Hoyo De Monterey Epicure # 2

[ALB]

Box code: RAM (Nov. '04)

Box bought in Havana last year, smoked last night.

Ring Gauge : 50

Length : 124mm

Initial Appearance : Well constructed, light brown wrapper, smooth with no veins, slightly soft to touch. Easy to cut cap, pre-draw gave hints of sweetness.

Upon lighting, this cigar opened with a huge burst of flavours, primarily pepper spice on the lips, mixed with sweetness as mentioned above. Draw felt a bit easier than I like, but nice even burn & smoothness of flavours helped. This strong array of flavours persisted for the 1st third of the cigar.

Once the cigar was into the 2nd third, the flavours had settled down, with just occasional hints of the spice coming through. Sweet flavours (floral?) predominated through this section, & it was very mild & smooth.

The final third was similar to the middle part, with spicy flavours increasing as I got towards the end where my fingers started to singe.

Throughout, the cigar produced a goodly amount of smoke, & only required one touch-up for uneven burn. Enjoyed with a Mojito & Cuban son music on my balcony on a beautiful clear night in Sydney town.

Very enjoyable.

88

[mgillett]

Nice one Al.

I had one of these when fishing one afternoon a couple of weeks back. I bought it as a single to try on the recommendation of several forum members so it had high expectations. For mine, it didn't really do it for me. I think you were spot on with the spice being pretty much all the way through and this was probably the main reason why I didn't enjoy it as much as yourself.

Having said that, I still have one left in the humi to make sure I didn't smoke a dud.

[Loki]

very nice review. I have some 04s, haven't smoked one in a while. I will have to try one this weekend.

[El Presidente]

Nice review Al.

You have almost got me re-assessing my whole opinion of kiwi's :-D

[shrink]

Thanks, Al. The classic HdM robusto...:-)

[Ginseng]

Great review. Haven't had one of these in years...Ifigure I may be ready for its subtle charms now.

And again, you Aussies just have the smoking and enjoying down pat.

Good on ya mate.

Wilkey

[DocRKS]

Very nice write-up and spot on description of the flavor profile..... I love these cigars...it's my favorite morning cigar with a great coffee.....

[Andyman]

I had one of these a couple weeks ago. I have a feeing it was on the fresh side becuase it had a bit of an overpowering bite to it. i wouldn't call it peppery and most definatly not smooth.. Maybe if I can try one with a little age I will have a different experience.

Gave it a 83

[kab55]

Thanks for the great review, have a box of these put down to age. Can't wait until they are ready.

[twoodruff]

Thanks for the great review, my first few of these were not as I anticipated but I kept trying and now they are hard to get out of my rotation

[jjisaacson]

hoyo line is one of my favs with coffee...

thanks for the review.

[Shiba]

Great Review... I think you are 100% right on with it as well. Great smoke!!!

[pittesq]

» Great Review... I think you are 100% right on with it as well. Great

» smoke!!!

Couldn't agree more

[patrick]

Very nice review. I am going to have to pick up a few.

[seamus]

Nice review. Epi 2 is one of my favorites. I really need to get some more as I am currently out:-( .

[mulberry]

Nice review, I have found these to be very nice mild-med smokes

[greenpimp]

Nice review. I like this earlier in the day, great afternoon smoke. Has kind of a graham cracker taste to me. If you could smoke them that is.