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by Craig Vanderslice | August 11, 2024 · 9:59 am

Some New Hoyo de Monterrey, Bolivar and Alec Bradley Cigars

I have long been a fan of the Hoyo de Monterrey brand, going back to the ’90s. I smoked the maduro (and double maduro) Rothschilds, and when I wanted to splurge, I picked up an Excalibur No. 1 (for about $5!). I even wrote an article back in 2012 comparing the Punch and Hoyo brands (Punch vs. Hoyo-de-Monterrey, A Debate Finally Settled). I always get a little excited when General Cigars comes out with a new Hoyo. This time around they have the Oscuro and Rojo. I sense a theme at the company, after the release of the CAO Fasa Sol and Noche, releasing two cigars with different wrappers. I, as I usually do, tried out the Oscuro first. The Hoyo de Monterrey Oscuro has a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers, and comes from the HATSA factory in Danli, Honduras. The wrapper is dark, I had high hopes. I smoked a couple of these and found that the initial flavors were weird, bordering on yucky. Creosote, came to mind, like how burning a railroad tie might taste, very pungent. The company has tasting notes of cherry cola, white and cayenne pepper, molasses and rye bread. I’d have to really reach to get maybe the molasses. It moved to tolerable after a while, but never really tripped my trigger. Construction was good! I’ll let some age for a while.

Moving on the the Hoyo de Monterrey Rojo, which has a Honduran Jamastran wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. Both of these were in the Toro size, 6″ x 52, which made me happy (although I might have prefered the Oscuro in the Rothschild, as it would have been done quicker). I really liked this cigar! As was the case with the CAO Fasa, I liked the “natural” more than the maduro! This cigar has what I refer to as “bright” flavors, a citrus tang, and just good tobacco. This was a really nice cigar and I look forward to smoking more. These are both priced from $5.99 to $8.49, darned reasonable these days.

Next up was what I believe to be the first Alec Bradley cigar produced under new ownership, the Alec Bradley Safe Keepings. This is the first in a line that is from the Alec Bradley bled book, a Nicaraguan puro made at the Oliva factory. It uses Jalapa, Condega and Esteli Criollo 98 tobaccos, and prices run from $10.49 to $15.19. I had the robusto, which is 5″ x 52. I find that I like robustos on a Saturday afternoon after the chores/projects are done, possibly before an afternoon nap. No nap yesterday, but it’s been known to happen. Considering Criollo usually isn’t my bag, nor are flavors I consider woody, this was a really nice cigar. It has a woody sweetness, medium bodied, and really quite elegant. The band is kind of cool, it leaves room for alterations for future releases. I can see the starry, crescent moon background being changed to a sunny blue sky for another release. I was surprised how much I liked this.

Finally, I smoked the newest addition to the Bolivar line, the Bolivar Cofraida Oscuro. Like the Hoyo Oscuro, this has a Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers, but has a dark Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. It comes in three sizes, Robusto, Toro and Gigante, I had the 5″ x 54 Robusto. I believe this line started as a JR Cigars exclusive, much like the Hoyo Excalibur line, that was before JR was acquired by Altadis. I really like this cigar, it’s up my alley. It has rich, dark chocolate with some spice. Remember when they came out with the Bolivar with the big red band? I really liked that cigar, although I prefer the classic Simon Bolivar bands. That one was a Foundry line, this one is in the Forged line. This is also a reasonable priced cigar, I’ll be on the lookout for the toro. Remember when the Cuban Bolivar was a really strong cigar?

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, bolivar, cigar, cigars, Cofraida, hoyo de monterrey, oscuro, Rojo, Safe Keepings

by Craig Vanderslice | March 6, 2022 · 10:54 am

Perla Del Mar Connecticut, Bolivar Cofraida and Aganorsa Leaf Cigars and the Contest Winner

As I mentioned in my Friday news post, the last half of my week was disrupted with some unexpected drama. This has thrown me off my game a little, I missed my Friday night shift at Son’s Cigars just because I was exhausted from the previous evenings ordeal with the pain and the morphine and all, I was passed out at home well before the shop closed. I came home to some Chinese take-out, smoked a Punch Fu Manchu (which isn’t a bad inexpensive cigar, by the way! I ‘m not sure I get the marketing of Punch line with the Chinese food, but they are good smokes at a great price) and crashed. Hard. For the sake of my CDO though, I’m going to rewind a bit to Tuesday when I smoked the Perla Del Mar Connecticut Toro. This is a relatively new rebranded Perla Del Mar Connecticut from J.C. Newman, made in Nicaragua. I really like this line, although I can’t say I’m a fan of the PDM on the band. I liked the old bands better, this new one could have been better. I get it, it’s a budget brand, it could easily be presented in a bundle insead of a box, so I’ll take it as it is. These are fantastic cigars. Even for someone who’s first choice isn’t a Connecticut shade, this is a solid cigar. It’s creamy, with a lot of flavor. There are a few shade cigars that make my “rotation”, this might sneak in there. It has a richness without being grassy. I like it. I like the Corojo and Maduro better, but this Connecticut is very good, I’d reach for it over a lot of other shade cigars.

Yesterday I got around to the Bolivar Cofraida Lost and Found EMS Toro that I had on deck for Thursday evening. I had picked this up, along with the Punch, when I stopped in to the CigarCigars store in Downingtown, PA to drop off a bag of cigars for OP:Cigar For Warriors, as they are a collection point. I’m not sure why I didn’t get the Oscuro, seems out of character for me, perhaps they only had the EMS, I really don’t remember. This line is a collaboration between Justin Andrews of Forged/Scandinavian Tobacco and Robert Caldwell, where the marketing materials say they blended the cigars from bales of tobacco that they came across in the HATSA factory in Honduras. So these aren’t “found” cigars, but “found” tobacco, in this case. This is another reasonably priced cigar, in the $7-7.50 range, I think. Ten years ago I’d find that to be a fairly pricey cigar. Now it’s cheap. Anyway, I remember the Bolivar Cofraida cigars that JR Cigars used to sell were on the strong side, this one not so much. It was well balanced, medium bodied, with some pleasant, fruit notes. Nice afternoon smoke while I refilled the hot tub and sat around waiting to see if my kidney stone was going to cause me trouble.

Last night I took a look in the tray of cigars I put the cigars that I got at the TPE show that I hadn’t smoked yet, the “new to me” tray. I settled on the Aganorsa Leaf Aniversario Robusto that Terence Reilly gave me at the show. This is the 5″ x 52 box pressed Nicaraguan puro with a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper. The paper sleeve isn’t there to hide anything, the wrapper is really pretty. This was another really tasty cigar. I was in one of my rare moods for a shorter smoke. I was tired, a hockey game was on during nap time! This cigar falls into the leather and nuts flavor category for me. It’s not a sweet coffee, cocoa cigar. It burned perfectly, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Smoking more of the Aganorsa cigars is on my todo list, oddly it’s one of the brands that I don’t get around to as much as I should. I’ll fix that. Good smoke, less of what I personally look for, but good nonetheless.

Contest

OK, it’s time to select a contest winner! To recap, the giveaway this time was for a cool Drew Estate 20 Acre Farm case with five (5) 20 Acre Farm toro cigars. It’s possible some other goodies could fall into the box before it leaves the CigarCraig.com offices! It’s been known to happen! The winner is Xolotal! Send me your coordinates so I can get this out to you. As always, thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for their support!