Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Crux Epicure Habano Robusto is medium brown, with a hint of red, some lightly raised veins carrying a lighter color and a fine tooth. The seams are fairly raised and the head is well finished. The band is creamy yellow, white, gold, black and red, and denotes the company and line names. The aroma from the wrapper is a faint wood while the foot brings oak, earth and a decent crushed red pepper spice. The pre-light draw brings a mix of cedar and earth.
Seth: The Crux Epicure Habano Robusto is finished with a dark wrapper that is in line with the wrappers Plasencia is applying to their lines. Beautiful in appearance, the cigar has a Colorado Maduro coloring. Dark marbling throughout. Small to large sized veins. Rich aromas of manure, rich earth, spices, leather and tobacco. Mocha qualities as well with some fruit.
John: The Crux Epicure Habano Robusto comes in cellophane and does not have a UPC sticker. The cigar has a single band that indicates Crux Epicure with an additional identifier of Habano in red cursive font. I weighed the cigar at 13.1 grams and the humidity as measured with a HumidiMeter Pro was 62.3%. Aromas from the wrapper included creamy chocolate and bread. From the foot, I was getting dusty tobacco, hay and wood.
Jiunn: The Crux Epicure Habano Robusto has a rustic and hearty Colorado Red wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the head is well wrapped and capped. Aromas from the wrapper tell of primarily light cedar. Aromas from the foot reveal dried red pepper spice and cedar. Cold draw provides plums, hay and bread.

Crux Epicure Habano Robusto

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with oak, earth and a combination of black pepper and crushed red pepper. At a quarter inch in, the oak gains a toast note. At a half inch in, the crushed red pepper is now a small portion of the spice combination. The retrohale is toasted oak and earth, with mild black pepper. At an inch and a quarter, the crushed red pepper is gone and the black pepper is a bit aggressive and has a long finish. As the third wraps up, the toasted oak is just ahead of the earth, with black pepper just a bit further behind and having a long finish. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third starts out with this manure flavor profile that has rich earth, damp wood and tobacco notes. Bits of leather and coffee as well. Some faint mineral qualities with baking spices. Medium-full in strength and body. Faint currant notes.
John: Earth and wood start the first third as sweet tobacco follows. The retrohale combines creamy, musty earth and light plus spices and wood through the finish. Chocolate joins the center of the retrohale as it settles in. The flavor intensity comes into balance here with spices up to medium strength. By the halfway point, the flavor profile consists of earthy wood, sweet tobacco and chocolate with spices and wood on the finish.
Jiunn: This is a powerhouse of a blend. Medium-full strength and medium body with rustic flavors. Key flavors consist of scorched cedar, dried red pepper spice and charred minerals. There’s a hint of creaminess and sweetness of roasted nuts. Retrohaling gives massive dried red pepper spice. The finish is long with scorched cedar and charred minerals.

Crux Epicure Habano Robusto

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the black pepper has mellowed from slightly aggressive to bold, but has become even with the earth, right behind the toasted oak. At a half inch in, the black pepper mellows a bit and a light meatiness joins the profile. The retrohale remains toasted oak and earth, with mild black pepper. At an inch and a quarter, the black pepper mellows a bit more, but maintains it’s long finish. As the third comes to a close, the toasted oak is just ahead of the earth, with black pepper in the middle and light meatiness in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The second third is similar with stronger mineral and earth notes. Coffee and chocolate present. Rich earth, damp wood, leather, tobacco, baking spices and stone fruit. Medium-full in strength and body.
John: A creamy vegetal leads off the second third with earth and chocolate to follow and wood with some tannins accenting into the post draw. The profile remains consistent through the second third with no flavor or strength change ups.
Jiunn: The second third tastes less rustic and scorched but still delivers the same powerhouse of high octane strength. Nothing wrong with the rustic nature of the cigar, but I do wish there was more added softness to round the profile. Body remains medium.

Crux Epicure Habano Robusto

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toast level increases and the overall profile becomes a bit dry. At a quarter inch in, a wood bitterness and light vegetal note join in. The retrohale is now just toasted oak and earth. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted oak is just ahead of the earth, with black pepper and wood bitterness in the middle and light meatiness and vegetal note in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third shows an increase in strength and body. Earth much more present and mineral forward. Stronger spices, more pepper in the baking profiles in this third with leather, wood and tobacco. Medium-full to full in strength and body.
John: Medium strength earth and tobacco start the last third with earth and wood combining into the post draw. The flavor profile remains stable until the halfway point where sweet tobacco is leading and earth and wood follow in the center of the profile. In the bottom half, earth is driving the profile with medium plus strength earth on the post draw.
Jiunn: The final third mimics the second third such that it’s still a rustic flavor profile with a good amount of heady nicotine. Still wish there was more softness to round out all the rustic earthiness. Body finishes the same medium.

Crux Epicure Habano Robusto

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy at times, but never needed any intervention. The ash held on in inch and a half increments.
Seth: Burn was good in the first third, got a little wavy in the second, and then improved.
John: The burn had some waviness in the first third which corrected. No other waviness to the burn as it remained straight for the remainder of the review.
Jiunn: Unfortunately, the cigar went out two times on me, requiring complete re-lights.

Crux Epicure Habano Robusto

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: Nice draw throughout.
John: The draw had some minor resistance to it, roughly 1-1/2 to 2 notches into the resistant spectrum, putting it in the very good category for a draw.
Jiunn: Draw performance was on point, providing the ideal balance between air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with oak, earth and a combination of black pepper and crushed red pepper. The oak gained a toast note fairly quickly and the crushed red pepper faded away. The second third saw the black pepper mellow. The final third saw some wood bitterness and a light vegetal note join in. The Crux Epicure Habano Robusto had a nice start, with a bold combination of flavors. The profile took a step down in the second third as the boldness mellowed and maintained that level the rest of the way. This is an interesting cigar as the spiciness in the beginning was a bit unique and not something I experience that often. I’m not sure that I’d really come back to this cigar, but I’d be open to checking out another vitola to see how that fares.
Seth: So we have Epicure Connecticut, Maduro and Habano. Of course I gravitate towards the Connecticut, but I do like the addition of the Habano and I think it will reach out to a lot of smokers. It’s almost an affordable Plasencia offering, am I right? I think the Crux Epicure Habano Robusto is better than the Maduro in terms of complexities as well, but overall the initial Connecticut is superior. Burn got a little weird, and the flavors were overpowering for me in the end. Palate shot.
John: The Crux Epicure Habano Robusto was an enjoyable review and might be one of my favorite releases from Crux in the past few years of releases. I found some engaging flavor combinations in the first and second thirds that were relatively balanced, with the earthiness in the last third taking a step down. The burn was perfect, while the draw had a minor amount of resistance to it. I would definitely smoke the Crux Epicure Habano Robusto again, both based on the flavor profile delivered and the reasonable price point for the current market conditions. Total smoking time was a slow 2 hours and 26 minutes.
Jiunn: A powerhouse of a blend, providing a rustic flavor profile that hits heavy and deep with scorched cedar, dried red pepper spice and charred minerals. The unfortunate part is, there isn’t enough softness to round out the lashing of the earthiness. So given this (and the lackluster burn performance), the Crux Epicure Habano Robusto is a pass for me.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.00

Cost/Point

$2.00

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.60

Cost/Point

$2.14

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.67

Cost/Point

$1.80

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

5.45

Cost/Point

$2.20

Scoring System

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