Few releases will take people by surprise as the Re+United did. Anytime two cigar manufacturers team-up, it’s a rarity. This becomes particularly unique when it involves one of them working with their former employer.

That’s exactly what happened with Re+United, a project between General Cigar Co. and E.P. Carrillo, or more specifically Michael Giannini and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. In 1999, Perez-Carrillo Jr. sold his El Credito Cigar Co. to General Cigar Co. He then fulfilled his 10-year contract with the company before starting his own company, E.P. Carrillo.

Giannini took over the La Gloria Cubana brand when Perez-Carrillo Jr. left, and has since become the head of Foundry Tobacco Co., a subsidiary of General Cigar. He also names Perez-Carrillo Jr. as both a friend and mentor.

Re+United is a 6 1/2 x 54 collaboration between the two companies. The cigar is distributed and made by E.P. Carrillo. General Cigar Co. provided the wrapper—an eight-priming Havana sun grown wrapper grown by Oliva Tobacco Co. from Ecuador—as well as Dominican fillers. The Connecticut broadleaf binder came from E.P. Carrillo, as well as the Nicaraguan filler, which is from the Jalapa region.

Re+United Box 1

Re+United Box 2

Re+United Box 3

Re+United Box 4

The cigar is limited to 1,500 boxes of 10 with pricing set at $100 per box.

 

Re+United 1

  • Cigar Reviewed: Re+United
  • Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
  • Factory: Tabacalera La Alianza S.A.
  • Wrapper: Ecuadorian Havana
  • Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
  • Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
  • Size: 6 1/2 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 54
  • Vitola: Toro
  • Est. Price: $10.00 (Boxes of 10, $100.00)
  • Date Released: April 30, 2014
  • Number of Cigars Released: 1,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (15,000 Total Cigars)
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 4

I enjoy the overly large bands on the reddish wrapper. Out of the cellophane, the wrapper has a ton of barnyard with a relatively sweet chocolate underneath. The foot is similar with more cocoa overtaking, it reminds me a lot of chocolate cupcake with an added barnyard note. It’s a completely different cold draw from the Re+United with grapefruit, leather, barnyard and some acidic notes.

The Re+United begins with burnt cedar, leather and some generic sweetness. It’s medium-plus with a ton of thick smoke. Early on, it’s apparent this is not going to burn quick. There are sweet woods and leather plus a bit of spiciness on the tongue. Through the nose there’s quite a bit of red pepper, sweet cranberry and a touch of root beer. The ash holds on firm and the smoke production remains plentiful.

Re+United 2

At the one and a half hour mark, I see the sweetness begin to become less detailed while both grass and barnyard are working their ways into the profile. A woodiness is now present on the nose, beginning to overwhelm the first third flavors. Elsewhere a creamy, but slightly burnt, coffee flavor is coming in. Strength is medium, no different than the first third. Construction remains great, but the cigar is burning abnormally slow.

Re+United 3

On many cigars, the lack of development in the final third would not bug me. But the fact that the more generic notes of woodiness and grass are overpowering the nuances of the Re+United’s first third is not ideal. The coffee note disappears, but there’s a bit more sweetness as the cigar comes to an end. Construction doesn’t waver one bit.

 

Re+United 4

Final Notes

  • It has not been disclosed where the boxes were made, my guess is General Cigar Co.
  • Depending on whether or not the bands are applied correctly, Michael Giannini’s first initial may or may not appear. That leaves you with just “PG” which might lead you to believe that Paul Garmirian and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo were teaming up. In our box, only one cigar had the band on to the point where you can make out the “M”—and the band was far too loose.
Re+United Bands
  • There are parts of the boxes I love, and other parts that I think could be changed, but the bands are great. Overall, this is definitely an early nominee to our annual packaging list.
  • Also on the visual side is the wrapper—which is beautiful.
  • Re+United obviously reminds me of Face Off, a project between Christian Eiroa, then of Camacho, and Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana. Eiroa sent Gomez tobacco from their family’s farms in Honduras, while Gomez sent tobacco from his La Canela farms to Honduras. The two makers then blended cigars using the other’s tobacco.
  • Apparently if this is successful there might be more sizes.
  • Strength was medium throughout.
  • Regular readers of this site will know that I regularly disclose that I smoke at a very slow pace. I enjoy nuance in a cigar, and I rarely find that smoking quickly helps bring that out. The Re+United burned painfully slow, and honestly, even moving to a sub-one minute puff rate did little to accelerate the burn of this cigar.
  • And there in lies the problem. Some times, the two-plus hour smoking times can be okay. A cigar’s flavor is diverse enough or builds enough that the time is enjoyable. Here—and as I found with the original Alec Bradley Fine & Rare—I eventually just become bored.
  • That being said, final smoking time was two hours and 45 minutes on average.
  • Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
80 Overall Score

Any cigar maker who says they would not like to dig into the vaults of General Cigar Co.’s massive tobacco library for a project like this is lying. It’s like you—the reader—walking into a supermarket-sized walk-in humidor filled with various cigars from all ages. There will be some pedestrian examples, and then there will be materials like the one’s that were used for this project. As for the end result, it’s not my cigar. Interestingly, I would not peg this as being like Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. or Michael Giannini. It’s an average cigar, with some great packaging and an even better story. While I did not like the cigar, I hope we see more of these projects—my inner cigar nerd think it’s just too cool.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.