Press
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E.P. Carrillo Review more info »
Date: August 14, 2009
Publisher: The Smoking Stogie
Author: Brooks Whittington
Dallas, TX
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An Industry Icon's Quest For The Signature Cigar more info »
Date: July 16, 2009
Publisher: NPR
Author: Greg Allen
Miami, FL
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Perez-Carrillo: Next Generation more info »
Date: July 3, 2009
Publisher: Cigar Cyclopedia
Author: Rich Perelman
Los Angeles, CA
E.P. Carrillo Review
| Address: | Dallas, TX |
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| Website: | thesmokingstogie.squarespace.com |
It is that time again with the IPCPR Convention going on, there will be lots of Previews on new sticks that will be coming to the market.
I opened my mail last week, and low and behold, there was a package which included a preproduction of the brand new E.P. Carrillo Edicion Inaugural 2009 from the EPC Cigar Company.
For those of you who may not know, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo (of La Gloria Cubano fame) has launched a new cigar label by the name of EP Carrillo with his son Ernie and daughter Lissette. The E.P. Carrillo Edicion Inaugural 2009 is the first stick to be released under the new brand. This will be a limited stick, with about 100,000 produced and sold every year.
The idea is essentially to have one core brand that will be available year-round and that will be more value based. Then every year they will have a limited edition that will be different every single year based on the best tobacco that can be found.
The E.P. Carrillo Edicion Inaugural 2009 is a 5 3/8 inches x 52 cigar, with the Binder and Filler coming from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The Wrapper is an experimental leaf from Ecuador, and this is the first time it has been used on a cigar.
My first impression of the cigar is that the wrapper is VERY smooth, but not oily at all...more of what I would call silky...very firm to the touch, and smells very faintly of tobacco and pepper...After punching the end and taking a Prelight draw, I tasted a VERY distinct flavor of Caramel, a flavor that I have not found in many cigars...
An Industry Icon's Quest For The Signature Cigar
| Address: | Miami, FL |
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| Website: | www.npr.org |
It's not a great time to be a smoker. New laws subject tobacco — and its use — to more restrictions than ever before. New taxes are being imposed, raising the cost of smoking.
None of this, however, daunts Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, a third-generation cigar maker in Miami. With his shaved head and hawk-like glare, he is almost an intimidating presence. He has been involved in the cigar business for most of his 57 years.
At his warehouse in Miami's Little Havana, he is working with his son and daughter to create a new signature cigar.
He pulls out boxes of tobacco from Nicaragua. These leaves of tobacco, called fillers and binders, will go into his new cigars.
"This is all basically Cuban seed tobacco," he says.
Perez-Carrillo has long been impressed by how those Cuban seeds thrive in Nicaragua. He pulls out leaves from two different batches and compares the feel and the smell. He pulls out a lighter and smells a bit from each leaf as it burns.
It's all part of his research in finding the right blend for his new cigar.
Perez-Carrillo: Next Generation
| Address: | Los Angeles, CA |
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| Website: | www.cigarcyclopedia.com |
The name “Ernesto Perez-Carrillo” is renowned among smokers, and thousands are devoted to his famed La Gloria Cubana blends now produced by General Cigar.
He announced earlier this year that he would leave General Cigar and begin a new cigar company with his son Ernie and daughter Lissette. Ernesto (shown above at the Quesada 35th Anniversary launch party last Monday in New York) and Ernie were guests at last weekend’s Famous Smoke Shop Cigar Expo and Cigar-B-Que in Easton, Pennsylvania and we had a chance to sit with the youngest Carrillo, the 27-year-old Ernesto Perez-Carrillo and find out about the new venture.
“Both my sister and I – and my sister is also going to be involved in the business – basically grew up in the factory. Literally every day after school, from [age] 10 or 9, until I left for college. And I think my Dad’s dream was always for both of us to be part of the business, working full-time, really involved. But I think both of us felt we had to go out and do our own thing, gain some experience and then take it from there.






