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Hoyo de Monterrey (cigar brand)
Encyclopedia
Cigar
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
, one produced on the island of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
for Habanos SA
Habanos SA
Habanos S.A. is the arm of the Cuban state tobacco company, Cubatabaco, that controls the promotion, distribution, and export of Cuban cigars and other tobacco products worldwide. The word habanos means literally from Havana, and is the word used in the Spanish-speaking world for Havana cigars...
, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
by General Cigar Company
General Cigar Company
General Cigar Company is one of the largest manufacturers of cigars in the world. It has been owned by Swedish Match since 2005.-Company history:...
, now a subsidiary of Swedish Match
Swedish Match
Swedish Match is a Swedish company based in Stockholm that makes snus, tobacco, cigars , Red Man Chewing Tobacco, dipping tobacco, matches and lighters. It was founded as Svenska Tändsticksaktiebolaget by Ivar Kreuger in 1917 in Jönköping...
.
History
In 1831, Don José Gener y Batet emigrated to Cuba from SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
at the age of thirteen, where he worked on his uncle's plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
in Vuelta Abajo
Vuelta Abajo
Vuelta Abajo is a district in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It lies in the extreme western part of the island, bordered on the north by the Órganos Mountains. A great deal of tobacco is grown in the district, and "Vuelta Abajo" can also refer to the high quality type of cigar tobacco from...
. Twenty years later, he would open his own cigar factory in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
and begin producing his own cigar line, La Escepción. In 1865, after using his factory's profits to acquire one of the best tobacco farms in Vuelta Abajo, he registered a cigar line named for it: Hoyo de Monterrey.
Literally translating from Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
to English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as "the hole of Monterrey" in reference to the concave terrain favored by growers of premium tobacco, the brand became incredibly popular, especially in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
market, and José Gener's factory subsequently became one of the largest factories in Cuba. In 1900, Gener died in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and his daughter Lutgarda Gener took over the business and it would stay in the family for another thirty years.
In 1931, the Gener family sold their cigar brands in order to focus more on their sugar cane properties. The firm of Fernández, Palicio y Cía bought the Hoyo de Monterrey and La Escepción brands and added them to their impressive lineup, which already included Punch
Punch (cigar brand)
Punch is the name of two brands of cigars, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in Honduras for General Cigar Company, now a subsidiary of Swedish Match.- History :...
and Belinda. Around this time in the 1940s, the Le Hoyo series (along with the Chateaux series which would later be used to create the Davidoff
Davidoff
Davidoff is a Swiss luxury tobacco goods brand name, which is carried by a range of products including cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobaccos. Its cigarette brand is currently owned by Imperial Tobacco but the company is otherwise independently owned....
cigar line) was created for Swiss distributor A Dürr Co.. After the death of partner Ramón Fernández, Fernando Palicio became sole proprietor of the business and by 1958 his cigar lines accounted for 13% of all Havana cigar exports.
After the government of Cuba unilaterally expropriated the company from its legitimate owners, Fernando Palicio voluntarily left Cuba for Florida. He subsequently sold his cigar lines to the Villazon family, which continued to make Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, and Belinda cigars in their Tampa, Florida factory from Honduran tobacco for the American market.
Hoyo de Monterrey continued production in Cuba and in Honduras and is still a popular, globally marketed Cuban cigar line. Among connoisseur
Connoisseur
A connoisseur is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts, cuisines, or an expert judge in matters of taste.Modern connoisseurship must be seen along with museums, art galleries and "the cult of originality"...
s, the Épicure No. 2, Double Coronas, and Le Hoyo series are particularly prized.
Being a globally marketed brand, Hoyo de Monterrey has been chosen for Habanos' annual Edición Limitada releases since 2000. Of interesting note is the Particular, which had some production problems during the first Edición Limitada lineup in 2000 with few of the cigars getting out to vendors. This prompted Habanos to release it again the next year, the only Edición Limitada cigar so far to have had this happen. In 2004, a new size was added to the Hoyo de Monterrey line, the Petit Robusto, which also wore a slightly redesigned Hoyo de Monterrey cigar band
Cigar band
A cigar band is a loop made of paper or foil fitted around the body of a cigar to denote its brand or variety. Although origins of the device are the subject of several legends, modern historians credit a European immigrant to Cuba named Gustave Bock with invention of the cigar band in the 1830s...
.
Hoyo de Monterrey also produces two machine-made cigarillo
Cigarillo
A cigarillo is a short, narrow cigar. Unlike cigarettes, cigarillos are wrapped not in paper but in whole-leaf tobacco. Cigarillos can be found for purchase alone or in packs, and are often made without filters...
s: the Mini and the Midi.
Vitolas in the Hoyo de Monterrey Line
Hand-Made Vitolas
- Churchill - 7" × 47 (178 × 18.65 mm), Julieta No. 2, a churchill
- Corona - 5⅝" × 42 (143 × 16.67 mm), Corona, a corona
- Coronation - 5⅛" × 42 (130 × 16.67 mm), Petit Corona, a petit corona
- Double Corona - 7⅝" × 49 (194 × 19.45 mm), Prominente, a double corona
- Épicure No. 2 - 4⅞" × 50 (124 × 19.84 mm), Robusto, a robusto
- Épicure No. 1 - 5⅝" × 46 (143 × 18.26 mm), Corona Gorda, a grand corona
- Palma Extra - 5½" × 40 (140 × 15.88 mm), Crema, a corona
- Petit Robusto - 4⅛" × 50 (105 × 19.84 mm), Petit Robusto, a petit robusto
The Le Hoyo Series
- Le Hoyo des Dieux - 6⅛" × 42 (156 × 16.67 mm), Corona Grande, a long corona
- Le Hoyo du Député - 4⅜" × 38 (111 × 15.08 mm), Trabuco, a short panetela
- Le Hoyo du Gourmet - 6¾" × 33 (171 × 13.10 mm), Palma, a slim panetela
- Le Hoyo du Maire - 3⅞" × 30 (98 × 11.91 mm), Entreacto, a small panetela
- Le Hoyo du Prince - 5⅛" × 40 (130 × 15.88 mm), Almuerzo, a corona
- Le Hoyo du Roi - 5⅝" × 42 (143 × 16.67 mm), Corona, a corona
Edición Limitada Releases
- Particular (2000 and 2001) - 9¼" × 47 (235 × 18.65 mm), Gran Corona, a grand corona
- Pirámide (2003) - 6⅛" × 52 (156 × 20.64 mm), Pirámide, a pyramid
- Épicure Especial (2004) - 5½" × 50 (140 × 19.84 mm), Gordito, a robusto extra
- Regalos (2007) - 5⅓" × 46 (135 × 18.26 mm), Regalo, a corona extra
Trivia
- Red AuerbachRed AuerbachArnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach was an American basketball coach of the Washington Capitols, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks and the Boston Celtics. After he retired from coaching, he served as president and front office executive of the Celtics until his death...
was famous for smoking a Hoyo de Monterrey "victory cigar" before the end of basketball games of the Boston CelticsBoston CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
, the NBANational Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
team he worked for as a coach and executive from 1950 to 1997 and again from 2001 until his death in 2006.
Further reading
- Min Ron Nee, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars. Hong Kong: Interpro Business Corp., 2003.