Tobacco Business

[ 30 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ JULY / AUGUST | 21 ] time was playing the drums. Being a musician required practice and discipline, two qualities also necessary for becoming a blender. “We have to do things that I’m really proud of and that the peo- ple that work with me in the Dominican are also going to enjoy, because at the end of the day, it’s not all about me—it’s about every- body that’s in the company.” Over the years, Perez-Carrillo and E.P. Carrillo have released a number of different blends that have made waves within the cigar industry. La Historia was a project that Perez-Carrillo’s son proposed back in 2012. He suggested that they work on a cigar that was more traditional in its look and packaging. The suggestion sparked an idea within Perez-Carrillo, and he started working on a blend that used a Mexican San Andres wrapper, which had just started to become more available. Perez-Carrillo worked on the La Historia blend for two years, and in the meanwhile, his daughter Lissette started working on the packaging. She reached out to a friend who was a painter and had him create a label for the cigar that Perez-Carrillo didn’t see until it was completely finished. That cigar went on to earn the No. 2 spot on Cigar Aficionado’s Top Cigars of the Year in 2014. The following year, Lissette suggested to her father that they begin working on a follow-up or companion to La Historia. Perez-Carrillo took this as another opportunity to chal- lenge himself and began seek- ing out tobacco that he hadn’t worked with before on a regular basis. He stumbled upon a Nica- raguan wrapper grown by Nestor Plasencia from a special seed. The silkiness and texture of the wrap- per jumped out at Perez-Carrillo, and he fell in love with it instantly and knew he had just discovered E.P. Carrillo’s next cigar, which went on to be called Encore. E.P Carrillo’s Encore Majestic went on to claim the title of Cigar of the Year in 2018 from Cigar Afi- cionado . Earning the distinction of Cigar of the Year from a publication such as Cigar Aficionado didn’t give Perez-Carrillo or the others any time to stop and celebrate—it gave them a reason and the motivation to strive for more. “There’s always that challenge: How can we add to what we did last year? What can we do that is going to be different out there in the marketplace? It’s a challenge,” Perez-Carrillo admits. “You don’t want to repeat yourself when making a cigar, where each of your cigars or lines are pretty similar. That’s my vision of making a cigar. I want something distinct in each of the lines, and something that maybe one customer may not like it but another one will. At the end, I have to like whatever I put out there. That’s what gives me the confidence that there’s going to be an audience for it.” In September 2020, E.P. Carrillo Pledge was released. Originally slated for release in March 2020 and delayed by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Perez-Carrillo and the team at E.P. Carrillo overcame the odds and challenges to release this cigar. Pledge stands as a testament of Perez-Carrillo’s long journey within the tobacco industry and the evolution of his skills as a cigar blender. As the name also implies, this blend is also a pledge Perez-Carrillo made to cigar enthusiasts all around the world to never stop working with the best tobaccos available and to continue to introduce innovative blends. Pledge fits into a grand story and arc, serving as the third installment in a series of cigar blends that began with La Historia and Encore. Pledge also marked a milestone for Perez-Carrillo: 2020 was the 50th year Perez-Carrillo had spent working in the cigar industry. Pledge features a Connecti- cut Havana wrapper, which Perez-Carrillo first started working with in the early 1980s when it was rel- atively unused by most cigarmakers. Before Pledge, Perez-Carrillo had only used a Connecticut Havana wrapper in two other releases from E.P. Carrillo, both of which were lim- ited in release. To ensure Pledge could be a regular release rather than a limited edition, Perez-Car- rillo made sure he was able to secure enough tobacco to pro- duce the cigar for several years to come. The blend for Pledge had been one he had worked on while developing samples for what eventually became E.P. Carrillo’s 2018 Tobacconists’ Association of America exclusive. As he and the E.P. Carrillo team began discuss- ing what cigar would follow La Historia and Encore and complete the Perez-Carrillo series, he brought out six unused samples, and one of them in particular stood out to the group and decidedly I want something that’s distinct in each of the lines, and something that maybe one customer may not like but another one will. At the end, I have to like whatever I put out there. “ ”