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Apologies for reviewing the same cigar (different specimen) for the second part of the HdM competition, but EEs are all I have. Initial thoughts: This cigar feels substantial in the hand. Well-rolled and dense. Deep brown, colorado wrapper. Took to fire easily, and has a good medium draw. First 3rd/half: Starts medium, maybe a tick lighter. Sweetness, cream, fresh tobacco. For a few puffs, the cigar gave out something unusual, an uncharacteristic, earthy note, almost mushroomy. Middle: Retains the initial flavor elements, but now I'm also getting an aromatic, perfume flavor coming in. Semi-floral. Finish: Though the body remains medium at most, flavor strength picks up considerably, with leather and nuttiness replacing some of the lighter, sweeter elements from the beginning and middle of the cigar. Also getting some capuccino and cinnamon notes. Eventually, the cigar becomes tarry and I let it go. Total Smoke Time: 80 minutes Rating: Not the best of the box, but better than my last review. A solid 90/91.

I'm not sure if this one will be in before the deadline, as I see the contest announcement has a conflicting day/date. I smoked this opne at a coffee shop where they never hassle you for smoking on their outdoor patio, but their WiFi filter prevents me from accessing FOH because of "tobacco" content. Go figure! Photo below is from a different stick than the one smoked for this review. Didn't have my camera on me. Visual Appearance: From a SLB of 10. Medium-brown wrapper. Oily appearance. Mostly attractive, the veins and seams aren’t too prominent. Slightly gritty, hard shell-like feel to the wrap Pre-light draw: Firm, but workable. Citrus and cinnamon, with a hint of spice. First 3rd: Light to medium body. Mostly sweet cream, honey, graham. The draw is not great, but the cigar is smoke-able. Second 3rd: Same body. Graham, sweet cream. Not much complexity. Maybe a very slight herbal taste in the background. Thinking rosemary. So far, the burn has been excellent. The draw is starting to bother me now, and I wish there was more body/substance to the smoke, because the flavors are quite excellent as per usual. Last 3rd: The toastiness has made an appearance. The overall flavor profile is still quite sweet, but there's a bit more richness present now. There is a very nice breadiness that I am noticing now, like a good San Francisco sourdough. Final Thoughts: This cigar was good, but it just won't score as high as most of the others I've had from this box. The others have had more complexity, more body, and more generous draws. Additionally, this cigar lacked some of the notes I have picked up in the others, specifically a very interesting and aromatic floral aspect. I still enjoyed the smoke, but can't rate it any higher than an 88 or 89, mainly because of the tight draw. Most cigars have been around 92ish, and the best couple have been 93/94ish. Overall, I highly recommend this cigar. It's a great thing.. A cigar that packs a ton of flavor into a medium-at-most body. I think it could appeal to just about any cigar smoker. Total Smoke Time: 70 minutes.

I recently got a box of hdm epicure especial, box code tos abr 16. When I open the box, I don't get a barnyard smell, I smell fresh green grass, which tells me that it's not ready to smoke, but I could be wrong. When should I smoke one of these? a year from the box date? are these going through their sick period? does a sick period still exist for cuban cigars?

My first review posted, so be gentle Also posted to /r/cigars (hope that's okay) Preamble So fellow FoH'er Photo_Rob knows why I smoked this, my last EpiEsp in my collection. Inside story. It'll be interesting to see how he reviews the one I just traded his way. Will I buy another box of EpiEsps down the road? Read on. Pairing Paired this cigar up with an absolutely fantastic, complex Scotch; if you love the browns but don't like peat, I highly recommend you pick up a bottle of Craigellachie 13 Year while it's available (it's a limited release). Super complex, nice underripe (in a good way) wide range of fruits from apple to pear to citrus to red fruits, waves and waves of pleasing smoke (not peat smoke!) awesome oaky dry finish that lasts forever. Light up and First Third I used a large diameter punch on this cigar, cutting about a 9mm hole. Draw was good, slight spice and fresh soil. Toasted the foot with my 3-burner butane jet thingie, one quick draw with a flame, and off we go. Didn't get much spice from the first puffs, but instead got what I'd call spicy vanilla mixed with super rich tobacco. Draw was loose (surprising after the pre-fire draw!) and not much smoke production first 3, 4 draws, then it caught up. Vanilla, vanilla vanilla, tobacco sweet baby tobacco. Taste wise, off to a good start. Burn was uneven and needed one correction (here it is corrected). That kinda sucked. But I made myself feel better with a few sips on the Craigellachie, which in its massive complexity, fruity notes and smokey texture was a match made in heaven with the EpiEsp. Second Third You know, everyone goes "graham crackers" when talking about the HdM Epi sticks, esp. the EpiEsp. Do you guys ever eat honey crackers? Is a graham cracker a honey cracker? Because I tasted distinct honey crackers in the second third. Vanilla kind of floated away. Tobacco rich stayed around to say hi to my initial palate, but it too faded a bit. As I enjoyed the Craigellachie, I thought maybe I tasted a bit of red / stone fruit too from the cigar, but that could have been the "sum is greater than the parts" from the whiskey and cigar. Also got a bit of cocoa at this point, the first time I tasted anything resembling chocolate in this particular cigar. Burn was still a bit uneven. One more correction. Draw was okay at this point, not great, not bad, though at one point I thought I had a bit of a plug, but by next puff, it had corrected itself. Final Third (and Final Half of Final Third) Well hello tobacco! You decided to come back for some more taste giving, huh? And dude! (yes, I called the HdM a dude), you're giving me coffee!!?!! Weak as tea coffee, but it's still there and still tastes great. The honey cracker's there. Tobacco sweet made a comeback, and you're giving me weak tea coffee? Merci mon ami! Seriously, the final third -- or at least the first half of the final third -- was the best part of this cigar, taste wise. Complex, pleasing, good times. The complexity of the paired scotch made it super good. But then it kind of all ended too quick, and probably my fault. Because I was digging the tastes in the final third so much, I was drawing a lot on the stick and cooked it. Overheated, nicotine build up, quickly turned from heaven mana to meh this is fucking up my taste buds. One day I'll learn. Here it is just before I removed the 2nd band. Conclusion and Score A really good (not great, not earth shattering, not pillar of what a cigar could be) cigar. Middle and last third were best parts. I did take super brief tasting notes when I had this cigar (24 hours ago), and am relying part on memory, so if I missed any notable flavours, oops. Considering what I paid for them (local YVR B&M prices) I would not buy them again. However, at usual Intl' pricing, heck even First Nations reserve pricing, yes, I will buy these again. I only give numerical scores to coffee - I'm a fucking snob - but I will score the Hoyo de Monterrey on my "what kind of car is it" scoring scale. If a cheapo Don Tomas is a Yugo, and a Cohiba Behike 56 is a, erm, huh... Bentley? I'd score the HdM Epicure Especial I had last night as a... 2005 (when new) BMW 3 series, middle of the road edition. Nice, fast, well appointed, good styling (pre tiny side windows edition), decent value for the price.