E.P. Carillo 4 In 1 Review
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Last week I was able to attend an E.P. Carrillo event and picked a sampling of vitolas covering about half of their current line. The EPC rep was very nice and informative, eager to answer any questions thrown his way.
In this post I will try to give a brief, but hopefully helpful review of my experience with the 4 EPC offerings I have smoked so far.
1) EPC Inch Natural: The size I chose here was 5 7/8x52, known as 'Club 52', I smoked this the night of the event. This cigar had a nice feel to it, a nice medium brown Ecuador Sumatran wrapper, very smooth with no veins. The binder is Nicaraguan and the filler is a blend of Nicaraguan & Dominican tobaccos. The cap clipped cleanly, and the foot lit evenly. The initial draw was just the way I like it, firm, but not tooooooo firm. My first few draws brought forth a sort of earthy smoke, not much spice, not much cocoa, but rather a straightforward tobacco taste IMO. As I took my time enjoying this cigar it burned straight as an arrow, never needing any touch-ups. Jerry, the EPC rep had described this as a medium bodied cigar and I would agree. Not much change along the way, but a very consistent flavorful smoke.
2) EPC Cardinal Natural: This cigar was 6x54, known as 'No. 54"......hmmmmm, go figure. I was anxious to try this one as it was described by Jerry as being very much like the original LGC Serie R blend, one of my old favorites. Once again, the construction seemed flawless with a nice firm feel to it. The wrapper is Ecuador Sumatra, the binder is Nicaraguan and the filler is Nicaraguan as well. Upon lighting, I found a little more spiciness to this cigar, but not a "knock ya down" blast. A very pleasant smoke for me, the spice remained throughout, but also had some things going on in the background, maybe a little earthiness with a slight hint of sweetness. This cigar burned true from start to finish, never giving any burn issues. I would classify this cigar as medium-full, while I believe EPC rates it as full. I can see where they would compare this cigar to the original Serie R blend, there are definitely similarities.
3) EPC E-Stunner: I chose the Siboney, a 5x50 vitola. The wrapper is Ecuador Sumatran, the binder is Nicaraguan, the filler is a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican tobaccos. I was anxious to try this one as it was promoted as being EPC's FULL bodied offering......I believe the EPC site describes it as being "daring". I found the construction of this cigar to be very good with the ES wrapper being a little darker than the previous choices. Upon lighting I was greeted with a good dose of pepper and spice, which I happen to like.....but not overpowering. The burn was even all the way to the end. This cigar did change character several times throughout, the spiciness had an ebb and flow to it with hints of cocoa filtering in here and there. A certain earthiness stayed solid in the background, giving a nice complexity to this cigar. Of the three EPC offerings so far, this one is my favorite.
4) EPC InchC-99: This one was a little larger in girth than I usually smoke, but I believe it was the smallest ring gauge offered in this particular blend. the "C-99" refers to the wrapper of this cigar which is Corojo 99. The binder is Nicaraguan with the filler being a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican.
The cap on this one was a bit sloppy, but after clipping it presented no problem. The draw was nice. From the very start there seemed to be a section of the filler that just did not want to light or burn evenly. I took a few moments and tried to make sure that everything was lit evenly. After several draws I found this cigar to be a medium body, medium strength smoke with the emphasis on earthiness or I guess what many would call a taste of leather? A tasty smoke, BUT I continued to have burn issues. While on this subject I will mention that several others from the event had the same burn issues with their various samples of the 'Inch' line, where my first sample had burned in stellar fashion. At any rate, I fought this cigar for about half it's length and finally gave up. Hey it happens.
Sooooooo there you have it, those are my impressions of the EPC products I have tried so far. In regards to personal preference I would rank them from best to "worst":
3) EPC E-Stunner: I chose the Siboney, a 5x50 vitola. The wrapper is Ecuador Sumatran, the binder is Nicaraguan, the filler is a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican tobaccos. I was anxious to try this one as it was promoted as being EPC's FULL bodied offering......I believe the EPC site describes it as being "daring". I found the construction of this cigar to be very good with the ES wrapper being a little darker than the previous choices. Upon lighting I was greeted with a good dose of pepper and spice, which I happen to like.....but not overpowering. The burn was even all the way to the end. This cigar did change character several times throughout, the spiciness had an ebb and flow to it with hints of cocoa filtering in here and there. A certain earthiness stayed solid in the background, giving a nice complexity to this cigar. Of the three EPC offerings so far, this one is my favorite.
4) EPC InchC-99: This one was a little larger in girth than I usually smoke, but I believe it was the smallest ring gauge offered in this particular blend. the "C-99" refers to the wrapper of this cigar which is Corojo 99. The binder is Nicaraguan with the filler being a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican.
The cap on this one was a bit sloppy, but after clipping it presented no problem. The draw was nice. From the very start there seemed to be a section of the filler that just did not want to light or burn evenly. I took a few moments and tried to make sure that everything was lit evenly. After several draws I found this cigar to be a medium body, medium strength smoke with the emphasis on earthiness or I guess what many would call a taste of leather? A tasty smoke, BUT I continued to have burn issues. While on this subject I will mention that several others from the event had the same burn issues with their various samples of the 'Inch' line, where my first sample had burned in stellar fashion. At any rate, I fought this cigar for about half it's length and finally gave up. Hey it happens.
Sooooooo there you have it, those are my impressions of the EPC products I have tried so far. In regards to personal preference I would rank them from best to "worst":
1- E-Stunner
2- Cardinal Natural
3- Inch Natural
4- Inch C-99
I actually enjoyed all of these except for the C-99, which of course would have been a different experience had it not been for the burn issue. Those of you who prefer an earthier smoke without the spice would probably favor the offerings of the "Inch" line.