Has anyone cast the Epic carbon blanks?

Bulldog is correct, it isn't heresy if you don't believe it is. Fishing is about deriving pleasure from an activity, not about what some consider to be as the Brits might say, "that's just not the way it's done."

BB

if you need a 9' snappy nymphing rod, it would be a good choice

IMHO the best 9' #5 period (and I tested a few).

À fishing rod (I use TT 4 F and TT 5 F Line with it).
Fish close but with 2 or 3 false cast you are able to reach a distant fish.
At home with light tippet (we use fine here) but able to land nice fish.

Moderate fast but with incredible recovery.
À must have IMHO.

Mike, I'm with you. I have a nice array of glass but graphite is a great material too except most of them aren't brown. I have a number of graphite rods over 8ft that perform like glass can't. I have a Loomis 9' 5wt NRX LP, Scott 8'4" 5wt 5pc, Sage RPL 9'0" 6wt 2pc, Seele Tailwind 9'0" 7wt 4pc, Scott G Bass 9'0" 8wt 2pc, etc. Glass is not the be all, end all. We are finally starting to understand that tapers are more important than material but there is a range of rod lengths and weights that each material is optimum for. It makes sense to pick a rod length, weight, and performance profile, pick an ideal material, then design a taper for the best possible performance around that.