Casa Carrillo Expands Encore Black With New Size
Casa Carrillo Cigars is about to ship a new, larger size in its Encore Black line, the maduro version of its successful Encore brand that hit the market last spring. Encore Black Bulwarks will debut on July 26 at a cigar event in Pontiac, Michigan, and shipments to retailers will follow soon after. The smoke will be limited at first, with larger shipments following at a later date.
The Bulwarks is a fat perfecto, 6 inches long by 58 ring gauge. Like its predecessor (a parejo measuring 5 by 52 that is known simply as Encore Black), the cigar is made with a dark, Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, a binder of San Andrés viso from Mexico and a selection of Nicaraguan fillers from Condega, Estelí and Jalapa. Each box contains 10 cigars, with a suggested retail price of $21 per cigar ($210 per box). The blend is intended to be strong.
“Following the success of the first Encore Black vitola, we knew we wanted to expand the line with something that delivered a fuller, more immersive expression of the blend,” says Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. “The Bulwarks does exactly that. The Connecticut broadleaf wrapper takes center stage—given the time it needs to develop its rich, complex character. We paired it with a San Andrés viso binder and select fillers from Estelí, Jalapa and Condega to highlight and complement the broadleaf’s bold profile.”
He adds: “Adding this vitola after the success of the first Encore Black release was a natural next step. We saw how much smokers appreciated the complexity and boldness of the blend, and we wanted to explore how it could evolve in a larger format. The Bulwarks offers a slower burn and more pronounced transitions that really show what this blend can do.”
Unlike the original Encore Black, these perfectos are packaged without an extra-long black footband, something that is difficult to fit over a tapered cigar.
The original Encore Black scored 88 points in a blind tasting in the April 23 edition of Cigar Insider.
The new size will be reviewed in a future issue.
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