hoyo de Monterrey name. It also represents a step away from the Cuban-made Hoyo de Monterrey, which could end up for sale here in the States in seemingly no time. I’ve noticed for a long time that General has been positioning certain of its brands that share names with Cuban blends, in such a way that they can make a clean break some day…several Hoyo de Monterreys seem likely to end up as “Excalibur” cigars…some Partagas will probably end up as Macanudos (based on the fact that they already are that in Europe)…and I’m guessing that future Hoyo de Monterrey projects are destined to be called just “Hoyo.”

General Cigar provided me with several samples of this new Hoyo project. I’m smoking my third sample for this review.

Prelight

Alright, so about that new look…apparently this Hoyo uses the same exact main band as the Hoyo 150. The difference being that the limited edition cigar had a secondary band as well. This has just a black and silver foil band with a design that reminds of of a compass, although with the major markings at NW, NE, SE and SW…the places where H, O, Y, and O occupy. It’s a definite departure from the traditional packaging General has used for the old HdM lines.

And about that “Shade” wrapper…I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is the darkest “Shade” wrapper I’ve ever encountered. The dark chocolate brown of this leaf screams Maduro or Oscuro to me. But this is apparently a special Nicaraguan Habano leaf grown in the shade…and perhaps it’s just the extra fermentation time that turned the leaf so dark. I didn’t see too many big veins in the wrapper and it felt quite oily. Giving it a good sniff, I picked up notes of earth, coffee and cocoa powder on the wrapper. The foot had stronger earthiness but still packed a good amount of sweetness into the aroma.

The prelight draw was very good; I picked up flavors of cedar and earth, with an afterthought of cocoa powder.

Flavor

The wind played havoc with my attempts to light the Hoyo, but I eventually got it done. Initial flavors were of extra-strong espresso bean, earth and cedar. It took a few minutes and several puffs to also get notes of anise and baker’s chocolate in the mix, but there was still little to no sweetness to balance out all these more bitter notes. The body was fairly full right from the beginning. I can confirm after smoking about three of these (two before this review sample) that the wrapper leaf is extraordinarily thick and difficult at times to keep burning. This particular sample started out with a small hollow in the bunch right at the foot, which wasn’t the best way to impress with construction quality. It was the only one of the three that I had seen this on, though. There was a decent amount of black pepper on the palate and nose.

I continued getting lots of earth and cocoa powder in the second third, with a bit of espresso bean thrown in. Still not much sweetness and the pepper receded quite a bit.

The long-hoped for sweetness finally arrived in the last third, helping to balance out the earthier, more bitter flavors. Still, the strongest notes around were espresso, earth and cocoa powder.

Construction

The hollow in the bunch went on longer than I expected and did affect flavor to some degree. The draw was good, though, and the ash held on for a good long time. I’m taking away .5 point for the unfortunate construction on this sample (1 of 3 that I smoked).

Value

The price on these is very reasonable and it is a good stick, so I’m awarding full Value point.

Conclusions

This is definitely a break from Hoyos of the past, most of which tended to be milder and a bit bland by today’s standards. This new-look Hoyo was strong and full-bodied with a distinctively Nicaraguan earthiness at the core of the flavor profile. The problem was that it didn’t display a great deal of balance, preferring strength and body over complexity. I liked it and for the price, I’ll definitely buy more…but I didn’t love it.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10