The Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur– Legend is a relatively new release (October 2008) from General Cigar and their great tabaccalaras in Spanish Honduras. The cigar comes in three sizes; Crusader (5.75 x 45), Challenger (5.5 x 50), and the Conquerer (6.5 x 54). The cigar size I choose for the review was the Crusader. I have smoked and reviewed the Hoyo de Monterrey No. 5 and literally hated it, so this was going to be a challenging experience for me. I like to review the newer blends that hit the market because I have often been asked, “Have you tried the new ‘xxx’ yet?”, and if I am not saying “yes”, then my friends ask “why not?” If I did say yes, then they are hanging on my every word to see if I liked it. Not that my opinion is any better than anyone else’s, but it always helps to talk to someone that has already smoked a cigar you are about to try. Anyway, back to the review. The Legend, is supposed to be a mix of Nicaragua Ometepe and Dominican Ligero filler placed in a Havana seed Connecticut binder and a Havana Connecticut wrapper. Sound like a good blend? Let’s see how they did.
Flavor and Aroma
This stick is very earthy with lots of nice woodsy smells and tastes. There is lots of thick smoke but not a heavy flavor. I really thought it was more of a medium than a bold cigar, like it is being billed as. There was also a slight cocoa flavor. I smoked this with a cup of coffee that had two shots of espresso, so perhaps that was why I thought it was a lighter smoke than it should have been. Overall the flavor is just a little spicy, and for most it might be considered bold. It did remain primarily a cigar with consistently decent flavor and aroma.
Draw and Construction
This is one very tight stick. So much so that is was difficult to cut, light and draw. I tried as least twice to get it lit well, and the draw eventually opened up after about 10 min. The ash was not very good looking, and I ended up tapping it off after only 15 min because I was afraid it would fall in my lap. The cigar does have a nice oily wrapper, and even though I had to relight it 3 times, I kept smoking it and hoped that it would improve. Improve? Well, not really, but it was consistent as I mentioned above, and sometimes that is all we are looking for in a good smoke. One more note in the ‘poor’ construction category is that the remainder of the cap came off after an hour and a half.
Value
This cigar is priced around $7 per stick as a single purchase, and I believe a good value. Why do I say that especially with the apparent problems I mentioned? For one thing it smoked for a full 2 hours (and a bit) and any time you can get that much time for one stick, that is better than average, and with this price point I consider it to be a good cigar. This is a very different cigar than any others in the Hoyo de Monterrey line and worth a try. Despite the problems I had, the two subsequent Legends that I tried had less construction difficulties, but the same flavor, so in that respect it does get a slightly better than average rating.
by Gary Manelski
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