Hoyo de Monterrey - Le Hoyo Du Depute

[liles]

I've recently acquired some new short smokes after hitting this board for some personal favourites. I thought it might be nice to document my first experiences with them, mostly for my own reference. First up, Le Hoyo Du Depute

First Impressions

I wasn't blown away with what I received for the Du Depute. As a disclaimer, I am smoking this first stick straight from its arrival to me - I would usually rest a cigar to reduce humidity, as like most people I find Cubans to really pop when at a lower RH, so I run 62% Bovedas in my humidors for around a 63/64% @ 16-18c reading.

Even still, I think a lot of the issues I found would not be resolved with a lower RH

First up - the construction really left a lot to be desired. The stick was spongy and felt lightly packed, which can be fine, however the noticeable bulging around the band and misshapen aspect was definitely a poor sign of things to come. There were prominent, bulging veins on the wrapper, giving parts of the cigar an almost stitched look. Not winning any beauty pageants.

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Lighting Up

Almost immediately, I wish I had given this stick a chance to sit. Although initially I felt the RH would not pose an issue because of the light packing and squidgy feel, it was not drawing the way I had hoped. I had a few puffs. There was a medium-light smoke texture and not much else. I quickly identified there was a large stem dead centre of the stick, after some effort, I got it out and was amazed by the thickness of the stem relative to the cigar. The draw picked up massively.

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I wanted to like the first 1/3rd. While the body was lacking, I started picking up an almost fruity, citrus note that I hoped would develop. It did develop, into an acrid chemical tang. Not ideal.

Half way I started getting more issues, a wavy burn. A poor draw. Aha, found it. The 2nd thickest stem I've seen, hidden this time towards the edge. Pulling this did help the draw, but nothing else. The flavours were going downhill fast.

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In the 2/3rd I started getting some light spice on the retro, which was nice, but a horrible acrid chemical flavour dominated. Building and building it became very apparent; every puff was ammonia.

There was nothing to savour for the final third. I ditched the lot. C'est la vie

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Final Thoughts

While I could have definitely given this stick a better shot at success, I do not feel like the outcome would have been radically different without a huge time devotion.

Would I try it again? Yes. I have another stick, which was definitely the prettier of the two, which I will give some time to rest before attempting to enjoy. After that? Who knows. I don't think this stick was a good brand ambassador, but I am sure there are good Du Deputes out there.

Final Score

2/10

[ha_banos]

oof. bad luck! spongy to begin with and pulling two thick stems. I'd send those pics back to your supplier! At 21.49£ a stick from the site sponsor, its not a cheap trick.

Shame. That would have made an already under-filled thin cigar even more so! And that description of the bitterness/amonia. May need to settle and dry out for like a year! Was there any clue from sniffing it pre-light? I always tend to give a cigar a good sniff pre-light.

Hopefully the odds are now in your favour. I've had a few of these recently - although 2017 - they are pretty good IME.

Onwards and upwards....

[liles]

oof. bad luck! spongy to begin with and pulling two thick stems. I'd send those pics back to your supplier! At 21.49£ a stick from the site sponsor, its not a cheap trick.

Shame. That would have made an already under-filled thin cigar even more so! And that description of the bitterness/amonia. May need to settle and dry out for like a year! Was there any clue from sniffing it pre-light? I always tend to give a cigar a good sniff pre-light.

Hopefully the odds are now in your favour. I've had a few of these recently - although 2017 - they are pretty good IME.

Onwards and upwards....

Nothing is cheap nowadays...

Didn't seem off smell-wise, it's such a small stick though, probably hard to detect even without my mild cold.

I'd love to try one with a bit of age, I think that would have made this particular stick a night and day difference.

I'll probably smoke my 2nd one in the next month or so, just to see if it was a bad stick or a bad bunch. I'm hoping it's redeeming enough to justify picking up a box to age if I ever see them in a duty free

Overall you need bad cigars from time-to-time to really enjoy the good ones!

[Midas]

HdM are generally all better after a few years down. I think this is generally the case with light profiled cigars.

Party shorts on the other hand smoke better younger imo. Regardless I think 30 days rest after postage is always needed as hard as it is to leave them alone.


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[liles]

HdM are generally all better after a few years down. I think this is generally the case with light profiled cigars.

Party shorts on the other hand smoke better younger imo. Regardless I think 30 days rest after postage is always needed as hard as it is to leave them alone.


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I'll make sure the party short is the next one up in that case

In general I'm pretty happy to shelf larger cigars for a while, but short smokes I ideally want smoking ASAP. Part of trying new things, finding that balance.

[Simon Bolivar]

The Depute & Marie are my least fav Hoyo's, a brand I otherwise love. Looser fills is the way Cuban's seem to be going, to avoid the over tight/pluged draws, instead of concentrating on better training & rolling. Can't beleive this wee stick is £20+ these days, look around plently of better sticks, strongly recommend RASCC & Part Shorts instead.

[liles]

The Depute & Marie are my least fav Hoyo's, a brand I otherwise love. Looser fills is the way Cuban's seem to be going, to avoid the over tight/pluged draws, instead of concentrating on better training & rolling. Can't beleive this wee stick is £20+ these days, look around plently of better sticks, strongly recommend RASCC & Part Shorts instead.

The miracle here was that the stick was both loosely filled and horribly plugged at the same time. Truly a marvel in CC construction

Price definitely stings, but you never know what you might find in a duty free. Better to buy the stick now and know, than the box later and find out.

Really pumped to try to RASCC & Party short.