Tasting Note

E.P. Carrillo Cigar Co. won Cigar of the Year with its Pledge Prequel in 2020, its second No.1 cigar in two years. So where could cigarmaker Ernesto Perez-Carrillo go from there? The answer to him was obvious: bigger. He took the blend and beefed it up to a 58 ring gauge, resulting in a bold smoke full of cocoa powder, black pepper and hickory. Some sweet notes of vanilla and marshmallow also come through. Of note is the wrapper, a dark leaf of Cuban-seed tobacco from Connecticut. Perez-Carrillo stopped short of making a 60 ring-gauge cigar; believing that after 58, the true character of this blend was compromised.