Robaina's

Robaina's
Robaina's plantation

Thursday 28 March 2013

Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure de Luxe 2012 LCDH Exclusivo (cigar review)

                  This cigar was released in Oct.2012 as a 'La Casa del Habanos' exclusive release and sold only in LCDH stores around the world. This particular one was gifted to me by a friend who just got back from Cuba. This 52 x 115 (4.5") size cigar is known as a 'Magico' or Petit Robusto and comes in boxes of 10 selling for about $80cnd (70cuc) in Cuba.
                   The wrapper on this cigar was a little on the darker side, void of larger veins and not so smooth but it wasn't horrible looking. It was hard to the touch and looked pretty tightly rolled. The pre-light draw however seemed to be good with faint wood and left me with pepper on my lips. Once I sparked it up the taste was quite dry and big with an earth and wood combo and hints of nutmeg. I hadn't had anything to drink yet and this cigar was doing a number on my taste buds feeling like a medium to strong smoke. A sip of port settled things down in my mouth and took the edge of the flavours. The burn was just slightly off at the first 1/2" and the flavours had shifted to wood and cedar. It was mellowing just a bit and becoming very smooth, a solid medium at this point.
                    At about the end of the first 1/3 of this smoke it seemed to be burning hot through the middle. I was tasting a bit of bitterness so I flicked the ash....I was wrong, it was burning fine. I backed of a bit and slowed down my smoking. The bitterness went away but the cigar began to pick up strength and then actually did begin to burn hot through the middle so I touched it up with my torch.
                     Getting past the first half the burn was fine with earth and wood flavours coming through. So that's how it went for the last half of this smoke...sometimes good, sometimes bad, burning hot and then fine with the flavours not changing much at this point with bitterness creeping in now and again. It all settled down by the time I reached the last quarter. However, I couldn't get to far into that last quarter, the flavours had gotten bitter and stayed that way, that's usually when I give it up.
                     In conclusion: it promises to become a great little robusto. It was very obviously young and needed some time to mature, 1 to 2 years at least. I'm going back to Havana in less than 6 weeks and after smoking this cigar have put it on my list of goodies to bring back. I recommend it.





















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