HdM Epi-2 Review ABO OCT-18 (RMRRW-HdM)

[GVan]

Twas a beautiful night in Southern Florida: 72 deg. F, 58% humidity and clear sky's.  This is the start of the rainy season and it's been a while since I smoked one of my cubans.  Partly because I'm hoarding them, letting them age and partly because of the typical high humidity.

Tonight's choice was an almost 5 year old HdM Epi-2 (ABO Oct-18) and the second to the last one in the box.  Cold draw is white bread and graham crackers.  It's a tough draw so a little work with the perfect draw is necessary.  Upon lighting - this is what an almost 5 year old Epi-2 is supposed to be; very floral, light bodied, a very light white smoke and ash.  Initial flavors are again white bread, light cinnamon and creamed coffee - absolutely awesome.

Tonight I paired it with an Early Times, Bottled in Bond Old Fashion with 2 Luxardo cherries.  The burn is razor sharp and since it's a little overfilled I let the first ash go until about the halfway point.

The cigar stays very consistent through the first two-thirds.  Many would say one-dimensional and probably knock down the rating a little but, when the Epi-2 is doing exactly what it should be doing in the flavor department, I can't fault it a single point!

I typically only smoke any cigar down to the (single) band point but I take this a little farther.  It's a nice night, I'm watching a Great Blue Heron pick off baitfish from the dock. For a very big bird they are amazingly graceful.   There is a small Gecko on the ceiling chasing a beetle around in a life and death struggle that takes about 15 minutes before the beetle makes a fatal mistake and lands about a 1/2" from the gecko's mouth - game over.

The Epi-2 requires no relights or touch-ups which seems a rarity to me.  I think we can attribute that to its age.  I took it down about another ½" from the picture above.  Total smoking time was still about one hour and 20 minutes.  It was easy to smoke slowly due to nature providing some distractions.  Besides nature providing entertainment, SpaceX Falcon Heavy VIASAT-3 launched while I was outside as well.  I couldn't figure out how to attach the 15 second video - so instead attached a screen-shot!  

A great CC and some great Florida entertainment.  I'd give the EPI-2 a 91 / 92 rating.