Hoyo de Monterrey

Rojo

It’s incredibly exciting to see a legacy cigar brand undergo changes in ownership. The reason? A company built on a sturdy legacy of craftsmanship and true artisan sensibility gets to experiment with more modern tasting profiles and blends. This brings centuries of tradition to the mainstream and, quite often, to the top of many respected cigar ranking lists such as the Cigar Aficionado Top 25.This is why your customers will love the Hoyo de Monterrey Rojo. As part of a two-cigar release, the Rojo is the sister smoke to the Oscuro. While the Oscuro is darker and more mysterious, combining a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper with an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and filler from Honduras, the Rojo, which is available in a 4.5x50 Rothschild, a 6x52 Toro and a massive 6x60 Gigante, boasts a combination of Honduran wrapper from the Jamastran Valley, binder from Nicaragua and filler from Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Produced at the Honduran American Tobacco S.A. factory and released in the summer of 2024, the Rojo marks a new course for the storied Hoyo de Monterrey brand.Hoyo senior brand manager Ed Lahmann said in a press release announcing its arrival:“The launch of these blends represents more than just new cigars. They are about honoring the brand’s deep-seated foundation in Honduras. As one of the first Cuban ex-pat brands available in the US, Hoyo de Monterrey laid the foundation for Honduran cigarmaking nearly 60 years ago and has become a living legend in the world of premium cigars. With the launch of ‘Rojo’ and ‘Oscuro,’ the brand’s journey is reflected in its commitment to balancing traditional Honduran craftsmanship against the handmade cigar category’s ever-changing tides.”The Hoyo de Monterrey brand is more than a century old but truly found its footing after the embargo era of the 1960s when flavorful, buzzy cigars from the motherland of Cuba were kept under lock and key. Smuggling premium seed from the island and entrusting it to the hands of expats steeped in cigarmaking tradition, Hoyo was able to deliver an authentic and formidable Cuban taste to a world saddened by the loss of a beloved import.This backstory is critical to the incredible flavors of the Rojo. Throughout the cigar industry today, we’re seeing the rise of boutique brands that utilize clever artwork and marketing. However, the most successful of this new wave almost always falls back on the expertise of true craftsmen and artisans who possess a deep knowledge of the seeds, the land and the timeless cultivation methods that produce an unbelievable cigar.With the Rojo in particular, your customers will be treated to a flavor profile of toasted marshmallow, molasses, a rich tobacco flavor and notes of Saigon cinnamon. For those who have sampled a more Americanized version of Cinnamon spice versus its Vietnamese cousin, the inclusion of the Saigon Cinnamon by the company’s blendmasters is an important one. Saigon cinnamon tends to be zestier and sharper, rounding out the marshmallow sweetness of the cigar with a sugary but spicy combination.Experts recommend pairing various tequilas and tequila-based cocktails with the Rojo along with porter beers and espressos for the coffee lovers who enjoy a smoke first thing in the morning. While the Oscuro was more ideally suited for dark roasted coffee and stout beer, the Rojo leans slightly to the lighter side of the tasting spectrum.This cigar is incredibly valuable for your younger customer base, many of whom are exposed to a rich assortment of tequilas and tequila-based cocktails on the market today. While more veteran smokers came of age during a time of lighter beers, clear liquors and traditional bourbons and whiskeys, the infusion of modern tequila drinks has diversified the market and, thus, opened the door for many pairing possibilities.Including a wrapper from the Jamastran Valley was no accident. Not only was this the place where many Cuban ex-patriots