E.P. Carrillo The Pledge, named Cigar Aficionado Cigar of the Year for 2020, at the Humidour

Congratulations to E.P. Carrillo — The Pledge Prequel has been chosen as Cigar Aficionado magazine’s 2020 #1 Cigar of the Year!

The Pledge is available in our walk-in humidour at Humidour Cigar Shoppe in Hunt Valley, MD or right here in our online store for shipment, doorside delivery, or buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS).

Great cigar lovers think alike – the whole Pledge line has been a favorite here at the Humidour since its release. Ask any of our associates to help you take The Pledge that is right for you!

“In a year such as 2020, it was easy to overlook things, even the release of a new cigar brand from one of the cigar industry’s great talents. Pledge went on sale in September, and it may have slipped through the cracks for some in 2020, but our taste buds took notice at first light, and after a few consistently brilliant performances, the Pledge Prequel stood out as the most sublimely rich, structured and interesting cigar we smoked all year.

The most distinct tobacco in the Pledge is its wrapper, a Cuban-seed varietal grown in Connecticut aptly called Connecticut Habano. On its own, the E.P. Carrillo Pledge Prequel is a delicious smoke that delivers flavor in bold, zesty parcels of spicy oak, licorice, black cherry and black pepper. Baking spices sing like a holiday chorus, and when you think you’ve tasted all the cigar has to offer, a warm, familiar note of baked apple settles across the palate. That performance alone is what sent the cigar straight to the top of the list. However, when you look at Pledge Prequel as part of a larger body of work, you see that Perez-Carrillo’s trilogy nearly hit the trifecta, as two out of three were named Cigar of the Year, the other barely missing at No. 2. Achievements like this are the confluence of skill, talent and experience.

In his 50-year career, Perez-Carrillo has owned factories big and small, worked for a major corporation, and has been making cigars on his own terms for the last decade. Now a two-time Cigar of the Year recipient, the man who’s done it all in the cigar business has just done it again.”

– January 2021, Cigar Aficionado Magazine