Hoyo de Monterrey

Hoyo de Monterrey is a Cuban cigar brand sold around the world by Habanos S.A. It takes its name from a tobacco farm in San Juan y Martínez, in the Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Río. The farm’s gate still carries the words “Hoyo de Monterrey. José Gener. 1860”. José Gener, a Spanish-born grower, registered the cigar brand in 1865. In 1931 his family sold it to Fernández, Palicio y Cía., which already owned Punch. Today both brands are made at the La Corona factory in Havana.

The best-known sizes are the Double Corona, the Epicure No. 2, a robusto, and the Le Hoyo series. The Petit Robusto was added in 2004 and the Epicure Especial in 2008. The leaf comes from Vuelta Abajo. Habanos rates the brand light in strength, and it is one of the mildest Cuban brands.

Because of the U.S. embargo, Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey cigars cannot legally be sold in the United States. After the 1959 revolution the U.S. rights to the name passed to companies outside Cuba. They now belong to General Cigar Co., part of Scandinavian Tobacco Group, which makes a separate non-Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey in Honduras with no Cuban tobacco: Hoyo de Monterrey (Honduran). It is usually much stronger than the Cuban cigar.