Friday, August 1, 2008

A Worthwhile Hoyo

Hoyo de Monterrey (Honduras, not Cuba) is one of the many General Cigar company labels that produce horrible, tasteless light-shade cigars, but the occasional excellent maduro. The Excalibur maduro is a case in point.

The Hoyo Excaliber Epicure (i.e. robusto) maduro was ranked by Cigar Aficionado as the 7th best of 2007 with a 92 overall rating. While I wouldn't have gone quite so far, it is indeed a satisfying cigar, smooth and nuanced with medium body and complexity. I prefer deeper, stronger smokes and so would not have given it a best-of-the-best rating.

However, its construction, draw and burn are impeccable, and it's got some interesting if somewhat gentle flavor characteristics of wood, leather and something I can only describe as dark salty broth (which may sound disgusting but isn't - go ahead and laugh; I've seen plenty more ridiculous flavor characterizations in the cigar magazines).

In summary: Not the elusive, buy-ten-boxes-immediately flavor gem I was hoping for after reading the Aficionado encomium. But a decent early-day smoke that you won't regret spending full price for at retail ($7.50 in my case). If you shop online it is truly an affordable splurge for the office drone, coming in at $64 per box at Cigars International.

1 comment:

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