Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure #1 ORB Jul ’23 (FRCJun24)

[Redgoldband]

Today’s review is about the HdM Epicure No.1. I acquired this cigar from our gracious host on 5/3, and received it on 5/17/24. It’s sat in my humidor since. I dry-boxed it for a day before putting it back in my humidor overnight because I didn’t get around to it yesterday. I dry-boxed it again today for two hours prior to smoking it. I've been experimenting with the crown cut for the last few stogies I smoked; I applied it here as well as pictured. Right off the bat, this a young cigar, having only been in the humidor 30 days. This is my second foray into the HdM marca, having had the Epicure No.2 a few weeks prior. 

Cold draw 

Smelled 'cedar-y' at the foot. This is interesting because I read a few reviews that mentioned cedar notes in this stick, but they never seemed to emerge or come forward for me while smoking it. Some resistance with the cold draw, but nothing problematic. 

1/3

Proceeding through the 1/3, I’m getting some spice. There are no real discernible notes. There’s also not a lot of smoke production at this point. I ended up using the the perfect draw tool midway through the 1/3, and it improved the draw. Said improvement is keeping me engaged in the cigar. Still, I’m not getting any flavor or notes that catch my attention. To be sure, there are flavors occurring, but they’re a bit too animated, all over the place. No real complexity. Here, it’s indistinguishable from a NC. I continue on. 

2/3 

At the beginning of the 2/3 I began to say, “I’m not sure if this is one I’ll come back to.” But I continue on, and to my delight, some more subdued flavors enter the picture. “Is this a little graham cracker or short bread?” “Why, yes it is.” Now, its potential is starting to show. It’s smoking well, but not knocking my socks off. I can tell the stogie has it, but I want to see more from this stick. I know it have the capacity for a more enjoyable experience, and I will revisit it a few months down the road. 

3/3 

The 3/3 is a lot better than the first 2/3s. It’s starting to show more of its potential. Surprisingly, I’m getting lots of spice here, which I didn’t expect. I thought it would end on a sweeter, more subtle note. 

Conclusion

It’s clear this stick still needs some more rest time to fully develop. The potential for it to shine isn’t there yet, but we’ll see what a few months or years in the humidor will do for it. I appreciate this experiment but at this point I can’t say this is a stick I’d reach for when opening the humidor. 

[JohnS]

Well-written review. Thanks!

[Jimmy2]

The 23’s I have smoked have been very, very sweet with the spice you mentioned but not overwhelming spice! I Dry box for at least 2 days before smoking. Very enjoyable cigar.

[Li Bai]

I'm a big fan of the Coronas gordas (over robustos in particular) but I've never come to like this Epi 1, in fact I find its robusto sibling far superior in every way. Just my opinion of course...

[NeoGeo]

Great review. I'm sure you'll find that even 6-9 months from now, that sweetness will develop more and move into the earlier stages of the smoke. The Epi series, while each with subtle differences, have become one of my favorite smokes.

[Redgoldband]

Great review. I'm sure you'll find that even 6-9 months from now, that sweetness will develop more and move into the earlier stages of the smoke. The Epi series, while each with subtle differences, have become one of my favorite smokes.

Gotcha. Hoping this is the case. I took this young one from the batch as a baseline.


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[SUP8333]

The spice in 3/3 is because it's young, it mellows out with age and gives 2/3 a more complex body. Will be wondeful with sometime!