Hoyo de Monterrey Particulares

Description

What doI remember most of all is the salt air. It was our 15th wedding anniversary and I’d foundthis tiny scrap of sand on the other side of theisland where tourists didn’t go. No beach clubs or throbbing bass, just thesway ofthe Atlantic and drying kelp. We had just feasted on what seemed a sacrament of a meal — grilled snapper, chilled bottle of white and that hushed kind of talking you reserve for when you’ve spent half your life in quiet conversation with someone. And as the sun sank behind the horizon which had smeared itself into a purple bruise, I knew I wanted something that showed how muchthis meant to me. I did not want a 30-minute spark; I wanted one for the long haul.

I began digging around in my travel and pulled out a cedar coffin. You know them — those itty-bitty slide-lid singles that, when you open to pop the egg movie in, make you feel like it’s your birthday because you’re so egg-cited about it. I have been saving this one for a night like the tonight, when time wouldn’t matter and the only thing on date was thinking. I sat down on a log, all that sand betweenmy toes was hard and cold already,and I lifted the lid. I was slapped in the face by its smell of aging cedar and curing tobacco, heavily flavored with all that salt from the ocean. It felt right. It felt intentional.

That smoke? The Hoyo de Monterrey Particulares. No one is running to anywhereor from anything. It’s a commitment. It’s a nine-inchflex and statement of purpose. I remember looking at it in the waning light of day and thinking: “Please let me have enough matches for this one.”

The Specs

Building: TheGiant in the Hand

And I can’t help it,you look at a Gran Corona andyou’re like what the hell? It’s a massive piece of work. This Particulares is 9-1/4 inch of Imperial Cuban workmanship and it smokes the full measure of its name. But it didn’t feel unwieldy inmy hand. That 47ringgauge makes sure of it, so instead you feel a long and slim baton rather than a nightstick. The wrapper was amazing, a Colorado shade of blazing red brown that sparkled at moonlight like polished leather. O.K.,there were a few veins, but hey: character. It’s a NATURAL product, for heaven’s sake.

I stroked it with mythumb. Sorry it wasn’t single but halfway though a straight full 9 pack (all same vitola) that you would be able to snatch up w/ plenty of time to let mellow & breath. The pack was nice and solid, no soft spots on this bad boy which is good when you are smoking dem long ass vitolas. Some of thesegiants can be heavy-footed and half-maladroit-sounding, but this one was surefooted from crown to toes. before I had uncapped the cap yet. and tooka longhit. You could tell it wasn’t even close by the-signature bale” musk that pungent scent of tobacco being field-cured, barn-, hayed”, dried. The prelight draw was much looser than expected — not really loose, but enough to make you sense it was gently bunched up at the José Martí in Havana. I made a nice clean cuton that, and toased foot then away.ed it just lightly. You can’t charge the start of a marathon.

Flavor Profile: The First Third

The first few puffs were a wimpy handshake. The lighter body is very much in the classic Hoyode Monterrey vein, and the Particulares doesn’t knock your teeth out straight away. It began asthis creamed-cedar washwith a hint of floralsweetness. White smoke hung heavily in the air between where I sat on the beach and that patch of sand. Your friends are always smoking too much. I picked up a distinct note of vanilla — not hot dollar store candlevanilla, but actualvbean cracked open.

an inch or so inward, and a toasted nuttiness emerged. It tasted nutty to me, almonds, or maybe cashews. The was no spice here, just acreamy feel — it was like butter — that covered the mouth. I thought about how “clean” it had tasted. Some cigars initially a bit bitter or harsh around the edges and then warm up, this was smooth all the way. It’s a middling ride but theflavors are pure as can be. If you want a pepper bomb donot come here. This is about nuance.

The Sweet Spot: TheSecond Third

By midway through the second third, that sun was long gone, stars were poppingup through the dark: This is wherethe your see it’s roots.

But the creaminess was there, though it grew to be more like milk chocolate. I began to taste hints of caramel and honey on the finish. It is a slow revealing, the kind of talk that gets better andbetter deep into the night.

The coffee note was the surprise; though there is no tedious light roastiness, like the comforting smell of morning.</p It was not a brave, austere espresso; it more resembled a café au lait. Smooth, sweet, and comforting. The woodhad changed from that soft cedar to a darker, older oak. I looked at the ash — a wispy gray, barely nudging 2 inchesbefore I flickedit off into the sand. The scar was as near to a perfect burn as you canget, although that does tellya a lot about the rollers back in Havana. There’sno simple way to smoke a 9″ Toro directly, butthis puppy did not require one single touch up. the halfway point yet.” I was 45 minutes into the movie, and I hadn’t yet even hit half-time. That’s the beauty (and problem) of this portable size — you stop and smell those virtual roses, or in this case smoke them.”

The Last Third: The StrengthGrows

Once I was on the home stretch, theprofile turned black. They replaced those light flowery notes for a little bit more “earthy” profile. I began to feel a little bit of mild heat, not something that tastes like black pepper but the smell of cinnamon or nutmeg. The honeysweetness curdledand thickenedlike the molassesin a dead woman’s gut. Creamy and it still had the profile but it was from themedium-plus zone now. On the palate the wood had warmed with a touch of leather coming through. UITableViewDataSource

The following day, after about 5 minutes in glass or so there was more wood showing with a pinch more leather kicking in.

The weather had held remarkably milt for this later stage of the race. Most cigars can turn a little bitter / hot at the end couple inches, but not these by Particulares. I guessthat must be the source of advantage — it’s so long that there’s all this area for smoke to waft through and cool down before reaching your mouth. It took what, inch-for-inch, was only its fifth or sixth course correction for me to figure that out (a testament in itself for a cigar that gave me close to two hours of smoking). I didn’t want it to end. And it dfeltlike the last page of a very good book.

The Pairing

Out on that beach I took a swallow of something strong and advanced in years: it wasn’t overly sweet, the rum was simply barrel-aged with enough grandeur to challenge the tobacco leaf. If I were home,I’d probably be drinking some Highland Scotch or aheavy cream coffee myself. You don’t want something that it going to compete with the sweet or bulldoze downthe fragile scent of flowers. I’d stay away from anything too peaty or high-proof — you don’t want to murder the subtlety of the VueltaAbajo tobacco. Also — a bunch of vintage ports would be deadly to finish out the lastthird.

The Verdict

For Whom is the Hoyo de Monterrey Particulares Suitable? Probably not. If you have 40 minutes betweenmeetings, there isn’t even a point. Thisis a big moment cigar. It’s for anniversaries, for milestones or just the occasional rainy day when all you want to do is sit and think about stuff for two hours. It’s a smokethat doesn’t hit you over the head though, rather it ekes out form in a compelling and intricate way without being too pedestrian about it.

And I love that they’ re done up in their own tiny individual cedar coffins. Somehow, it’sthe lone cigarat every event. It’s easy to sleep on a watch once it gets promoted from Limited Edition but you can pick up one of these right now (kinda)! It’s a “thinking man’s” cigar. It doesn’t shout; it whispers. And on thatcompletely isolatedbeach, beneath the innumerable stars and lying next to my wife, the whispers were just what I needed to hear.

If you can, I dare say

The Particulares is flavour country for a reason. It’s a masterclass in balance. And just ensure you’re cooped up with good company — evenif it’s your own.

RUNNING MAN NOT OUT OF TIME. She skateboards with solidbuild, glides over beautiful transitions and offers a flavor profile that’s both complex and easygoing. It’s a classic for a reason.