Cigar Review: EP Carrillo Maduro

No. 4, 5.5" x 42 ring gauge/ $5.55, Burns
The E.P. Carrillo company elected to expand its core line of cigars this summer with a traditional Maduro. "What is traditional?" you might ask...well, Maduro does not mean "dark" or "powerful"...it means "ripe." It refers to the process of maturing and ripening the leaves through a hotter, longer fermentation process which results in sweeter tobacco. Only thick, supple and strong leaves are put through this kind of process because others just will not stand up to it. Traditional Maduros may be slightly darker than their natural counterparts, but will not normally be a very dark brown unless coloration has been encouraged or artificially enhanced. Traditional Maduros might be slightly stronger than some natural tobaccos, but often they just are not...most of the best Maduros I've had were decidedly medium-bodied. These E.P. Carrillo Maduros have the same kind of leaves used in their Core line for filler--Dominican and Nicaraguan--but the percentages were adjusted for this wrapper. They opted for an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder for this cigar and finished it off with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper grown in 2008/2009. I had my first one of these less than a week before this review stick and knew I had to hit it up for review as soon as possible.

Before getting to the good stuff, there is a bit of "bad" to get through with this cigar...well, relatively bad, anyway. First, once again the regular EPC band is used with no secondary or explanatory bands. So picking this stick out at a glance in your humidor will not be easy as it does share the same basic band as the Core line, Short Run and Edicion Limitada. Yes, two of those three have secondary bands, but what if they fall off? This isn't exactly something that shouldn't be considered because these ship without cellophane and bumping around in the humidor has caused far worse than bands falling off in my experience. This being a traditional Maduro, as explained above, the wrapper is not that much darker than that of the natural Core line. Put them side by side and you will tell the difference. Look at them alone, in isolation, and you may not be so lucky...especially since I noticed a wide range of color variation in the box I pulled my samples from. Some were very light...I photographed one of the darker ones. And speaking of photographing, I was taken by just how unattractive looking this stick is when I was shooting it...uneven in color, mottled, crooked cap...very, very rustic.

But here's the thing...all that criticism won't amount to much when it comes to smoking it. Before we get there, though...the cigar was oily to the touch, though not so much to the eye. And while it looked rough, the aroma rising from the EPC Maduro was lovely...a mix of dried fruit, earth and chocolate on the wrapper, with a barnyard aroma coming from the foot. The prelight draw was very good, featuring flavors of raisin, anise and chocolate as well as just good, sweet tobacco.

Raisin and licorice made another appearance on the first few puffs of this cigar; the retrohale had roasted nuts and a little spice, but not too much. Before long the profile was more or less dominated by sweet natural tobacco, with plentiful notes of cocoa powder and coffee. This continued through the first third while the body was just a tick over medium.

In the second third, I got a little more earthiness, especially on the finish, but overall it was still sweet and chocolatey. Construction was very good for the most part; the burn line started off wavering and crooked, but evened up with a little help. The draw was nothing short of perfect.

Earthiness continued to increase during the final third, but I the EPC Maduro never lost that sweetness that should accompany all real...uh...Maduros. Simply put this is a great cigar for a great price in a year when I've already had two other great Maduros--Tatuaje's La Casita Criolla and Berger & Argenti's Entubar QUAD Maduro. I have to admit I like this the least of the three, but when I've already used the word "great" to describe it, you have to know that this is definitely one you will want to try so you can make up your own mind. The body did creep up into the medium to full range and there was a bit of a nicotine hit, but nothing experienced smokers should fine troublesome. Newer smokers may want to wait on this one a while.

Body: 7/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10