Hoyo de Monterrey: Excalibur, La Amistad, and 60 Years in Honduras

From Vuelta Abajo to Danlí

Fernando Palicio owned Hoyo de Monterrey, Punch and Belinda when the Cuban industry was nationalised after 1959. He left Cuba and sold the brands to Frank Llaneza and Dan Blumenthal of Villazon and Company, who rebuilt them from Honduran tobacco. The brand's own site puts it simply: since 1965, Hoyo de Monterrey has called Honduras home.

That relocation turned out well. Cuban-seed tobacco planted around Danlí and in the Jamastran valley produced something with real weight and a savoury, leathery character that has defined the American brand ever since.

In 1981 Villazon launched Excalibur, a Connecticut-shade-wrapped line under the Hoyo name, and it became the brand's centre of gravity. Forty years later it is still the line most Americans mean when they say Hoyo de Monterrey.

Who owns Hoyo now

General Cigar Company, part of Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Hoyo de Monterrey and Excalibur stayed with General Cigar in the 2 February 2026 portfolio reshuffle, alongside Macanudo, CAO, Partagas, Room101 and Don Tomas. Cohiba, Punch and Havana Honeys moved the other way, to Forged Cigar Company.

Excalibur

Excalibur launched in 1981 and has run continuously since. It is a Connecticut-shade-wrapped, mellow-to-medium cigar built on a Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan filler, and the roman-numeral naming is part of its identity.

Using Connecticut shade as both wrapper and binder is unusual and is a large part of why the cigar smokes the way it does. Shade leaf is thin, elastic and low in oil, so it contributes very little heaviness anywhere in the construction. All of the body comes from the filler.

We carry the Excalibur No. I English Claro Presidente, 7.25 x 54.

There is also an Excalibur Black, launched June 2021 for the line's fortieth anniversary: Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, Honduran and Nicaraguan filler, made at HATSA in Danlí.

A straight answer about "English Claro"

You will see the natural Excalibur listed as English Claro, including on our own product page. It is worth explaining what that does and does not mean.

Claro is a real wrapper shade: pale green to light brown, usually shade-grown. English Market Selection, or EMS, is a real trade term for a natural-colour wrapper that is neither claro-and-lighter nor maduro-and-darker. The compound "English Claro" is trade and retail shorthand for Excalibur's natural tier, distinguishing it from the Maduro. The manufacturer's own specification for that cigar says simply "Connecticut Shade".

So: English Claro on an Excalibur band or listing means the pale natural version. It is not a distinct tobacco varietal and it is not a formal grading applied by the factory. We would rather tell you that than pretend otherwise.

Excalibur Maduro

Same filler and same binder, different wrapper. Connecticut broadleaf is the sun-grown American varietal, stalk-cut whole rather than primed leaf by leaf, thick and heavily veined. Long hot fermentation converts its starches into sugar, which is where the dark sweetness comes from. It is a step up in body from the natural without being a heavy cigar. Available in No. I, No. II, No. III and Epicure.

We stock the Excalibur No. I Maduro Presidente, 7.25 x 54, so you can compare it directly against the English Claro in the same size.

Excalibur Cigarillos and Miniatures

Both come in packs of twenty and both are machine-format short smokes rather than handmade long-filler cigars. They exist for the fifteen-minute occasion: a drive, a walk, the end of a lunch. If you want the Excalibur character without an hour to give it, this is the answer.

Excalibur Cigarillos, pack of 20 and Excalibur Miniatures, pack of 20.

La Amistad: the A.J. Fernandez collaborations

La amistad means friendship, and the line is exactly that: a partnership between the Hoyo brand and A.J. Fernandez, made at his factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Fernandez has a personal claim on the name. He has said he grew up very near the Hoyo de Monterrey farm in Cuba.

The original launched in September 2016 and there are now four expressions.

Black comes in Rothschild 4.5 x 50, Toro 6.5 x 52 and a box-pressed Gigante at 5.875 x 60. Dark Sumatra comes as Espresso 4.5 x 50, Media Noche 5.75 x 54 and Noche 6.5 x 52.

We carry the La Amistad Black Toro and the La Amistad Dark Sumatra Noche.

Wrapper, binder, filler

The wrappers in this range

Connecticut Shade: grown under cheesecloth tents in the Connecticut River Valley. Thin, elastic, pale golden, low oil, mild and creamy.
Connecticut broadleaf: sun-grown, stalk-cut, thick and veiny. Fermented long and hot into a dark sweet maduro.
Ecuadorian Habano: Cuban-seed grown under equatorial cloud cover. Medium brown, spicier and sweeter than Connecticut.
Ecuadorian Sumatra Oscuro: Sumatra seed grown in Ecuador and taken to the darkest shade on the scale. Dry spice with a dark edge.
Ecuadorian Criollo: Criollo is one of the oldest Cuban varietals, the ancestor of most modern seed. Earthy and slightly sweet.

Wrapper shades, palest to darkest: Double Claro / Candela Claro Colorado Claro Colorado Colorado Maduro Maduro Oscuro

Primings

Written phonetically the top leaf comes out "lahero" or "lejero"; the word is ligero, lee-HEH-roh. Also worth knowing: capa wrapper, capote binder, tripa filler, torcedor roller, vitola size, pilón fermentation stack, and hoyo itself, the hollow in the ground the brand is named for.

Nicaraguan growing regions in the La Amistad filler

Estelí volcanic, powerful, peppery · Jalapa sweeter and more refined · Condega balanced, floral · Ometepe island soil, distinctive earthy sweetness

Sizes and vitolas

Length in inches by ring gauge, ring gauge being diameter in 64ths of an inch. A 7.25 x 54 is seven and a quarter inches long and 54/64 of an inch across.

What we taste, from our own humidor

Excalibur No. I English Claro

A seven and a quarter inch cigar in a pale shade wrapper is a commitment and a pleasure. Cold draw is hay and light cedar. It opens creamy and gentle, almost buttery, with a blanched-almond note that runs the whole way. Because the binder is also shade leaf there is nothing dark anywhere in the construction, so the filler's Nicaraguan and Honduran component reads as a light earthiness rather than pepper. Burn is straight, the ash pale and firm. Close to two hours. This is a morning-into-afternoon cigar.

Excalibur No. I Maduro

Same size, same binder and filler, broadleaf wrapper. The difference is immediate and it is a good demonstration of how much a wrapper does: cocoa, dark bread and a molasses sweetness sit on top of exactly the same base. Still medium rather than heavy. If you have ever wondered whether the wrapper really matters, buy one of each and find out in an afternoon.

La Amistad Black Toro

A different world. The Sumatra oscuro wrapper and San Andrés binder give dark spice and cocoa, and the Nicaraguan ligero filler makes it the strongest thing under this band. Black pepper up front, leather through the middle, a long dry finish. Not a starter cigar.

La Amistad Dark Sumatra Noche

Sweeter than the Black and, to our palate, better balanced. The Connecticut broadleaf binder brings a bready sweetness that softens the Sumatra's dry edge, and the Dominican ligero adds body without harshness. Cedar, cocoa, dried fruit. About an hour and a half.

Excalibur Cigarillos

Straightforward and honest. Light cedar and toast, nothing complicated, gone in fifteen minutes. They do the job they exist for.

Pairing, cutting, storage

Excalibur English Claro goes with coffee, a light rum, or a Speyside scotch. The Maduro takes bourbon or port. La Amistad Black and Dark Sumatra can handle a peated Islay or an espresso.

Shade wrapper is thin and tears easily, so cut the Excalibur with a sharp blade. See our cutters and lighters. Store at 65 to 70 percent relative humidity, 68 to 70 degrees. The pale Excalibur wrapper shows water spotting sooner than a dark one, so a stable humidor and dependable humidification matter here.

The bottom line

Excalibur is one of the great steady cigars: forty-plus years in production, genuinely mild without being empty, and consistently well made. The No. I in both wrappers is the most instructive pair on our shelf for anyone learning what a wrapper contributes. La Amistad is the other half of the brand, and A.J. Fernandez's involvement is real rather than decorative. Take the Excalibur when you want calm and the La Amistad when you want the opposite.

Keep exploring

Same house, General Cigar: Macanudo · CAO · Partagas
Sister company, Forged: Cohiba · Punch · Bolivar · Diesel · La Gloria Cubana
Other A.J. Fernandez work: Diesel · Gurkha

For adults 21+. Please enjoy responsibly.

Cigar Inc. · 21900 Burbank Blvd UNIT 265, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 · 1 818-719-9885 · Info@Cigarinc.com