E.P. Carrillo Short Run 2023 Toro

E.P. Carrillo has released a lot of cigars over the years—remember the pyramid of brands?—so I might be forgetting something, but as of the writing of this review, the Short Run 2010 is my favorite E.P. Carrillo release to date, just not that No.4 size.

In 2010, the essentially brand-new E.P. Carrillo released the Short Run 2010, the first in the Short Run series. It seemed like the plan was that every year, the company would create a limited run blend, release it in a few sizes; rinse and repeat. If, in 2010, you had told me that the 2023 release of Short Run was being made in Honduras, I presume I would have guessed that the company would have opened up a factory there for some reason. Under no circumstance would I have guessed that Oscar Valladares would be making the cigar.

I couldn’t have guessed that. I didn’t know who Oscar was at that point.

But that is what happened.

It has admittedly been a strange journey for the Short Run Series. For seven years—2010-2016—it was an annual staple for the company. From 2017-2020, there were no Short Run releases, but then it returned in 2021, seemingly lacking the fanfare that accompanies most new E.P. Carrillo releases these days.

This is the third consecutive year that there’s a Short Run release, though the obvious twist is that it’s the first one that isn’t being made at Tabacalera La Alianza S.A., the factory owned by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. Instead, it is being made in Honduras by Oscar Valladares Tobacco & Co. Blend-wise, it uses an Ecuadorian habano binder over a Nicaraguan binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos.

That Honduran filler tobacco is what led to this cigar being made by Oscar Valladares, as Perez-Carrillo Jr. was looking for some tobacco grown in Copán, Honduras; Valladares had some, and the two began talking.

• Cigar Reviewed: E.P. Carrillo Short Run 2023 Toro
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Oscar Valladares Tobacco & Co.
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Honduras & Nicaragua
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Toro
• MSRP: $11.75 (Box of 24, $282)
• Release Date: August 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,250 Boxes of 24 Cigars (30,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

On appearance alone, there’s no way to tell that this isn’t a La Alianza-made E.P. Carrillo product. The three cigars I smoke for the review look just fine, with the only blemish being a smushed foot at the bottom of one cigar. That said, the one photographed above shows a loose seam. Aromas from the wrapper are medium or medium-plus with a nondescript profile that has sweetness and earthiness with some acidity and the smell of black peppercorn. The smell of the feet is medium-full with vanilla over woodiness, fruitiness, pasta and soy sauce. While the secondary scents differ between the cigars, the first and third cigars smell remarkably similar. Cold draws are medium-full, though not particularly consistent. Woodiness, vanilla bean and cocoa can be the strongest flavor. Secondary flavors include ketchup, mild sweetness, red pepper and acidity, though I only find ketchup and chocolate in multiple cigars.

Crispness is the defining quality of the starts of each of the three E.P. Carrillo Short Run 2023 Toros I smoke. As far as the flavors themselves, there’s little consistency between my notes, so I’ll just list them out: hearty woody flavors—hickory, oak and cedar—earthiness, leather, nuttiness, cocoa, apple and cinnamon. What is consistent is the medium-full intensity. Pretty early on, it becomes apparent that the second cigar is an outlier; without looking at the blend notes, it tastes like it has too much milder Honduran tobacco. The other two cigars show some similarities: woodiness and milk chocolate over salty earth, Ruffles potato chips, olive oil, melon candy and, at times, metallic flavors. Neither cigar has all of those flavors, and the secondary notes are rarely consistent within a five-minute span, but the core of chocolate and wood is present in both. The finish adds lots of grain-like flavors along with white pepper, lemon and cinnamon. While I don’t find retrohales to be bitter, they aren’t as sweet as when I just let smoke in through the mouth. There’s a flavor that reminds me of the smell of freshly rained-on muddy grass, along with creaminess, leather, black pepper and peppermint. I taste a unique butterscotch sweetness as the retrohale’s finish begins, and eventually, it’s joined by creaminess along with earthiness, leather, pink salt and sugarcane. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium and strength is medium-plus. One cigar has a tight draw and a much slower burn rate, but construction is otherwise fantastic on all three cigars. Smoke production is copious, burn lines are even, and the ash holds onto the cigar until I give it a firm knock.

The trend of two cigars being somewhat similar and the third being an outlier continues in the second third. All three are good, but the second cigar I smoke is dominated by a smooth but dry grain flavor, which shows up only as an occasional secondary flavor on just one of the other two cigars. Speaking of those other two cigars, there’s generic earthiness and nuttiness—sometimes more walnuts or peanut oil—over leather, Ruffles, white pepper, toastiness and a cinnamon note that starts mild but gets rather vibrant during the finish. The cinnamon is joined by bitter creaminess, peanut shells and leather. In terms of parts that are most similar between two cigars, it’s very clearly the retrohales during the second third. My notes for one cigar list leather, black pepper, white pepper and saltiness; my notes for another list nuttiness, leather and white pepper. Again, that third cigar is an outlier, with the grain flavors now joined by chocolate and creaminess. There’s creaminess during the finish of all three cigars, joined by sourdough bread, black pepper and some bitter earth flavors. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-plus. Construction continues to be excellent with the only remote detraction being a tight draw on one cigar that slows the burn rate, though, as I’ve noted over the years, I actually prefer a somewhat tighter draw.

Nuttiness takes over as the top spot in the final third, pairing on many puffs with a buttery creaminess that helps to soften the still-vibrant cinnamon. Other flavors include stale bottled water flavors, leather and generic sourness and sweetness. The nuttiness sticks around in the finish—sometimes getting a bit more bitter and reminding me a bit of walnut—joined by white pepper and a soft honey sweetness. One cigar has a meaty character, though it’s never quite strong enough for me to figure out what exactly that flavor is. Retrohales have leather, creaminess, white pepper and nuttiness as the stronger flavors—again, one puff never delivers all those flavors at once—along with secondary notes of floral sweetness, sugarcane and wet leaves. The finish is addition by subtraction with remnants of black tea, sugarcane and earthiness. Compared to the second third, it’s significantly smoother, largely thanks to the disappearance of the cinnamon flavor. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-full and strength is medium. At times, I find the final third can get a tad bit too sharp, but that’s a fairly minor quibble. As for construction, it’s flawless from start to finish, cigar to cigar.

Final Notes

• It’s tough to figure out what’s the most remarkable positive aspect of these three cigars.
• Construction might get the nod because there’s so little to complain about. Outside of the first cigar being slightly tight—which I enjoy—and therefore burning a bit slow, every other attribute was excellent. The only time I thought of my lighter was during the first cigar when I wondered if I really managed to make it through the whole cigar without using it.
• That said, flavor is no slouch, especially if you want a medium-full to full cigar that has lots of different flavor sensations. The flavors don’t have the absolute maximum amount of richness or maturity—though I don’t think there’s much to complain about on that front—but there’s certainly a lot of them.
• For those wondering what kept this cigar back from getting a higher score:
  • The flavors could have been more developed. Some cigars have flavors that feel more alive, this—outside of the cinnamon in the second third—didn’t have that. While it was a very good cigar, it never really had the flavors singing.
  • At times, there were some less pleasant flavors: metallic notes in the first third and bitterness was present in different amounts during each section.
• We don’t evaluate the consistency for the score, but my largest issue with the E.P. Carrillo Short Run 2023 Toro was that the second cigar didn’t taste like the other two. It wasn’t bad, but it was a much different profile and a much more consistent one at that.
• I find it very interesting to see E.P. Carrillo allow other factories to make cigars for its brand. There are plenty of companies that rely on third-party factories to make their cigars and a shorter list of companies that have a hybrid model that involves both their own factory and third-party factories. What makes this situation so unique is that for more than a decade, all of E.P. Carrillo’s cigars were made at its own factory, and now that is beginning to change, albeit slowly.
• This is not the first E.P. Carrillo cigar to be made at a different factory. Last year, the company released Perez-Carrillo Allegiance, which is made by Oliva in Nicaragua.
• The arrangement gets all the more complicated as Tabacalera La Alianza S.A. makes cigars for third-party clients.
• It’s not going to stop. My understanding is that there’s already one project in the works for 2024, this time with a factory the brand has not worked with before.
• I have mixed feelings about the practice. On one hand, I like the idea of collaboration and working with different factories, though I also am of the belief that this probably adds to the cost of these cigars. As is so often the case, so long as the cigars are good, these arrangements are easy to justify.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time varied between two hours and 20 minutes for the first cigar and just over three hours for the cigar with a tighter draw.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigars Direct and Corona Cigar Co. carry the E.P. Carrillo Short Run 2023 Toro.