Cigar Review: Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur III Maduro

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I was able to sit down and relax for a bit, so I perused through my desktop humidor and reached for this Hoyo de Monterrey. It had been a little while since I had smoked anything from this line because I’ve never had anything better than average when it comes to this Honduran-made cigar that bears the same name as the famous Cuban HdM brand. At 6 1/8×48, this is a cigar that can take a little while if you let it. And after this week, I had every intention of letting it.

Appearance: I like the look of this cigar. The dark, toothy wrapper appeals to my less-then-gentle nature. It’s tampered with a decent band that is a little throwback to the styling of King Arthur times. It’s not an overly impressive looking cigar, but it’s still a good looking one.

Taste: Being a maduro, you can pretty much be assured of a peppery leather taste, and this was what was delivered. I had this cigar in my humidor for over 6 months, so it wasn’t a new stick, but there was quite a bit of bitterness to it also. This could be because of excessive tar build-up or because ammonia, but it ended up not being a very good experience. I’m leaning toward tar as the reason. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the cigar to shake this grossly bitter taste. It only built as I smoked more, no matter how much I tried to purge the cigar.

Aroma: Before lighting, I held this to my nose and inhaled the sweet cocoa and coffee scents. Luckily, the smoke itself was not affected by the bitterness, but it also wasn’t a good smelling smoke either.

Construction: This was a brick house. The draw was extremely tight, though smokable. I had a hard time getting it lit, and then once lit, it was hard to keep going. These reasons are why I suspect tar build-up being the culprit for the bitter taste. Surprisingly enough, the burn was never too ragged when I could keep it burning.

Overall: Unfortunately, I can’t say this was a huge fluke because I’ve had more than one that’s given me this same experience. I keep hoping for the best, but am disappointed each time. This cigar gets the lowest rating so far because it’s consistently inconsistent. If you’ve had a better experience, please let me know.

Cigar Rating:

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