At the 2017 IPCPR Trade Show, General Cigar introduced a second collaboration with acclaimed cigar maker AJ Fernandez under its Hoyo brand. This cigar is dubbed the Hoyo La Amistad Silver.

Hoyo is an offshoot of the Hoyo de Monterrey brand. Back in 2015, Hoyo de Monterrey celebrated its 150th anniversary. A limited commemorative cigar called Hoyo de Monterrey Edición de Cumpleanos 150 was introduced that featured a more contemporary look for the Hoyo de Monterrey brand. That look carried over into 2016 when the company launched the Hoyo line, which was based on the Cumpleanos 150 concept. At the time, General Cigar was positioning the Hoyo for small batch cigars, collaborations and other exciting special projects.” The first of those collaborations made its debut last year with the first Hoyo La Amistad. It was a cigar that garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success for General Cigar.

The new Hoyo La Amistad Silver is an all-Habano seed blend consisting of an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, a Nicaraguan Habano binder, and proprietary Cuban-seed (Habano) Nicaraguan tobaccos cultivated by Fernandez on his farms in Estelí and Condega. The cigar is available in three sizes: Churchill, Robusto, and “Pancho” (5 1/2 x 52). Each of the three sizes is available in 20-count boxes.

“It is an honor to blend for Hoyo because it reminds me how far I’ve come and gives me a chance to reflect on my roots. Growing up in Cuba near to the Hoyo de Monterrey tobacco farms left a big impression on me. Those fields will always remind me of home. So when I came to develop the second blend in the Hoyo La Amistad series, I wanted to honor the Cuban tradition of Hoyo by making a cigar with all Cuban-seed tobaccos. In this project, I used tobaccos that I grew on my farms in Nicaragua, so this is very special to me personally,” commented AJ Fernandez in a press release.

The packaging features the new contemporary Hoyo banding with Fernandez’s name on the secondary band – and it’s a secondary band reminiscent of one seen on many of AJ Fernandez’s own brands. The Hoyo La Amistad Silver differs from its predecessor the Hoyo La Amistad in that it has silver accents on the banding and packaging.

The Hoyo La Amistad Silver is scheduled to ship in mid-August.

At a glance, here is a look at the Hoyo La Amistad:

Blend Profile

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan Habano
Filler: Nicaraguan (Estelí, Condega)
Country of Origin: Nicaragua (Tabacalera Fernandez)

Vitolas Available

Robusto: 5 x 50
Pancho: 5 1/2 x 52
Churchill: 6 7/8 x 48

Photo Credit: Cigar Coop