The Birth of E.P. Carrillo
After years of stagnant sales and uncertainty, Ernesto took his inspiration from that Cuban Davidoff and set out to create a cigar that would excite the senses. When he finally put the perfect blend together, he had created La Gloria Cubana . This overnight success was years in the making. La Gloria Cubana enjoyed star status among Miami cigar smokers and select others throughout the country, but it remained a “local” cigar.
But all this changed in 1992 when four of the brand’s nine cigars scored 90 or higher in a relatively new publication entitled Cigar Aficionado. This Miami-made cigar outperformed established brands and even its Cuban competitors, stunning cigar connoisseurs. Instantly, the La Gloria Cubana brand was one of the brightest flames in the white-hot cigar craze of the early 1990’s.
Word quickly spread, and La Gloria instantly became one of the most sought-out cigars in the world. Demand far outstripped supply in short order. This boutique brand went from selling a few thousand cigars a year to millions. And in 1999, Swedish Match purchased El Credito from the Perez-Carrillo family.
After working for Swedish Match/General Cigar until March 2009, Ernesto’s children’s beseeched him to return to the tobacco fields one more time to create the next great cigar. With the advent of E.P. Carrillo, Ernesto has once again dedicated himself to perfecting a family-run boutique brand, this time with his son, Ernesto III and daughter, Lissette.
Since creation, the family has released several new blends, beginning with the E.P. Carrillo 2009 Inagural. Each blend, while offering a different array of complexity and strength profiles, has stayed true to the family’s ideals of consistency, tradition, and passion for perfection. Today, E.P. Carrillo provides customers with a diverse portfolio of blends and sizes, which will satisfy the most discerning cigar smoker.
E.P. CARRILLO AROUND THE WORLD
Dominican Republic | Nicaragua | Ecuador | Cuba
The key region for tobacco growing in the Dominican Republic is the lush Cibao Valley, which many experts feel has only one rival: Cuba’s Vuelta Abajo region. Named for a river that flows through its center, the Cibao Valley is bordered by mountain ranges that help to provide an ideal setting for growing premium tobacco.
The soil is rich, deep and bountiful, and the air is cooled by afternoon breezes. Throughout the Dominican Republic, master blenders find a dizzying array of tobacco that ultimately blend together to comprise a premium cigar.
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo has roots that run deep throughout the Dominican Republic. When orders for his former brand, La Gloria Cubana, skyrocketed in the 1990’s, Ernesto could not meet demand with his small factory in Calle Ocho.
At one point, La Gloria Cubana’s Torpedo (rated a 93 by Cigar Aficionado in 1993) was in backorder for 12 months, and the need for a larger factory was obvious. He selected a site in Santiago, Dominican Republic to be his second factory.
When time came to choose a location for the E.P. Carrillo factory, Ernesto knew exactly where it needed to be located. In April 2009, he signed a lease on a 40,000 square foot, stand-alone building in Santiago’s Zona Franca, and immediately began the construction of his dream factory, which he named Tabacalera La Alianza.
Here is where the tobacco is fermented, aged, hand-made, and packaged under the supervision of Ernesto. Spread across 12 rolling tables, experienced cigar-rollers are in essence re-learning their craft as they are trained to roll cigars the “Cuban way” – the cigars are beautifully finished with a triple-cap method.
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s achievements have been driven largely by an insatiable desire to understand the intricacies of tobaccos from all over the world. “Each tobacco has its own character. You have to treat each tobacco differently and understand how they work together,” he says.
