E.P. Carrillo Short Run Cubra Toro

In 1959, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Sr. decided to flee from Cuba to Miami until political tensions settled. With little money, he took what jobs he could before realizing that he should continue what he does best – making cigars. Close to a decade later, he managed to buy a small cigar factory, El Credito, and began producing cigars with his son. When Ernesto Sr. died in 1980 the financial responsibilities almost seemed too daunting for Ernesto Jr., but his friends in the cigar trade continued to encourage him to do what his family did best, and that was to make cigars. Over the next several years, Ernesto Jr. experimented with several blends and created the now famed La Gloria Cubana. At the time, this cigar remained local to Miami, but once the fairly recent Cigar Aficionado rated four of his blends with a score of 90 or higher, the La Gloria Cubana was one of the most sought after cigars in the world. After selling El Credito in 1999, Ernesto Jr. continued to work with the new owners until 2009 when he launched EPC Cigar Company.

The E.P. Carrillo Short Run Cubra is very limited with only 1,200 boxes existing, and you’ll want more. This one of a kind cigar starts with a rare and perfectly fermented Cubra wrapper. What’s a Cubra you ask? A hybrid Habano wrapper grown in Brazil. This rare leaf is employed by just a small handful of premium handmades on the market today – mostly because its power can make it hard to blend with. But no need to fear, E.P. Carrillo has blended it perfectly with a well-aged combination of Cuban-seed long-leaf tobaccos grown throughout Nicaragua, secured inside a zesty Dominican Habano binder. This unique cigar will build in strength to give a nice medium to full bodied smoke that’ll have core flavors of cedar, leather, and caramel with hints of toasted wood and coffee. Our panel loved this smoke and recommended a German Lager to pair with it.

Though tobacco is indigenous to Hispaniola, the tobacco industry in the Dominican Republic existed in the shadow of Cuba’s dominance through the 1960s. When the exodus of Cuban cigar makers began in the wake of the revolution, many decided the Dominican Republic would be ideal for the resumption of their livelihoods. Unrest in Nicaragua in the 1980s fueled the Dominican cigar industry further. The country now makes more than half of the premium cigars imported into the U.S.

The Cibao Valley and the nearby city of Santiago are the center of cigar production in the Dominican Republic. Three main varieties are grown here: the mild and native Olor Dominicano; the intense Piloto Cubano, brought from the Vuelta Abajo of Cuba; and San Vicente, a milder and more acidic Piloto hybrid. Dominican puros were once unheard of as it was widely thought impossible to grow quality wrapper leaf on the island, but new growing techniques are now allowing some exceptional puros to be produced.