Smoked: Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Epicure Maduro

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Epicure Maduro is as blue, white and blue as any red-blooded Honduran. OK, yes, the filler includes Nicaraguan and Dominican tobacco, but the cigar was made in Honduras. And proudly so, getting a #8 rank by Cigar Aficionado back in 2007. So why has it taken me 17 years to smoke one? I have been looking forward to trying this cigar for some time. I knew where to find them – just never got around to it – until today.

The aforementioned filler is draped in a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and covered in a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper with thin veins and invisible seams.

Flavors: cedar, nuts, earthy, grass, coffee, milk chocolate, cream, nougat and just a pinch of pepper to round out the flavor profile. The chocolate and cream created a candy bar taste. Not Snickers. That’s peanuts. The nuts were more almonds and walnuts. Does Mars make an almond and walnut chocolate bar?

Tight draw, thin smoke production, otherwise solid ash and firm. The construction gets a 3.

The Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Epicure Maduro is a decent cigar. The flavors were fine, but not special. They didn’t really do much for me. There were no transitions and no complexity. I was disappointed. I’ll take the Hoyo AJ Black over this stick any day. Is it even possible Cigar Aficionado got this wrong or is my palate so out of whack in my old age?

BTW: The scotch was a Duncan & Taylor Glenallachie 14. Not for the faint of heart – 53.9% ABV.