I thought I would give a review of some of the cigars I have tried lately.

First up is the Hoyo de Monterey Excalibur Legend

This is a blend that I have just begun noticing at my local shop. It is reputed to be specifically developed for a full-bodied, robust and complex flavored addition to the Excalibur line. Being a fan of full-bodied cigars and HdM Excaliburs, I bought the sampler box which contains one of each of the three sizes made, The Conqueror (toro), Challenger (robusto) and the Crusader (corona). It is my personal belief that “every blend has a size” and I tend to smoke different cigars in a blend to find the one that (to me) optimizes the flavors and complexity of the blend. The sampler came in a nice little wooden box and was very attractively priced. I recommend this to those wanting to try this line.

Each cigar was well made. Their dark natural wrappers were evenly colored and smooth without any blemishes or large veins. I use a straight cut with most cigars except ones with mixed fillers. All three cut cleanly and drew well. Unlit they tasted of slightly earthy tobacco with a bit of pepper. I toasted the foot and lit them slowly. Each of them burned evenly with a few minor corrective lights, nothing serious, and produced a firm grey ash.

The initial taste is of earthy tobacco with definite black pepper spiciness and undertones of cedar. This continued for the first inch and a half (as did the ash) then the cedar became more of an oak flavor and this remained the predominate flavor throughout the rest of the stick. They all produced a good volume of smoke but the texture was rather dry with a slightly bitter aftertaste. This flavor profile was consistent across all three sizes with the larger ring gauges being a bit “rounder” as one would expect. These cigars are definitely full-bodied and that, along with the strong peppery character, make them an after dinner cigar in my opinion. Of the three sizes I actually preferred the corona size (very unusual for me) and the toro was too much, by the time I got to the last quarter of the stick I was tired of it.

I have to admit that I was disappointed with this blend. Despite the flavor profile they seemed to lack complexity. The black pepper flavor was predominating through the whole stick and, combined with the dry mouth feel of the smoke, made it taste one-dimensional to me. To be fair, I will point out that these only spent a week in my humidor and that letting them age may really bring them around. At the price I paid for the sampler, I’m thinking of buying another and trying them again after some serious aging.

I feel that HdM went for strength over flavor in this blend. Other members’ experience may differ of course and considering the affordability of these cigars, fans of the Excalibur line should probably give them a try.

Cheers!

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"Nothing is what it seems, but everything is exactly what it is." - B. Banzai

Good grief!! It keeps squashing all my paragraphs together, desipte my attempts to edit it, what am I doing wrong?

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"Nothing is what it seems, but everything is exactly what it is." - B. Banzai

this forum deals in html

you need to use line breaks and what not. If you dont know how to do that just hit the quote button on this post to see how i got the line break.

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

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"Nothing is what it seems, but everything is exactly what it is." - B. Banzai

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