I am sure many of you are very familiar with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr., The man behind El Credito Cigar Company and most importantly La Gloria Cuban cigars. La Gloria Cubana has experienced many years at the top of the cigar world. Ernesto has always been known for putting out remarkable cigars.  Despite that a few years ago Ernesto, together with his business partner, his daughter Lissette McPhillips, sold the cigar business to a company called Swedish Match. However Ernesto was still involved in the production and management of La Gloria Cubana.

In early 2009 Ernesto decided to depart from Swedish Match to start his own company once again, so with his daughter, Lissette McPhillips Perez-Carrillo, and his son, Ernesto III, EPC Cigar Company LLC was created. The company certainly hit the ground running with the release of their first cigar, the Edición Inaugural 2009. (Review of the Edición Inaugural HERE.) The cigar was a major hit and really captured what Ernesto Jr. has always been about, beautiful Presentation, great construction and full of flavor. The Cigar was made in small batch production only and sold out very quickly. Soon to follow was another small batch production cigar, the Short Run (review of Delirios, HERE). It was made in limited quantities but unlike the Inaugural it had a few different vitolas to choose from. Not straying from their tobaccos of choice the cigar was made with tobaccos from Ecuador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. After a series of months with excellent sales the company released two new important additions at 2010’s IPCPR, their first core line of cigars as well as a new 2010 Edición Limitada which we will be taking look at today…There are only 1000 boxes of 10 released of the EL 2010 (so 10,000 cigars total)…

One thing you will notice right away is the amazing design and look of the box these are packaged in. The rich color of the wood, the glossy coat and the simple yet elegant look is just perfect. It immediately reminded me of the box for the Cohiba Gran Reserva, and looks just as nice…

Lets get to it…

• Cigar Reviewed: E.P. Carrillo Edición Limitada 2010
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera La Alianza S.A.
• Wrapper: Brazilian Habano
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Size: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Double Robustoish
• MSRP: $15.00 (Boxes of 10, $150.00)
• Release Date: November 2010
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

The look of this stick really grabs your attention right away. The construction looks to be absolutely perfect. The wrapper has a rich milk chocolate color to it with minimal veins and a smooth yet sort of tacky feel to it. It has a slight oily sheen to it and is packed to perfection giving it a solid feel. The band is what makes it in my opinion. The E.P. Carrillo band is simple yet elegant with a tasteful color scheme. The Second Edición Limitada band has beautiful gold lettering and just creates an eye catching look.

The pre light aroma is full of cocoa and coffee and has a very sweet tobacco aroma to it. The pre light draw has a sweet cedar to it with lots of cocoa; all I can taste is a chocolate, very heavy.

Starting off in the First Third there is a rush of pepper and spice right away. The profile is quite woody and with a deep earthy tone. Half way through the first third the cigar gives way to a sweetness that takes over quickly. I start to get hints of chocolate and more of a cedar than a vague wood. The pepper has died down considerably but there is still a spice through the nose.

Coming into the Second Third the cedar has ramped up and the cigar has increased in its sweetness. The chocolate is absolutely perfect, very subtle and sweet and just coats my palette perfectly. The finish has a coffee and spice note to it but is very long and dry and leaves my mouth a bit parched at times. The burn and construction is perfect, the ash holds for a few inches and the draw is remarkable, just a slight tug and I am able to get a copious amount of medium/full bodied smoke.

Finishing up in the Final Third is wonderful. The smoke becomes chewy and thick and the coffee and cocoa flavors really take over. It’s a deep, rich, earthy profile with a lot of sweetness and a nice spice kick through the nose.  The cigar is very easy to smoke and provides a very relaxing experience.

Final Notes:

• This cigar has a great flavor profile and offered incredibly rich tones. Although At times the flavors were a bit dry and the pepper that was present wasn’t quite enough to satisfy me the overall impression is that this is a great smoke.
• The construction was impeccable. I literally didn’t have to touch it up once and the burn was razor sharp the entire way. Please remember that I smoked 3 of them for this review and they were all the same.
• This is a small batch production so get them while you can. If by some chance you miss out on these please check out the rest of the E.P. Carrillo stuff because they are making fabulous stuff. They just released a core line so you will be able to get those in abundance.
• This is a $15 smoke, to some people that is way too much money to pay for a cigar but I can assure you will get what you pay for. This cigar smokes and performs like a $20 smoke to me. It offers such an elegant package and a flavor profile to match that I would spend $15 of this cigar any day.
• There are Rumors of other violtas being released in this lineup as well…
• Final smoking time was 1 hour 54 minutes

The Bottom line: I found this cigar to be quite enjoyable. I knew going into it that it was most likely going to be a good cigar. Have You ever just looked at a cigar and could tell right away from the look and pre light aromas that it was going to be great? well this is one of those cigars and it IS great. It has flavor, construction, look, feel, aroma… it has a ton of great qualities. It still shows a lot of youth though and will only get better with age. I will be picking up a box of these to put away for sure.

Final Score: 91