If the Rose Bowl is considered the grand daddy of all college football bowl games, then the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona might be considered the grand daddy of all cigars. In fact, this cigar received the highest rating ever by Cigar Aficionado magazine a few years back. What was particularly interesting to note during our sampling was the fact this cigar was available in a choice of light or dark wrapper. Given that our tastes tend to be more sophisticated, we chose the darker shade and boy...we were not disappointed at all. The cigar--which can easily take more than an hour to finish--had a very consistent draw and complex flavor characteristics that seemed to changed constantly throughout. There was a pleasant aroma that also accompanied the cigar. A box of these cigars can easily fetch $600.00 or more on the streets of the United States . This is a very classy cigar--even the label is a piece of cigars in the entire world.

Established by Jose Gener in 1865, the name roughly means "valley of Monterrey," a particularly fertile site in the Vuelta Abajo, which had been farmed by Gener since at least 1860. The brand offers a lighter flavour and a wide range of sizes, the largest of which are much celebrated. The Le Hoyo series was introduced about 1970 and presents a stronger flavour.