New E.P. Carrillo Short Run Has An Entirely New Blend
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo is always working on new cigar blends, and his latest creation contains Honduran tobacco, a leaf he hasn’t used in 14 years. The E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro, which is shipping today from Miami, has Honduran tobacco as part of the filler, which he last used in 2008 when he came out with his La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Miami.
Perez-Carrillo sometimes makes three or four blends a week. “Blending is a constant process, like a pro athlete or accomplished musician,” he says. It was a few months ago when he lit up something that made him smile, something he thought was a winner—but something he couldn’t make in enough quantity for a regular-production brand. The result is the E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro.
This Short Run has the same names and sizes as the version released last year, but the blend is entirely different. The wrapper is Connecticut broadleaf, the binder from Ecuador. The fillers are a mix of Nicaraguan, Mexican and Honduran tobaccos.
The Honduran leaf is where this blend really started. “I wanted to see if I could make some blends with Honduran tobaccos,” says Perez-Carrillo. “Just before the pandemic I got two bales of Honduran tobaccos from Jamastran, from the Plasencia family. We started doing experiments with that…The last time I used Honduran tobacco was when I did the Artesanos de Miami. We used that tobacco as a binder at that time. I’ve never used it since.”
The cigars come in three sizes: Short Play is a robusto measuring five inches long by 50 ring gauge, with a suggested retail price of $8.50; Extended Play is a 6-by-52 toro priced at $9.50 and Long Play is a grande, 6 inches long by 60 ring, priced at $10.50. The run for this line is roughly 40,000 cigars total, and it will be offered to 150 stores.
“It’s what these Short Runs are about, using unique tobaccos,” says Perez-Carrillo. Despite having made cigars for more than 50 years, he’s still excited about blending. “There’s a lot of tobaccos out there that I know about but still haven’t blended with,” he says. “This is something I’m very excited about.”
