Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo des Dieux

Ever since I started smoking cigars I`ve always been curious about the Hoyo -brand. I think they have pretty good selection of premium cigars and the glorious band with golden, red and white colors looks tempting. I have tried the Epicure no. 2 and Epicure Especial which were exactly the right choice to my taste buds. I think they have a lot of sweet familiar flavors that many smokers can easily relate to.
This particular cigar, "The Hoyo of the Gods" , is commonly supposed to be the most flavorful cigar of the line so it would had been outrageous not to try it;) I`ve also heard that these sticks need some age so let`s go and see what the divine fuzz is all about!

Brand: Hoyo de Monterrey
Type: Le Hoyo des Dieux
Vitola: corona grande
Size: 6"/155x42
Origin: Cuba
Box code: STA ABR 10





Appearance/construction (4 points)

The band in gorgeous! I think it is maybe the nicest of all regular Cuban cigar bands. I`m not sure if it`s only me but I`ve always thought that longer and thinner cigars look more expensive and sophisticated than a robusto for example, not to mention those 7"x70 "jawbreakers". The wrapper is nicely tanned as it should be because hey, IT`S CUBA! All right, enough joking.. There are some veins which are very visible on the wrapper the cigar feels very delicate. Triple cap seems to be OK and this stick is well packed. It`s toasting time folks!

Flavor (3,5 points)

1/3: This Hoyo starts with a smooth, creamy flavor and the smoke is very thick and white. At the same time I feel my lips very oily and the start couldn`t be better. As the cigar goes on I find it very hard to taste even one actual flavor. After a minute of struggling there`s toasted tobacco, earthiness and very light milk-coffee notes. Very odd Hoyo to my palate.

2/3: The cream and the oil is totally gone leaving a dry mouthfeel. Personally I don`t enjoy cigars that makes you want to drink water all the time.. This cigar isn`t as sweet as I thought it would be. The earthiness takes the leading role in this second part of the "Dante`s divine comedy" while the coffee went to the backstage. There is also a little bit of pepper on the palate. This cigar is hard to rate, is it too divine for a hippie?

3/3: I really wanna like this cigar but the last third gives nothing but dry earthiness, toasted tobacco and a hint of black coffee. All good flavors but together they create kind of a boring flavor profile.


Smoking experience (3 points)

I had a lot of problems with the burn. The line was uneven almost all the time so I had touch it up 5-8 times and relight it twice. It`s very common if especially Cuban cigar needs a flame during the smoke but with that amount it affects to the flavor. Actually it had little bit of harshness and bitterness to it but I`m sure it`s because of the aforementioned dilemmas.

I`ve heard a lot of good things about aged Hoyo des Dieux cigars but I`m not sure what is the recommended time to let them age. It had a lot of character but flavors were "hidden". Maybe this one was just too young to be enjoyed. Not a divine experience but not bad either!




Quality-price ratio (3 points)

You can get this Hoyo on 10-11 euros a piece from the Europe so a box is affordable especially when it comes to ageing these. Unfortunately the age wasn`t a magic word to this cigar, yet..

Hippie`s judgement

Appearance/construction: 4
Flavor: 3,5
Smoking experience: 3
Q-P ratio: 3

The average: 3,375

The final grade is 3,5!

Hippie`s flavor profile: 2


http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/brand.aspx?brand=Hoyo_de_Monterrey