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Hoyo De Monterey Excalibur #5 Maduro Cigar Review
By Jeff | November 7, 2007
Note from Cigar Jack: I’d like to welcome Jeff aboard as one of the new reviewers at the site. I’ve known him for quite some time at BOTL.org glad to have him here.
Brand: Hoyo De Monterey
Line: Excalibur
Vitola: 6.25 x 45
Origin: Honduras
Wrapper: Maduro
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Honduras, Nicaraguan
Body: Medium-Full
Strength: Medium-Full
Box Price: $96 (Box of 20) Excalibur at Tinderbox.
Description: This particular stick came from a SLB that has about 4 years of age on it. Nice yellow cello. Once removed, I was immediately struck by earthy/spicy odors. Nice! The wrapper was a dark chocolate maduro with quite the sheen. A rugged looking smoke, very toothy, what you’d expect Clint Eastwood to be smoking in one of his spaghetti westerns. Easy clip with my Xi3 and I was off and running. Prelight flavors of that spice, I’d say black pepper, enough to keep my lips tingling. Once lit, the flavors exploded into individual flavors of leather, pepper spice, and, vanilla. Yep, vanilla. At about the 1/3 mark the pepper subsided, yet always remained in the background. The leathers maintained with a more pronounced vanilla taste. As I continued smoking, the flavors married quite nicely, quite smoothly. The ending (I’m talking, to the nub!) was an incredible creamy delight! It stayed full-bodied throughout.
This cigar produced a lot of smoke. The burn was noticeably off, though it only took a couple of touch ups to true it up! About 30 minutes worth…
Verdict: I like it! I’ve always been a fan of the Excalibur, and it’s creamy finish. I usually like the larger gauge, but I have no complaints with this one. I’d like to compare this to a fresh one. If my memory serves me correctly, these were quite harsh, settling down by midpoint. Nonetheless, I liked it very much!
Similar Cigars: Perhaps a Rocky Patel 1990. I recently had a Cuesta-Rey Centro Fino #9 that had a similar smoothness.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Topics: Cigar Reviews |
November 7th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Nice review Jeff, glad you joined the crew! I think I may just have an Excalibur in my humi and your review may just have gotten me to spark it up sometime soon. Looking for a good “creamy” cigar after a short bout of sickness. ;)
CD
November 7th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I think it has been a few months since I’ve picked up an HdM myself and the last one I had was a Dark Knight that fell about on me.