The Hoyo La Amistad Dark Sumatra is a collaboration blend made by AJ Fernandez. It’s made in three vitolas with colorful names; Noche, Media Noche and Espresso. Today, I am reviewing the Espresso which is a 4.5 x 50 vitola.
I received samples for this review through the generosity of General Cigar.
The blend is comprised of an Ecuadoran Sumatra Oscuro Maduro wrapper, a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and a blend of Nicaraguan, Honduran and Dominican Habano ligero for the filler.
The cigar is beautiful to look at. The wrapper is a dark, oily brown with fine veins and barely noticeable seams. The wrapper’s aroma is predominantly cedar, which should come as no surprise since the cigar comes wrapped in a cedar sheath.
The triple cap is smoothly applied. The finished foot has a slightly sweet, earthy aroma. The cigar is firm to the touch with no perceptible soft spots.
The pre-light draw had a sharp tobacco flavor and I also picked up a savory flavor from the Maduro wrapper itself.
The cigar burned evenly throughout with a thin carbon ring and developed a firm, tight light gray ash. There was a good amount of smoke on each exhale.
My previous experience with AJ Fernandez blends have been on the strong side and I was expecting nothing less from this cigar.
The first third of the cigar had a mild, short finish and fairly mild tobacco flavor. What I was not expecting so soon was a very strong retrohale, almost painful and it did not add anything to the flavor profile.
The second third brought forth a stronger tobacco flavor and a slightly bitter finish. Again, the retrohale was crazy strong.
Coming to the end of the cigar, the tobacco flavors calmed down a bit but became very savory. I was not looking forward to the retrohale and had I not been smoking this for a review, I would have skipped it. (The things I do for you, dear reader!)
This cigar is an absolute strength bomb. The body of the smoke is in the medium to full category and I felt it was a decent smoke. I would have preferred a milder retrohale that added more dimension to the cigar instead of just pure strength.
I rate the Hoyo La Amistad Dark Sumatra at a 90.