Collection: Hoyo de Monterrey

From José Gener to Zino Davidoff, Hoyo de Monterrey takes us through over a hundred years of cigar history. In the beginning, a stubborn Catalan, formidably ambitious and as autocratic as a tsar. José Gener was 13 when he immigrated to Cuba. He was 33 when, in 1851, he joined forces with his uncle to found his first factory and create a new brand, La Escepción (as the owners spelled it when they registered it), which quickly became a success. Gener then bought a famous vega, Hoyo de Monterrey, located in the municipality of San Juan y Martinez - its portal can still be seen today. In 1867, he broke with his uncle, founded the José Gener company with his brothers and launched the Hoyo de Monterrey label, whose rings sometimes featured the customer's coat of arms.

Three years later, another break-up: the despotic José Gener remained in sole command, and his brothers were demoted to the rank of mere employees. For the next thirty years, José Gener remained at the head of José Gener y Batet, which marketed Hoyo de Monterrey, José Gener and La Escepción to the American market. When he died in 1900, the Hoyo de Monterrey factory was the largest in Cuba.