A New EPC Cigar, an Uppallant Cigar Case and a Pig Roast

I smoked a couple of E.P. Carrillo cigars this week, a couple of which being the newest addition to their Essence Series.  This one is the Honduras, and is a collaboration between Ernesto Carrillo and he Plasencias in Honduras.  This cigar has a Honduran binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers, all covered with an Olancho San Augustin wrapper, which is much darker than any OSA leaf I’ve seen.  I think this is the first use of Olancho San Augustin outside of General Cigar, I honestly thought it was their proprietary leaf. It shows up on a ton of their cigars, going back to their first CAO offering, the OSA Sol back in 2010? Anyway, this cigar is VERY Honduran!  It has a load of earth, some spice and strong black coffee notes. I think my samples needed some dry box time, they smoked like an over humidified cigar, although they didn’t start that way.  I know that internal moisture builds up in a cigar as it heats, but these got annoying in the second half. It’s been really wet here this week (not as wet as some places, keep our friends in the South in your thoughts), but very few cigars suck up moisture that fast. Anyway, not my favorite if the Essence series so far, but a good cigar.  I smoked a La Historia alo this week, which was really nice, a box pressed Churchill with some coffee and spice.  I must have had one of these before, but I can’t remember!

I was approached by someone on Instagram about reviewing one of the products that they offer on Amazon.  They PayPal’d me some cash, and I ordered the item, in exchange for an Amazon review. Of course, I’ll review it here first! I wouldn’t have bothered with a lighter or cutter, but this looked a little different and interesting. This is the Uppallant Travel Cigar Humidor Set (affiliate link), and includes a five cigar travel humidor, combination lighter/V-cutter, a combination punch/draw tool, and a folding cigar stand. Heaven knows that I didn’t need another cigar case, I have a half dozen or so I rarely use, most of them hold more cigars than this one does.  The interesting part of this is that it’s two sided, one side holds the cigars, the other side holds the accessories. It has a handy wrist strap, the humidor side has a little humidifier and even smaller hygrometer (which has read 70% since I got it, I don’t know if it works or not. I don’t use the humidifiers that come with these things, five cigars aren’t going to dry out in there, it’s a sealed box, o-ring and all, but there’s a little pipette thing if you feel the need to add water.

I was at an event yesterday, and someone randomly asked if anyone had a draw tool, and I was able to answer to the affirmative, and it appeared to have worked, and the punch that is the other half of that tool is fairly large, maybe 12 or 13 mm?  The lighter is a single jet that is nice and strong, and while I find using the V-cutter a bit awkward, it’s sharp, makes a nice deep V and offers a convenient option to carrying multiple tools.  I’ll use it today and see how I adjust.  The folding stand adequately elevates the cigar from the table, nothing new here.  It’s a handy case, and it’s well priced at around $35 with all you get.  Time will tell how it holds up, of course, I’m not going to go out and run it over with my car (I could do that with the Pelican case!). I haven’t dissected it, but it seems like there might be some wasted space, and adjusting to the latches working opposite of what I’m used to is a challenge. They were nice enough to label the sides so one knows which side has the tools, and which side has the cigars. It has plenty of room for stickers too. I have Prime, so it arrived the day after I ordered it.  One other note: I’d take out the accessories if you plan to fly with this. Recommended. 

Yesterday I stopped by the annual Wooden Indian Drew Estate Pig Roast, as I have done pretty much every year for the last dozen years.  As always, they have all of the Drew Estate line as well as the Joya de Nicaragua line represented, and Calvin Zimmerman was there with Willie Herrera.  Usually Pedro is at this event, but he’s off galavanting around Europe, so Willie stepped up.  I don’t think Willie was impressed with the weather, unfortunately it was a dreary day, but not cold, just drizzly.  The tent was set up on the front lawn, the pig was roasted by local catering company Luigi and Giovanni, who might be Italian. The food was delicious, and I smoked a Blackened S84 Shade to black and didn’t dislike it, I wasn’t a fan of the first one I smoked. The Wooden Indian staff is exceptional as always, I had some nice chats with some of the patrons, and enjoyed the afternoon.  Dave Mayer runs a great shop, if you find yourself anywhere near Philly, it’s a must visit.

Please join me in welcoming CigarFinder.com to the CigarCraig family.  Check them out the next time you’re shopping. That’s all for today, until the next time, 

CigarCraig