The latest offering from E.P. Carrillo is named the Allegiance and it is available on retail shops across the country. I picked one up for this review at my local brick & mortar – Executive Cigar Shop & Lounge in Melbourne, FL. The Allegiance now joins the award winning trio in the Perez-Carrillo Series: Pledge, Encore, & La Historia.
According to the company’s website:
“From the very beginning of E.P. Carrillo, we understood the importance of working with like-minded tobacco producers from across the globe. That’s why we have partnered with Oliva Cigars, a well trusted legacy cigar company located in Nicaragua, known for great blends and consistent performance.
Allegiance was blended by Ernesto using Oliva’s world famous tobaccos and marks the second cigar of the E.P. Carrillo line to be produced outside of Tabacalera La Alianza in the Dominican Republic.”
The company published a video to tell the story of the Allegiance which can watch here:
The company describes the Allegiance blend as:
- Wrapper – Ecuadorian Sumatra
- Binder – Nicaraguan
- Filler – Nicaraguan
The E.P. Carrillo Allegiance is expressed in 4 different vitolas and comes packaged in beautiful 20-count boxes
- Sidekick (5 x 50- MSRP $12.00
- Confidant (6 x 52) – MSRP $13.10
- Wingman Corona (6 7/8 x 54) – MSRP $13.50
- Chaperone (6 1/4 x 58) – MSRP $14.00
Fun fact: E.P. Carrillo announced in a press release that as part of the Allegiance launch, the inside lids of 50 boxes have been autographed by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. If you are one of the lucky ones to find an autographed box, you will win an ashtray from E.P. Carrillo.
Pre-Light Examination
The E.P. Carrillo Allegiance is wrapped with a beautiful reddish brown leaf that has a slight oily sheen to it. There are a few noticeable veins especially on the top of the barrel. The box pressing is more rounded than crisp and there is a slight give when pressed between the fingers. A simple cap finishes the presentation.
The Allegiance is adorned with 3 bands. The primary band uses a lime green and gold motif with the name Perez Carrillo printed in the center. There is also some artful images and embellishments applied tot he band making it quite elegant. The secondary band is placed just below the primary and uses a forest green and gold motif with the name Allegiance printed in white across it. Finally a dark green band covers the foot. I really like the colors of the branding on the Allegiance and feel it would really pop on the shelf. It certainly caught my eye when I visited my local shop.
As I ran the cigar along the nose, I did not pick up much aroma along barrel but the foot offered light floral and hay notes off the foot.
I opened the cap perfectly with my CigarMedics Baller cutter and proceeded to give it some cold draw puffs that I found to be a tad open in restriction and offered notes of earth, sweetness, and pepper.
Using my single flame torch, I warmed the foot to an even orange glow and I drew in a mouth filling puff of floral and earth notes to start the journey. Follow along as I burn this one to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- Starts with a floral and earthy set of notes
- Slight fruity tang and sweetness adds to the introductory profile
- Solid light grey ash rests on top of a pristine medium thick char line
- Dark coffee adds to the profile
- Fruit notes increase deep in first third
- Hint of honey
- Mild jag in the burn
- Mild spice notes enter
- Ash fell after a long run revealing an excellent burn cone
- Cashew notes add an elegant pleasure to the profile
- Savory notes grow
- Spice begins to show as cinnamon deep in the second third
- Medium in strength
- Total smoking time was 1 Hour and 35 Minutes
Final Analysis
Way back in the day, I was and still am a huge fan of the E.P. Carrillo La Historia, it ranked number 4 in my 2014 list of top cigars. Now that I have sampled and thoroughly enjoyed the Allegiance, I have to say it is by far my favorite in the company’s portfolio. It was very well constructed and carried a fantastically long ash. The profile was well balanced and had some really special notes that peaked my interest like honey, cashew, and savory spice. This is a cigar that I can say is box worthy and I feel it is one that can be enjoyed any time of the day. I rate this a respectable 96.
Point Deductions: (-1) Mild Wave in burn
Bonus Points: (+1) Box Worthy; (+1) Long Solid Ash; (+1) Very Complex
