Wrapper: Brazilian Habano
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5.25 x 50 “Robusto-Don Rubino”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $8.50

This is from Atlantic Cigar’s description:
“This cigar is the follow up of the limited edition inaugural cigar; although in limited production the Elencos Series will be available as a regular production cigar. The cigar is also blended with different tobacco as well, the wrapper is a limited harvested Habano tobacco grown in Brazil, fillers from Nicaragua held together with a binder grown in the Dominican Republic. The result is a rich medium to full bodied smoke that has the signature Cuban style of blending Ernesto Carrillo is known for, intense flavor but very well balanced and not just in your face strength. Another outstanding smoke from the Carrillo family, a new chapter of cigar making that looks to outshine his great creations of past. The brand has received stellar reviews from Cigar Aficionado magazine and cigar smokers alike.”

I take umbrage with the regular production comment. Read on.

I’ve written for so many blogs and stores that I’ve lost the treasure trove of older cigars that I once wrote about when they were new. So I’d like to jump aboard the Way Back Machine and review a favorite of mine: EP Carrillo Elencos Series.

The cigar was released in early 2010. The 2010 Edición Limitada became the Elencos. In 2012, Carrillo released the maduro version of this cigar.

This is a limited release blend as I found out by trying to buy some online. Everyone is out of stock and backordered. The single stick I have was part of a 4 pack sampler of Carrillo cigars. So I better not screw this up.

Construction is slightly rustic. There are schmears of glue applied by the torcedor that rolled it. Seams are invisible and a couple large veins appear on the wrapper. The triple cap is flawless. The wrapper’s color is a dark chocolate brown with a nice oily sheen and feels very sandy.

I clip the cap and find aromas of spice, earthiness, sweetness, with lighter notes of cocoa, espresso and barnyard.
Time to light up.

The first puffs are loaded with red pepper. I retrohale and my nose is on fire. The draw is excellent. Smoke billows like a 3 alarm fire. The spiciness drowns out any other flavors at this point in the cigar.

Then a dash of creaminess and wood appear through the potent spice. The stick starts off immediately at medium body. There is a meaty kind of flavor that wants to be identified; but not by me. I’ll get it.

The char line is wavy so I nip it in the bud. Fingers crossed. The aroma of sweetness becomes flavor. The spiciness begins to dissipate enough so other flavors can break on through to the other side. The sweetness usurps the red pepper as leader of the pack.

A molasses component shows up giving the sweetness a dark side. Also, a bit of cocoa and espresso become a bit stronger than earlier. The flavor I couldn’t get was simple earthiness. Take my Cigar Reviewer’s Union Card away.

The earthiness lays down a baseline for the other flavors giving them oomph and character.

I near the end of the first third and flavors are emboldened. The coffee and cocoa become much stronger but the creaminess has wafted away. The balance of the cigar becomes prevalent. And the stick has a nice long finish. The strength moves to medium/full at this point. Oy…I’m in for it with some nicotine kick on an empty stomach.

I was asked about what I use to clean my palate before the next cigar. These are my choices: yogurt, apple sauce, or Atkins shakes.

The second third brings with it a resurgence of a nice coating of creaminess. In addition, there is sweetness, molasses, earthiness, cocoa, coffee, wood, and spice which are much more delineated now. Easy to pick out but refined in their singularity. Ever been to the Hadron Collider in Switzerland?

The earthiness is really belting it out. Something about the creamy component that either brings out the strong flavors or just signals that it is time for flavors to stand out more.

We are getting a definite NYC egg cream moment here. I grab a Diet Coke.

The draw continues to be flawless and the char line is mostly spot on but not needing touch ups.

Caramel shows up big time supplanting the influence of the molasses. It tastes gooey and rich. Like me.

I near the halfway mark and the cigar is now an official flavor bomb. It is just plain delicious. It is full of wonderful flavors perfectly placed in the proper order I like. The cigar is nicely balanced.

At the halfway mark, the strength remains at medium/full with a tug at wanting to be full bodied. So far, no nicotine kick.
I get wonderful floral notes now. Almost like honeysuckle. The caramel element is joined by a subtle honey component.

Creaminess, sweetness, cocoa and earthiness are working as a team. The other flavors are holding up the rear.

The last third begins and bold flavors attack my palate.

The stick is as smooth as glass now. A slap on my own back here…in my almost 50 years of playing bass the one word that always followed me was that I was a smooth bassist. Partly due to the impact McCartney had on me…and then Jack Bruce. And then Stanley Clarke and Ron Carter.

The triple cap is so well done that not a single piece of loose tobacco touches my lips.

The stick hits full bodied but due to its smoothness, it hardly seems to be so. Nicotine enters the picture. Starting off slowly. So I am only partially blind.

The cigar band comes off without a hitch.

I’ve rekindled an old love affair with this cigar.

The cigar finishes out smooth, balanced, with a long finish and very flavorful. The construction of this stick has been flawless giving me not an iota of a problem
Get some if you can find them.

And now for something completely different:
1983

We traveled to NYC to do the Today Show. Along with my client, Butch “Eddie Munster,” Patrick was Billy Mumy (of “Lost In Space” fame) scheduled to sit and talk to Bryant Gumbel. We were promoting the release of the single, “Whatever Happened to Eddie.” We took the theme from the Munsters and put our own lyrics to it.

At first, we thought Jane Pauley would do the interview but they seemed to be in the middle of a cluster fuck and both Pauley and Gumbel kept getting up and down until Gumbel slammed his fist on the table and said, “Goddam good thing we don’t make dynamite here!” The producers couldn’t make up their mind who would interview the duo and this was happening during a commercial break. Live!

I met both Gumbel and Pauley. Gumbel was an arrogant prick but Pauley was gracious and generous. I stood and talked to her for 5 minutes about nothing. Very down to earth lady.

I stood in the tiny studio next to a camera man and watched the interview. Within a couple minutes, I started wishing that I was managing Mumy, not Butch.

I was amazed at how small the studio was. Two small sets. One was the anchor desk and the other had some sort of cheesy backdrop with two comfy chairs.

After the interview, we headed out together and hit a bar at 9am. Everyone had breakfast except Butch. He drank his. Butch was the first person I ever knew that did not like to eat food. He just didn’t like it. I had to force him when I was on the road with him.

It was fun talking to Mumy especially about his days on his TV show. The evil doctor stranded with them was really, really gay and used to put the moves on Mumy. No one did anything about it.

I slipped Mumy my business card and asked that he call me. Naturally, he didn’t.

We met some cute girls at the bar and they invited us to a party on Long Island that night. Butch agreed without asking me. We had a big radio interview the next morning and I told Butch we were to be picked up in a car at 8am and I didn’t think a trip to Long Island would be in our best interest.

So of course, we went to the party.

Butch closed the bar at 4am. I had gone back to our hotel long ago and was awakened by him, and about 8 drunken people who he dragged back to the hotel. They continued to drink until they passed out on the floor.

At 6am, I got up and saw Butch lying on the floor next to his bed, snoring.

I shook him and he was as drunk as a skunk. I couldn’t get him to wake up so I threw water in his face which elicited a lot of cursing.

He then begged me to call the radio station and ask them to postpone the interview until tomorrow.

I was livid. This was the NBC affiliate that was syndicated all across America. I think it was the Don Imus show.

He was in no shape to be interviewed so I called the radio station and told them Butch was sick. They were enraged. But they gave in, reluctantly, and allowed us to postpone the interview until the next day, and while I was thanking them, they hung up on me mid-sentence.

The moment I hung up, Butch said to me in a slurred voice, “OK. I’m good. Let’s go do the interview.”

I leaped on him while he was still on his back on the floor. I put my hands around his neck and choked him like a chicken. His face turned beet red. He was flailing his arms but he was weak from being so drunk.

He couldn’t talk but I could see in his eyes that he was pleading for me to stop…so I did.

I got up, grabbed my bags, took out a $20 bill, threw it on his chest, along with his plane ticket home…and told him he better be at that interview tomorrow. And then I left and grabbed a plane home.

Two days later, I got a call from my publicist who went on a tear and ripped me a new asshole for leaving Butch alone.
All I said was, “Fuck you, you motherfucker!!” And hung up.

Butch did the interview the next morning…drunk.
To be continued….

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: cigar review, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, E.P. Carrillo Elencos Series Cigar Review, ep carrillo