New Cigars For PCA From E.P. Carrillo
In 2024, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo announced the launch of the Essence Series, a collection consisting of six cigar lines blended to highlight a unique cover leaf. The fourth installment, Connecticut, will be previewed at this weekend’s PCA trade show in New Orleans. The company is also poised to unveil the limited-edition La Historia Silk—but the final wrapper has yet to be determined.
Intended to be mild in terms of strength, E.P. Carrillo Connecticut consists of an Ecuadoran Connecticut-seed wrapper, a Honduran Criollo ’98 binder and mix of Dominican and Honduran filler. While the first two installments of the Essence Series (Sumatra and Maduro) were produced at Perez-Carrillo’s own factory in the Dominican Republic, the Honduras and Connecticut lines are being produced by different factories, both of them in Honduras. The Honduras line is made by the Plasencias at Tabacos de Oriente, and Connecticut is made at AgroIndustrias Diadema.
The presentation for Connecticut is also slightly different. Sumatra, Maduro and Honduras all came in the same three vitolas (Robusto, Toro and Gordo), but Connecticut has swapped out the 6-by-60 Gordo for a much smaller size. The three sizes for the Connecticut line are: Corona, measuring 5 1/2 inches by 44 ring gauge ($8.75); Robusto, 5 by 50 ($9.25); and Toro, 6 by 52 ($10). All sizes ship in boxes of 24.
Also appearing at the show is a limited-edition extension of the La Historia brand called Silk. Blended by Lissette Perez-Carrillo, the cigar is intended to celebrate the women of the cigar industry.
“La Historia Silk is deeply personal—it’s a cigar that honors the women in my life and in our community,” said Lissette. “We wanted to create something elegant yet powerful, and we knew the final blend had to be chosen by the very women it was inspired by.”
Unlike the core La Historia line, Silk is round instead of box-pressed. Made in the Dominican Republic at the Casa Carrillo factory, three different blends of Silk have been produced, all of them in the same size: a 6-by-52 Toro. The specifics regarding the blends have not been disclosed other than the wrappers (Mexican San Andrés, Ecuador Connecticut and Ecuador Havana). The cigars have been smoked by a select group of retailers and women cigar enthusiasts across the country and the winner will be announced at the trade show as the cigar that will be released.
La Historia Silk is intended to be released annually with this year’s production limited to just 500 boxes of 10 cigars. Pricing has yet to be determined.
The Connecticut line is expected to ship in May, while the La Historia Silk is scheduled for the third quarter of 2025.
For a rating of the new cigars, see a future issue of Cigar Insider.
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