Hoya De Monterrey Regalos Edicion Limitada 2007

Thanks to a pole on Asylum, today I'm going to fire up this HDM EL 07. Not too much background here, as I haven't seen many reviews, but looking forward to a nice smoke hopefully, this being my second CC EL (the Mag 48 I had last week was fantastic).

At the shop today (it is raining out); cut with a Xikar and lit with matches, water to drink.

Pre-light - Wrapper is a nice chocolate brown, but has some spots and veins. Draw is on the firmer side, with mild tobacco flavors.

First Third - Initial draw give me some raw tobacco, with a bit of spice and toastiness in the background. Draw is perfect, and burn seems to be straight so far. An odd sweet flavor is left in my mouth after each puff, possibly molasses mixed with coffee? Very enjoyable. The smoke has a velvety texture, but isn't all that thick. Burn got a little ragged after an inch or so, but no corrections needed yet.

Second Third - The bold flavors of the first third have toned down, and the sweetness is not as prevalent. As strange as it was, I miss it now. Flavors are consisting of mainly raw, full tobacco and some coffee in the background. Burn has evened out again, and the ash is a holding nicely. Towards the middle of the stick, I noticed the flavors getting a bit ashy, hopefully this is me smoking too fast.

Third Third - I am enjoying this stick, though the first third was better than the second third, and this one it seems as well. Coffee is the dominating flavor right now the same raw tobacco that was present throughout. The body on this is surprising me, much fuller than the other regular line HDMs I have had, which I am enjoying. It isn't a full bodied stick, but definitely on the heavier side of medium. An ashy background is popping in and out, which is what is separating this from a 'good' rather than 'great' for me.

Conclusion and Score - This Hoya surprised me in body, being more full than I had anticipated. The first third was an awesome smoking experience, and I wish the flavors had continued into the following two thirds. Alas, the last two were not as tasty, losing the sweetness and gaining a slight ashyness. The D/A/B were good, but nothing special. Despite the declining enjoyment throughout, it was a good stick, and I would give it an 87. If it had been 3 'first thirds', it could have easily broken 90.