HdM Epi No 2 OPS Mar 16 (PRRRW)

[Head83]

First time dry boxing but wanted to save this for a special occasion. I just graduated this morning from a one year school for officers in the rank in Major to prepare us for command and increased responsibilities on staff.  There were about 500 of us in the course which included all branches of US military (we even had 1 Coastie!) and 78 different Allie and Partner countries.  It was awesome spending a year getting to know our partners from other countries as we intensively studied military and operational planning and the application of air and space power in combat. Now it’s time to relax with a nice cigar while watching my Cubs play. My cigar is a HdM Epicure No 2 OPS Mar 16 that I picked up in the Frankfurt Duty Free coming back from Afghanistan 2 years ago. 

 

Dry is woody with a hint of nuts.  Nothing special but it has a bit dryer feel than normal thanks to the 3 days of dry boxing.  

 

1st third - after the first few puffs, it quickly comes into the normal creamy HdM profile.  I’m surprised cause the last few out of this box were missing that. Thought the box was going through a sick period and was leaving it to sleep for a few months before deciding to pull one out for this competition.  Other flavors are cedar and pine nuts with a viscous mouth filling smoke.  As it wraps up 1st third, the nutty flavor comes on stronger with a hint of leather coming through. Overall, the stick is much better than the last few from the box

2nd - Cubs just went out 5-0 and the cigar is coming along just as well.  The burn like is starting to go off so decisive to knock off ash to help it breath a bit.  The creamy HdM is coming on with a sweet flavor to it. Hard to place it but reminds me of something from Christmas time, maybe Horchata?

 

Final - Burn line has improved but not perfect.   I huge change in flavors  mostly just cream, pine nuts with hints of leather   Overall it’s better than I remembered from the box but nothing compared to the Sir Winnie I had on Friday night.  Honestly, I enjoyed this box much more fresh than it has aged into at this time.  Hopefully they come around again but overall not bad.   I would give it a solid 87 overall.   It was a nice way to relax after the last year of school and always nice to get a Masters degree for all the hard work reading and writing papers everyday!!  Now it’s back to the real Air Force for this guy as I get ready to move across the country to Utah.

 

[kevpro]

Great review and a great day for the Cubs! Good to see Lester get back on track!