Tag Archives: E.P. Carrillo

by Craig Vanderslice | January 2, 2022 · 10:01 am

New Year Cigars: EP Carillo, Rare Pink and an All Saints Saint Francis

Happy New Year to everyone! As CigarCraig.com enters it’s 13th year I hope to continue to bring you the same level of rambling nonsense you’ve come to expect from me! If all goes to plan, I will be attending the Tobacco Plus Expo in Las Vegas in a few weeks, so that should bring some exciting content (I hope), and maybe some insight into what’s coming up down the road. I can’t say I’m excited to be getting on a plane, but it’s a necessary evil, I suppose. Anyway, 2022, huh? Crazy. 2021 went by in the blink of an eye it seems, not a great year for a lot of people, pretty good for some. As is my custom, I try to smoke some good cigars through the New Years “holiday”, so I dug out some special ones. New Years Eve I came across a cigar that had been gifted to me a while ago by a friend in Florida who I hope is doing OK. This was a E.P. Carrillo 10 Year Anniversary Limited Edition Perfecto. These are 6½” x 56 perfectos that came out in 2019 in a box with 10 each of the La Historia blend and the Encore blend, of which this was the latter. I believe the Encore blend is a Nicaraguan puro, made in the DR. It’s an excellent cigar, somehow it avoids being a heavy Nicaraguan cigar, sure it’s a bit earthy and peppery, but there’s a light citrus that’s sophisticated and delicious. This was a good choice for the last cigar of 2021. Make no mistake, I was asleep by 10.

New Years Day I decided to get the year started off with the Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Signature that I bought when we went down to South Carolina a few months ago. Technically the name for this is line is the Rare Pink Vintage 1960s Series, and uses the same molds as the Hemingway line, with a couple exceptions. It’s my understanding that some proceeds benefit a breast cancer charity, never a bad thing. I’ve always liked the Hemingway Signature size, it’s practically a Corona Gorda in a perfecto shape, 6″ x 46. Let’s face it, once the nipple burns off it’s 5 5/8″, a traditional corona gorda. This certainly didn’t taste like a Hemingway, lacking the Cameroon wrapper (or broadleaf, they are a treat!). It has a rosado wrapper from Ecuador, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers from the best I can tell. I thought it had an interesting sweet spice that set it apart from other cigars. The burn meandered a bit in the first half, but evened out in the second and was perfect until the end. I’d smoke another without hesitation, but I wouldn’t chase them down or pay more than MSRP for them, but that’s me.

I’ve mentioned before that I toss around the idea of making a top whatever list of favorite cigars of the year. I decided that my ego doesn’t require the stroking of those who make the list, although I guess that’s a little cynical on my part and perhaps my readers would like to know what cigars I found worthy over the last year. I probably don’t have to summarize for my regular readers, but some notables over the last year were the Stolen Throne Three Kingdoms, Undercrown 10, La Sirena Mexican Mermaid, Casa Cuevas Patrimonio, Partagas Decadas 2021 and this cigar that I smoked last night, the All Saints Saint Francis. I smoked the Churchill, which I like a lot, it seems the Toro was The Cigar Authority/Two Guys Cigar of the Year, which is a pretty cool thing for Mickey Pegg and his partners. The Saint Francis is a stellar cigar, it’s rich, decadent, delicious. It’s desert. If I were making that list, it would have been tough to decide if the Saint Francis or Three Kingdoms were on top, hey are both cigars that if I have them in my humidor, I’m smoking them. I can’t wait to try the Saint Francis Colorado, although the bar is set pretty high.

One housekeeping note. I have changed the email subscription service I’ve been using for updates from Feedburner to Mailchimp because Feedburner is no longer supported, has become unreliable and may just go away at any minute. Today will be the first test to see if/how it works. I’m hoping for the best. There’s a new subscribe button on the left sidebar of the site if you’d like to receive e-mail notifications when the site is updated if you don’t already. I never share the e-mail addresses, I’ve been asked, the answer is always no. EDIT: I’ve deleted Mailchimp as the email that went out didn’t have any content and it didn’t look like it was going to suit my purposes. I’ve decided to try a WordPress plugin that looks like it should work, we’ll see the next time I post! PLease bear with me while I work this out. That’s all for today, happy 2022! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as All, All Saints, Arturo Fuente, cigar, cigars, E.P. Carrillo, Encore, Rare Pink, Saint Francis

by Craig Vanderslice | October 25, 2020 · 10:39 am

An E.P. Carrillo Pledge Cigar, Some Drew Estate News and The Contest Winner

My last visit to the cigar shop had me procuring some new cigars, the last of which was the E.P. Carrillo Pledge. They had both sizes, the 5″ x 50 Pequel and the 6″ x 52 Sojourn, of course I selected the Sojourn. It’s funny, there was a time when I opted for the robusto every time, and I’m not sure it wasn’t cost over preference. I think as I’ve gotten older (I’m hesitant to say “matured”), I’ve valued the experience over the cost, and I prefer the experience I get with a toro. Sure there are times when a Robusto fits my schedule better, I might smoke a couple today, but it’s because I have so damned many of them in my humidors and I usually find myself unfulfilled when I finish one. Anyway, back to the Pledge Sojourn. This cigar has a Connecticut Havana seed wrapper which may or may not be grown in Massachusetts, depending on the source of information. I’ve seen tobacco farms in Massachusetts, so it’s totally possible. It’s a dark wrapper, and it’s beautiful. The binder is from Ecuador and the filers are from Nicaragua. Of course it’s made in La Alianza, Ernesto’s factory in the DR. I forgot to check my band to see if it’s signed, Ernie signed six of each size and if someone finds one they win a humidor. Hang on, be right back. Nope, no golden ticket for me! It was a 1 in 1250 shot. I bet Kameron at the shop checked them all, the band came off awfully easy 😁. I kid. This is a delicious cigar with a beautiful burn and draw. It’s full bodied and full flavored. It has some cocoa and pepper, and I might have initially mistaken it for broadleaf, but it wasn’t as sweet. As a longtime fan of EPC’s work, I am once again impressed, this is another winner. Considering how rarely I spend $12 on a cigar, this one is worth every penny. Yum.

Here’s some news from the folks at Drew Estate that I was too lazy to post separately a few days ago:

Drew Estate announces today that it will donate $50,000 to Operation: Cigars for Warriors (CFW) during its virtual Barn Smoker Live event, which will broadcast directly from the Florida Sun Grown farm in Clermont, Fla., on Drew Estate’s Facebook page (facebook.com/drewestatecigar) on Nov. 14, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Due to COVID-19, Drew Estate cancelled the five Barn Smoker events that had been planned for 2020 in Connecticut, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Florida. Instead, Drew Estate decided to Bring the Barn to the People, announcing its Barn Smoker Good Will Act, through which Drew Estate fully refunded all Barn Smoker ticketholders, sent each of these ticketholders all the incredible swag they would have otherwise received at the in-person events, and decided to showcase a virtual Barn Smoker open to all adults free of charge.In 2014, Drew Estate hosted its first Barn Smoker at Hopkinsville, Ky. The event brought premium cigar consumers onto a real American tobacco farm and educated them on how the dark fire-cured tobacco used in the company’s Kentucky Fire-Cured cigars is grown, processed and finished. The event, which included local cuisine and spirits samplings proved so popular that the company has expanded its Barn Smoker program to a total of five annual events.

Jonathan Drew, founder and president of Drew Estate, notes, “I kinda view life as a great big mosaic of stories. As a tobacco man, I love the deep, raw, emotional and authentic stories of real American tobacco farmers and families. One of our goals at Barn Smoker is to immerse our DE family into farm life and premium leaf culture. This year, we have a virtual spin on things, but the team is hard at work loading in super duper surprises and cool shit. I have to say that most of all, I’m just lookin’ forward to chillin’ with you guys. Much love!”

A hallmark of each Barn Smoker has been assisting CFW, a 501(c)(3) charity that has shipped approximately 1.2 million cigars to deployed troops and has also provided them with boutique coffee, cigar accessories and other items. Drew Estate’s association with CFW dates to before the charity’s establishment in 2012 when Drew met CFW’s CEO, Storm Boen, and provided legal advice on how to set up a charity.

“Drew Estate has been our biggest supporter and J.D. [Jonathan Drew] has always been a big proponent of ours,” Boen says. “His legal background provided the foundation for Operation: Cigars for Warriors. Since then, he’s ensured that we are at all of Drew Estate’s Barn Smokers, which has helped us a lot, especially after 2016 when the FDA declared that manufacturers couldn’t donate cigars to troops anymore.”

Prior to 2016, Drew Estate had donated more than 150,000 cigars and has also donated approximately $250,000 to the charity to date. While the FDA now prohibits cigar companies from donating cigars to charitable causes, it still allows cigar companies to donate money to charities. A portion of each Barn Smoker ticket sold supports CFW, and Drew Estate also donates raffle items to raise additional money for the CFW at every Barn Smoker event. Despite not holding in-person Barn Smokers in 2020, Drew Estate will add another $50,000 to its charitable contributions to CFW on November 14th.

“While Covid-19 has seriously impacted all of us, it has had a tremendous effect on charitable contributions worldwide, but the missions these charities serve have not diminished,” says Drew Estate CEO, Glenn Wolfson. “In the face of tremendous challenges brought on by the pandemic, Cigars for Warriors continues to successfully fulfill its mission of sending deployed soldiers and sailors cigars and other much needed items they request. With gratitude to these brave men and women serving overseas, Drew Estate is proud to support Cigars for Warriors and we encourage everyone to consider donating their cigars, time or money to this worthwhile charity.”

Financial donations to Cigars for Warriors may be made via PayPal. Cigar donations may be made at an authorized Cigars for Warriors donation center or sent to Attention: Cigars for Warriors at 8585 SW Hwy 200 Unit # 16, Ocala, FL 34481. For more information, visit cigarsforwarriors.org.

Barn Smoker Live Promo Video

ABOUT DREW ESTATE

Founded in New York City in 1996, Drew Estate has become one of the fastest growing tobacco companies in the world. Under their mantra “The Rebirth of Cigars”, Drew Estate has led the “Boutique Cigar” movement by innovating new elements to the tobacco industry with their unique tobaccos and blending styles that attract new and traditional cigar enthusiasts. In their Gran Fabrica Drew Estate, the Nicaraguan headquarters, Drew Estate produces a variety of brands such as ACID, Herrera Estelí, Herrera Estelí Norteño, Isla del Sol, Kentucky Fired Cured, Liga Privada, MUWAT, Larutan by Drew Estate, Nica Rustica, Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Fermented Cigars, Tabak Especial, Undercrown, Florida Sun Grown, and Java by Drew Estate.

Contest

It’s time to announce the winner of the cool AshStay ashtray, Western Digital Hygrometer and DAHOT Sampler from my humidor! Thanks to Chaim at Cigar Oasis for the Ashtray and Hygrometer! Cigar Oasis has been a great supporter of CigarCraig.com for decades! OK, you’ve told me a million times not to exaggerate, it’s been a long time, and I use Cigar Oasis products in my humidors, as well as an Ashstay on a daily basis! So, I put the entries into a spreadsheet, randomized the list, then used a random number generator, and came up with Patrick Hart as the winner! KingOHarts, please send your address, and you really don’t need to prove your age, because I remember you from the Usenet days, so you MUST be of legal age! Let me scrounge around and see what I can come up with for a future giveaway, the holidays will soon be upon us! It’s getting harder and harder!

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Contest, News, Review

Tagged as cigar, Cigar Oasis, cigars, Contest, DAHOT, Danli Honduras Tabacos, drew estate, E.P. Carrillo, EPC, Pledge

by CigarCraig | December 30, 2018 · 9:07 am

Happy New Year From CigarCraig and E.P.Carrillo Contest Winner Announcement!

Tomorrow is New Years Eve, and I hope everyone has safe and fun plans, and great cigars picked out. I have to work today and tomorrow, so tomorrow night will be a quite night at home. I’m going to select a nice cigar to relax with on the porch, much like any other evening. It might be something from the rare and unusual part of the humidor, this year has been a weird one for me on a personal level. I’m not quite sure how I want to celebrate it yet! Anyway, as I generally do around this time if year, I’ve spent the last week or so smoking cigars I’ve wanted to smoke with little regard for presenting synopsis’s here (is that the right word? plural of synopsis?), but last night I smoked my last Todos Las Dias from Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, and felt the need to mention it. Of all the cigars Steve Saka has brought to market, this one is one that it took me the longest to “get”. I suppose the first few I had didn’t seem to draw as well as I’d like, or, more accurately, burned on the wet side, as in over-humidified. This was ironic since Steve was hand picking his IPCPR samples for the exact reason that the samples were still on the wet side from the factory, but the ones I had were in my humidor for some time, so I can only guess that it was my fault, and maybe this liga just needed to be kept as a lower RH. There was an earthy, mushroomy flavor I didn’t care for, and it’s a flavor I typically don’t like in cigars, I think it goes back to a bad mushroom experience I had in the ’80s, but that’s another story. I bought some of the Double Wide Belicosos and put them down for a while in a lower RH humidor. I love the size, Joya de Nicaragua uses the same molds for a couple other cigars in their portfolio and I really dig it. It’s 4¾” x 60 with a blunt, tapered head. With a dryer, open draw, I finally “get” this cigar, and, like the other cigars in the DTT portfolio, I can finally say that there isn’t a cigar in the lineup that I don’t like. It may not be my favorite in the bunch, but it’s certainly one I’d choose over many, many other cigars on the market. It’s still earthy, but it didn’t have that off-putting (to me), mushroomyness, but more of a hearty Nicaraguan peppery flavor. I still need to try the Thick Lonsdale “Mas Fuerte” (Steve’s alleged mistake), and need to put some more Double Wide Belicosos in the humidor. Perhaps tomorrow night’s smoke will be a pre-release Sin Compromiso…or a Nacatamale, or something of that ilk. Or maybe not.

Thursday I posted a video review of the Herics Cigar Measuring Tape. Please let me know if that’s a format you’d like to see more of, or if a little of me on video is enough! If there’s positive feedback, I might do more, if nobody cares, I might do more, if there vehement opposition, I’ll scrap the idea! and, as I alluded to in the last post, I’ll have another contest in the coming weeks which will include one of the tapes along with some other goodies. Speaking of contests, I have to announce the winner of the E.P. Carrillo Prize Package! I added a few cigars to the package, including an Encore Majestic, which was CA’s No. 1 Cigar of the year. These cigars are out of my humidor, it’s completely legal for me to give cigars to my friends! (that should hold off the black helicopters!). So there’s the EPC Hat, the pair of tumblers and steel whisky cubes, lighter and cutter, the CigarProp Lighter Bleed Tool (Thanks Kevin!) and now a five pack of cigars (the La Gloria Cubana isn’t technically an EPC cigar, but it’s made at his factory and was blended with his help, along with Yuri Guillen of General Cigar Co. I’m counting it, it’s my contest. I don’t think the winner is going to complain, it’s a fantastic cigar! So, as per normal, I consulted the random number generator, and Andy Klueber‘s number finally came up. Andy has been lamenting the fact that he never wins for as long as I can remember, so now he can give it a rest! Please send your address so I can send this out to you! Thanks to E.P. Carrillo and Cigar Prop for the goodies, and than you all for your support and participation over the years!

Happy New Year! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

10 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as CigarProp, cigars, Contest, Dunbarton, E.P. Carrillo, La Gloria Cubana, Todos Las Dias

by CigarCraig | December 23, 2018 · 10:31 am

Contest: CigarCraig’s Holiday Giveaways No.2!

It’s the Sunday before Christmas, and time to announce the winner of the Ventura Cigars travel humidor and assorted goodies. I scrounged through the humidors and found some cigars to include too! I let the folks at Kretek International know what I was up to and they were thrilled that I was doing it! The comment selected at random belonged to Victor Miller! Please send me your address so I can ship you your goodies! Thanks again to Ventura, and to everyone who entered!

Our second giveaway of the season really couldn’t have worked out better! On Thursday of this week, Cigar Aficionado announced that the E.P. Carrillo Encore Majestic was their number one cigar of the year! People have mixed feelings on this list, and I really don’t understand why people get so worked up over it. Like any top whatever list, from any media outlet, be it print based, or online, it’s based on individual opinions, it has to be, as cigars ( and spirits, and food) are a subjective, non-quantifiable commodity. Find someone who’s tastes line up with yours and follow their suggestions and don’t crap on other people’s tastes. Whoa, I kinda went on a rant there…people take things too seriously! Live and let live! Lets get back to giving stuff away! This is another un-authorized contest, my friends at EPC don’t know I’m doing this, but I have been a fan of Ernesto’s work for a very long time. The first time I met him at an IPCPR just three years ago was about the first time I’ve been really star-struck meeting someone. I’ve had the chance to hang out with him since and he’s a super cool guy, and I consider his VP one of my better friends in the cigar biz. I think the CA’s choosing Encore for their cigar of the year was spot on not only because it’s a great cigar, but because Ernesto and his company is deserving of the recognition and it’s a cigar that should be reasonably available (at least until last Thursday!). Anyway, I have some EPC goodies including a cool hat, a pair of rocks glasses and some steel ice cubes (I guess, I’m not a drinker, I have to assume that’s what they are, since they came with the glasses. It would be the hardest dice game ever!). There’s an EPC cutter and lighter too, and I’ve selected some cigars from my humidor, and some more might fall in the box when I pack it up! Let’s not forget a handy Lighter Bleed Tool from CigarProp.com to keep that lighter working right for years to come!

Leave a comment (one comment please!) to enter. I think it’s fair to disqualify our previous winner, but everyone else is eligible to win. Must be of legal age in your jurisdiction as usual. I’ll select a winner sometime after Christmas, I have a funky schedule this week (again) so I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance, but maybe I’ll leave it open all week and announce a winner next Sunday to give everyone a chance to enter.

To everyone who celebrates, a Merry Christmas to all! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Contest

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Contest, E.P. Carrillo, Encore, giveaway, Ventura

by CigarCraig | August 15, 2018 · 2:57 pm

E.P. Carrillo Dusk, Kristoff Cameroon and La Flor Dominicana La Volcada Cigars

OK, all of these cigars have something in common…they are cigars, they have a band, they are, in fact, made in the Dominican Republic, but that’s not what I was going for in my current contest on Sunday’s post. I’m disappointed that everyone is just parroting the first response, even though it is technically correct, assuming it’s the answer I was looking for and not giving it any further thought. Don’t worry, I’ll be fair and just pick a random comment like I always do. I’m also a little disappointed that there have only been 15 entries, where there are well over 50 by now when I just ask for a comment. Would it help if I said there would be another 5 great cigars included in the prize? Guess what? There’s now 10 cigars in the pack, several of them will be from La Aurora (if that’s not a hint I don’t know what is!) So go back to the last post and enter the damn contest and try to win some great cigars out of my humidor! If it has anything to do with me being between jobs and giving my own cigars away, faggeddaboutit! I’ve got plenty to share! </rant>

So far this week I’ve smoked a few cigars, two that aren’t new to me, and one that was. The E.P. Carrillo Dusk is from Ernesto’s “The Classics” line and has a dark Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Ecuador binder and Nicaraguan fillers. I had a lonely “Obscure” 7”x 54 double corona in the humidor which had been there for a while. I’ve been going through my larger size cigars with the long evenings and lack of employment. The Dusk, as ive mentioned before, hits me just right. There are still a mess of cigars in the EPC portfolio I need to explore, I keep grabbing this Broadleaf beauty when I see them in the shops. Espresso and cocoa all day long!

I was moving some cigars around and found a Kristoff Cameroon Matador, the 6 1/2” x 56 toro in the line, although it seemed smaller than that. I actually would have sworn this was a 6” x 50, I got it at an event, so maybe it was an event only cigar, I don’t recall. Whatever the size, it was a tasty smoke. As a rule, I’ve found Kristoff cigars to be, how should I put this diplomatically, not real exciting to my palate. This is funny to me, because I really like Dean Parson’s Epic Cigars which are made in the same factory. However, this Cameroon was really, really nice, it had the distinct Cameroon sweet spice with a little something sour in the background, Camerooniness, I call it. With the Kristoff signature closed foot, one gets a nice blast of that up front. I will keep trying to like the Kristoff line, I love the pigtail cap and closed foot and overall rustic feel of the line. I found a few of the “Pistoff” Kristoff too which I’ll revisit.

Finally, last night I revisited, again, the La Flor Dominicana La Volcada. Jonathan Carney at LFD sent me a few of these before they hit the stores and I had one left, and picked a couple up at the event I attended a few weeks back so I lit up that last pre-release cigar. It was un-cello’d, and I actually prefer my cigars to be stored in cellophane, another of my odd proclivities. This cigar is so limited that it does not appear on the company’s website! It’s available in one vitola, a 7″ x 48 Churchill with a pigtail cap, has a San Andrés wrapper, Corojo binder grown in Ecuador and Dominican fillers. This is another cigar, like the aforementioned Dusk, which hits my palate right, which is a shame, because it’s limited and not inexpensive. It’s not super expensive, but it’s not cheap. It’s got a nice spice and earthiness and the dark, rich flavors I like. I waffle between wondering if I should have smoked one I just bought and saved the older one, and the path I took, but tomorrow I won’t be concerned about that anyway, I enjoyed the crap out of the cigar, and I di for a good two hours or more.