E.P. Carrillo Pledge Prequel (FS0125)

[eaglebear29]

E.P. Carrillo Pledge Prequel 

I’ve been letting the lady pick between 20 cigars NW and CC this year a fun thing I tried last year. Sometimes if they smell of ammonia the 2nd best gets picked. So far this year she picked the N7 the N5 and then today was the N4 but unfortunately it wasn’t ready and went into a fermentation swing here in the California heat. So today she picked the E.P Carrillo. 

Beautiful looking wrapper.

Musky chocolate on the cold draw.

Smooth bitter chocolate on the light up.

I never really retro hale if I do once I’m not usually a big fan personally, this time I got brownie notes now there’s seems to be a faint hint of fudge in there. Crazy. 

End of first 3rd 

Turning into 80% pure cocoa the bitter chocolate has added a little sweetness to the mix it’s been pretty much the same so far.

End of Second 3rd:

It dances between 80%-90% dark cocoa. Not much complexity here for me at and some ammonia trying to creep in at the end. 

End of final 3rd:

After the second touch up and second relight relight the ammonia left then a few puffs later it was back again. Ammonia dances back and forth land it’s almost 100% cocoa. Very earthy. 

Final thoughts:

It definitely seemed like an encore of dark chocolate idk maybe I got a bad one I’ve only had it down here from a shop for almost 3 weeks and have another resting in the humidor. Idk about all the hype maybe my other one will be better but there’s other Nicaraguan smokes I’d rather grab like a Plasencia reserva original. I brought the Cortez down here with me and will have to give that one a go. Good smoke, but nothing great. Could be a 90 or 91 if not for the ammonia and constant relights. Most of the time that’s not an issue but I’m gonna give this one an 88 cause it didn’t seem to live up to the hype. Not very complex for me.

88/100

Smoking time: 1hr 40min

Nub/pipe worthy? 

I’ll smoke it to the nub but not pipe worthy. I don’t need ammonia in the Falcon pipe.

[habanohal]

 I always keep at least a box of these on hand. But 40 min time for me, it's a fast burning cigar.  

[riderpride]

Much appreciated.  What was your beverage of choice (if any) to go along with it?

Cheers!

[eaglebear29]

8 hours ago, habanohal said:

 I always keep at least a box of these on hand. But 40 min time for me, it's a fast burning cigar.  

I’ll definitely have to give it another chance maybe I just got a bad one and/or it wasn’t ready. Dang that is quick but for me at least, cause I smoke really, really slow.

8 hours ago, riderpride said:

Much appreciated.  What was your beverage of choice (if any) to go along with it?

Cheers!

With this review if I recall, I drank nothing but maybe a little water. I try to not pair anything on my reviews to alter my tastes to try to be more in tune with just the cigar. Especially if there new cigars for me, like a lot have been lately. I’ll add in drinks for more yard gars, or if the notes are similar to each other after being more familiar with it. 

It’s about 50/50 if I pair when I’m not reviewing and at the house. I usually pair with a matcha or occasionally a black tea. My other favorite pairings are Zevia creamy root beer, their cola, their cream soda, or their cherry cola. I prefer it personally because they have no sugar and some of them have caffeine to go along with it. I’m not too big into sugar in general, and for me it takes away from the nic buzz that I want to enjoy with the flavors. Once or twice a month, if that, I’ll have a coffee to pair. Commercial fishing and drinking coffee my whole life has veered me away from it. Too much ruins my gut, but I sure do love that flavor that’s for sure.