E. P. Carrillo Deep Blue

Every year, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo releases a limited edition that will never be repeated. For 2026, we’re heading for the depths: the Deep Blue, 2,500 numbered boxes of 20 cigars each, and that’s it. The midnight-blue box and the band with its ocean-inspired shimmer set the tone even before you light it.

Beneath a Nicaraguan wrapper from Jalapa – rich in colour and well-oiled – lies a Honduran binder and an all-Nicaraguan filler, rolled in the Dominican Republic at a family-run factory. It is a generous size: a toro gordo with a 56 ring gauge, named ‘Hades’, which demands that you set aside a good hour and a half to enjoy it.

The tasting begins gently, creamy and slightly sweet, then the cigar develops depth: cedar, damp earth, toasted nuts, baker’s spices and a hint of dark pepper that gradually emerges. The strength builds alongside these flavours, without ever becoming overpowering. An evening cigar, best enjoyed with an aged rum.