Press
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A Family Cigar Company more info »
Date: March 18, 2013
Publisher: Fox Business
Author: TV Interview
New York, NY
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The 25 Best Cigars of the Year 2012 more info »
Date: January 8, 2013
Publisher: Cigar Aficionado
Author: David Savona
New York, NY
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And to All a Good Light more info »
Date: December 19, 2012
Publisher: Robb Report
Author: Richard Carleton Hacker
New York, NY
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E.P. Carrillo's Newest Line Combines Maduro and Natural more info »
Date: February 9, 2012
Publisher: Cigar Aficionado
Author: David Savona
New York, NY
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The 25 Best Cigars of the Year 2011 more info »
Date: January 10, 2012
Publisher: Cigar Aficionado
Author: David Savona
New York, NY
A Family Cigar Company
| Address: | New York, NY |
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| Website: | video.foxbusiness.com |
EPC Cigar Company co-founder Lissette Perez-Carrillo on how taxes and regulations are preventing her from growing her family’s cigar company.
The 25 Best Cigars of the Year 2012
| Address: | New York, NY |
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| Website: | www.cigaraficionado.com |
The 25 Best Cigars of the Year 2012
E.P. Carrillo Elencos Series Don Rubino
Rank: 22
When one considers Brazilian wrapper, dark, rustic looking cover leaf often comes to mind. But this isn’t the case for the less common Cuban-seed Brazilian tobacco. It’s not quite as dark or gritty in appearance and isn’t always easy to procure, which is why the E. P. Carrillo Elencos series is such a limited-production cigar. The blend uses no Ecuadoran Sumatra at all. This is unusual for brand owner Ernesto Perez-Carrillo who admits an affinity for Sumatra tobacco and uses it in many of his blends.
A production run of only 50,000 cigars in total means that the Don Rubino might be a bit of a challenge to locate. The word elencos is Spanish for “cast” as in a play or movie. When asked what or who Don Rubino is, Perez-Carrillo says “It’s just a name that I came up with.” Perhaps, but it’s also the name of a great cigar.
MADE BY: Tabacalera La Alianza S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION: Dominican Republic
WRAPPER: Brazil
BINDER: Dominican Republic
FILLER: Nicaragua
PRICE: $9.50
RING GAUGE: 50
LENGTH: 5 1/4"
RATING: 91
And to All a Good Light
| Address: | New York, NY |
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| Website: | robbreport.com |
Cigar smokers have cause to be especially joyous this season, for not since the Great Cigar Boom of the 1990s has such an abundance of hand-rolled riches been laid before them. This bounty has resulted, in part, from increased competition, as new cigar makers have entered the field and older, more established brands have felt compelled to introduce new offerings. Consequently, this year’s cigars are fatter, stronger, more exotic, and better embellished. Ring gauges have expanded to 60, and rumors suggest that 70-ring stogies—more than an inch in diameter—are in the works. Bands have morphed into miniature works of modern art: One steampunk-style cigar is even fitted with a metal cog. Meanwhile, the cigars themselves—made with vintage and exotic tobaccos blended in a growing array of styles—have become ever more complex and powerful. So sit back, light up, and savor the scents and tastes of this season’s extraordinary smokes.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
The Inch Series by E.P. Carrillo
The diameter of a cigar is measured in rings, a unit unique to the industry that equals one-sixty-fourth of an inch. Now, with 60 as the ring gauge du jour, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo brings us a cigar that surpasses even this milestone. EPC’s No. 64 Inch, a 6 × 64 behemoth, is exactly 1 inch in diameter. Appropriately, the band is copied from a 1950s ruler. With Nicaraguan and Dominican filler, Nicaraguan binder, and a choice of Ecuador Sumatra or Connecticut broadleaf wrappers, the cigar has a strength that, while mildly spicy, is not overpowering. Less intimidating ring gauges of 60 and 62 are also included in the Inch family. ($7.75–$10) www.epcarrillo.com
E.P. Carrillo's Newest Line Combines Maduro and Natural
| Address: | New York, NY |
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| Website: | www.cigaraficionado.com |
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, the man behind the E.P. Carrillo brand and the former maker of La Gloria Cubana cigars, is coming out with a new Short Run cigar. The new release, which will ship to retailers beginning in two to three weeks, will combine elements of the company’s New Wave Connecticut (which features a light-hued natural wrapper) and the company’s Core Maduro, a dark smoke wrapped in hearty Connecticut broadleaf.
The new cigar, called E.P. Carrillo New Wave Connecticut Short Run 2012, takes a light Ecuadoran Connecticut wrapper (the same found on the New Wave Connecticut) and combines it with Connecticut broadleaf binder (the wrapper from the Core Maduro line). The filler is also from Core Maduro, a combination of Nicaraguan and Dominican leaves.
There are three sizes in the line: Reinados (6 1/4 by 60, $8.60 per cigar); Invictos (5 7/8 by 52, $7.10) and Exquisitos (4 7/8 by 50, $6.35). As with previous Short Run releases from E.P. Carrillo, the cigars will be made in small quantities. There will be 1,000 boxes of each size, packed 24 to the box, for a run of 72,000 cigars.
Cigar Insider recently received a sample of the new cigars. The Exquisitos smoked more like a natural than a maduro, with a mild- to medium-bodied creamy flavor, with some floral elements, and fine balance. The finish was fairly long, with a nutty flavor. The draw and burn were superb.
Look for an official blind tasting of the line in an upcoming issue of Cigar Insider.
This story first appeared in the February 7 issue of Cigar Insider.
The 25 Best Cigars of the Year 2011
| Address: | New York, NY |
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| Website: | www.cigaraficionado.com |
The 25 Best Cigars of the Year 2011
E.P. Carrillo Golosos
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo has been making cigars for more than 40 years. He learned his craft by working alongside his father in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, where the family made La Gloria Cubana cigars. Perez-Carrillo developed a reputation for making serious cigars that were appreciated by connoisseurs, and his brand soared in popularity and became an industry mainstay.
Today Perez-Carrillo has set out with his son and daughter to make a cigar under his own name in the Dominican Republic. He began with limited-edition smokes, and in 2010 he finally came out with his core line of regular production smokes called E.P. Carrillo. None are finer than the Golosos, a 60-ring-gauge behemoth that is creamy yet spicy, taking on savory notes of leather and a black-cherry sweetness.
MADE BY: Tabacalera La Alianza
FACTORY LOCATION: Dominican Republic
WRAPPER: Ecuador
BINDER: Dom. Rep.
FILLER: Nicaragua, Dom. Rep.
PRICE: $8.70
RING GAUGE: 60
LENGTH: 6 1/4"
RATING: 92






