The Target: Hoyo de Monterrey Regalos Edición Limitada 2007

The Strength: Medium to Full
The Wrapper: Cuba
The Binder: Cuba
The Filler: Cuba
The Year: 07′

The first thing that catches your eyes from the cigar is the wrapper. The wrapper is a beautiful dark color, almost similar to light chocolate. (Sorry for the flash on the camera, it really takes away the color) It’s then paired with a double band. The classic Hoyo de Monterrey band on the top, and the “Edicion Limitada” band on the bottom. The overall feel and the way it looks with its size and length reminds me of a Coronas Extra, but I am pretty sure this one is a little shorter in length.

The flavor begins with a dark toasty flavor profile. I want to say it’s almost like a roasted tobacco taste that ends with a soft finish. Honestly, there’s not much flavor and body on the first couple of puffs and it was quiet dull and boring. Puffing away for couple of minutes and before reaching the 2nd/3rd, the cigar begins to get better with every puff. Lots of cocoa, wood and toasty flavors are starting to blossom with a creamy finish, but ….. it doesn’t last for very long. By the time you’re getting into the halfway point, the flavors just disappear. It’s a “roller coaster” cigar, its bad for a couple of puffs, then really good, then really bad again. When the cocoa, woody and toasted cream flavors were around, it was one awesome cigar. But when those flavors are gone, it’s a very boring and inconsistent cigar.

Not at all surprising, the quality of the Cuban cigar was excellent. It had a perfect draw, excellent burn and a great ash. I said it once before, but a lot of the recent production coming out of Cuba is smoking great. At least everything from 07 and 08 I have smoked. The bad quality control in the past, looks like will stay in the past.

I hate to end this on a bad note, but this is a very bad cigar. No body wants to smoke a cigar that takes minutes before getting good. You want the cigar to be enjoyable from the moment you light it up. With this cigar, you have to be patient and even when you are patient, the good flavors don’t last very long. If you were thinking about trying this cigar … pass on it. If you bought a box of these … that’s to bad.

Regalo, means “gift” in Spanish. This was like a lump of coal in your Santa socks, a bad gift.

My Score: 87

- Agent 15