Reaching into my humidor of new releases, I pulled out the EP Carrillo La Historia. The cigar was introduced at the 2014 IPCPR and comes in 3 sizes. The box pressed cigar is offered in El Senador (5 3/8 x 52), Doña Elena (6 1/8 x 50) and E-III (6 7/8 x 54). It is the first box pressed cigar offered by EP Carrillo.
Cigar: EP Carrillo La Historia
Size: Dona Elena (6 1/8 x 50)
Wrapper: San Andreas
Binder: Ecuador Sumatra
Filler: Dominican, Nicaragua
Strength: Medium
The Look: First off, the band is one of the most gorgeous bands I have ever seen. The colors are vibrant and the detail is eye-catching. There is a secondary band denoting Perez Carrillo that embraces this flawless looking wrapper. The cap is slightly lopsided, but the cigar feels firm in the hand with no soft spots. Under the fingers the San Andreas leaf doesn’t feel as coarse as one would expect from this region. The cigar does feel very light though.
The Notes: The cold draw of the cigar is very earthy, and there isn’t much else going on. It’s more of a damp earth than anything else and the foot reveals a nose of barnyard like notes, including hay and grass. Once the cigar is lit, there is some notes of dark chocolate and the earthy mineral component that I find to be synonymous with San Andreas.
As we getting into the first third of La Historia, there is a bit of a tickle on the back of the throat and the cigar remains predominantly earthy as leather is introduced to the mix as well. There seems to be some notes of chocolate and nuttiness trying to work its way into the fold.
In the second third of the cigar the notes of chocolate and nuts fully emerge over a heavy canvas of earth like components that at times takes away from the sweetness. By the time this section of the cigar comes to a close, the sweetness has all but disappeared and the flavor profile becomes bitter.
The last third of the La Historia continues down the path of earth and leather with some sweetness on the finish which was a welcomed addition but not enough to save the experience in my opinion.
The Burn: On the cold draw the cigar felt tight and I was worried about getting a good pull from the La Historia. Once the cigar is lit, the draw gets better, but it is still a little to tight for my liking and I tend to like a cigar on the tighter side of normal. The ash stands out as it is really firm and light in color. Despite the tough draw I was able to keep the cigar lit, but the amount of work to get a good pull was tiresome.
The Finish: By far not my favorite cigar from Ernest Perez-Carrillo. For me that remains the EP Carrillo New Wave Connecticut despite the fact that I lean more toward full-bodied cigars lately. I was expecting a lot more from the La Historia, but perhaps the overload of San Andreas to hit the market this year has tired me of what I was once a fan of, but not so much lately.
Score: 86
Price: $8.50
EP Carrillo La Historia
EP Carrillo La Historia Foot
EP Carrillo La Historia Burn
