Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play is a marbled dark brown and has a few thick, prominent veins present. The seams are smooth and the caps well applied. There are two bands, with the primary being black, red and yellow and denoting the brand. The secondary band is black and gold and denotes Short Run. The aroma from the wrapper is a mellow damp wood note while the foot brings an enjoyable mix of anise and cedar. The pre-light draw continues with the mix of anise and cedar.
Seth: Finished with a wrapper that is maduro to oscuro in coloring, the E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play has this dark espresso bean color. Veins throughout, the cigar also has some softness throughout. Cap applied well. Aromas of rich earth, raisins, chcolate and sweet spices.
John: The E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play does not come in cellophane and does not have a UPC code. The cigar is double banded with “Short Run” as the secondary band. The wrapper is quite dark in appearance. Aromas form the cigar included aged wood and some mild mustiness. From the foot, I was getting sweet raisin and fresh tobacco.
Jiunn: The E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play has a Colorado Red rustic red hue to the wrapper. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and head tidied up nicely. Aromas from the wrapper tell of rich earth and chocolate. Aromas from the foot give white pepper and sweet, jammy prunes. Cold draws reveal figs and cedar.

Team Cigar Review: E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with oak, dark earth and mild baking spice. At a half inch in, a light mustiness joins the profile. The retrohale is musty oak with light amounts of dry earth and baking spice. As the third comes to a close, the profile is lightly musty oak up front with dark earth and baking spice right behind. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third starts out by delivering strong coffee bean notes that are paired with black pepper, dry earth and wood, and mineral qualities. Medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: The first third kicks things off with creamy tobacco at medium strength and a mild spicy tobacco through the post draw. Some sweet, full strength baking spices punch into the retrohale. A light-plus strength lingering pepper sits on my lips on the post draw. As the first third progressed, mild earth and leather join the post draw. The cigar has settled approaching the halfway into a profile of sweet, creamy wood, and an earth and tobacco combination.
Jiunn: The first third draws a harsh scorched cedar flavor that does a great job of hiding some nice flavors underneath. The nicer flavors consist of nuts, chocolate and a hint of cherries. Retrohaling brings all the right flavors; deep white pepper spice, cedar and chocolate covered cherries. The finish is long in all the wrong ways because of the same scorched cedar. Strength is medium-full and body is medium.

Team Cigar Review: E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the earth has become a bit dry. At a quarter inch in, the baking spice has transitioned to black pepper. The retrohale is now musty oak and dry earth. At three quarters of an inch, the pepper has mellowed a fair amount. As the third comes to a close, the profile is musty oak up front, with dry earth a bit behind and mild black pepper in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The second third was right in line with the first third. I was picking up notes of coffee, dry earth, wood, pepper and minerals. There is this milk chocolate quality present as well, but it is not over the top. Like before, medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: Creamy sweet tobacco leads things off here again, with some citrus components as light earth finishes the draw. As it settles in, mild chocolate is present through the retrohale. As it moves towards the middle, some astringent wood is present through the finish. By the halfway point, a general sweetness also joins the middle of the profile.
Jiunn: The second third eases the harsh scorched cedar note, but it isn’t doing it enough to change my overall liking of this third. Further, the better flavors are now more distant. Strength and body remains at medium-full and medium.

Team Cigar Review: E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the mustiness increases a bit. The retrohale is now musty oak and light, dry earth. At an inch in, the dry earth becomes even with the musty oak. The cigar wraps up with an even mix of musty oak and dry earth with light black pepper in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third delivers a flavor profile of dry earth, coffee beans, soft pepper and wood. Soft mineral notes compared to before. Medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: Creamy wood on the first few puffs as mild astringent wood carries the draw to linger. Sweetness still defines the middle of the profile. There are no other flavor transitions through the last third to remark on.
Jiunn: The final third’s main focus is on the finish. The finish lengthens the scorched cedar note and also brings a good amount of minerals. The good notes are still over the other side of the hill. Strength and body finishes the same medium-full and medium.

Team Cigar Review: E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play

Burn

Aaron: The burn line was a bit wavy at times and the ash held on in near two inch increments.
Seth: Burn was good throughout.
John: The burn was straight through the review process, with the ash holding on well up to 1-1/2 inch increments. I observed the ash having some flakiness to it. It ticked all the boxes for an amazing burn performance.
Jiunn: Aside from a random complete re-light within the second third, burn performance was on point. Overall tight ashes, cool burning temperature and ample smoke production.

Team Cigar Review: E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: Good draw throughout.
John: The draw had a mild amount of resistance to it, approximately 1-1/2 to 2 notches towards the resistant spectrum which rates as a very good draw.
Jiunn: A tad snug for my liking. No hindrance to the flavor performance though.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with oak, dark earth and mild baking spice. Some mustiness joined in fairly quickly. The second third saw the baking spice transition to black pepper and the earth became a bit dry and is how the cigar finished out. The E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play started well, with a nice combination of flavors, but as the earth dried out, it took the enjoyment down a level. The profile was fairly linear the rest of the way. Overall, a fairly average cigar, and I don’t see myself coming back to it very often.
Seth: This E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play smoked like an average Connecticut Broadleaf from 12+ years ago. Very little going on with this cigar. I forgot this cigar a day after I smoked it. Nothing memorable. Would not recommend.
John: The E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play started out with medium-full flavor combinations of creamy tobacco, spices, pepper, earth and leather. The second third settled into a pleasant but less complex combination of flavors as much of the spice fell away. The last third was mostly wood driven. The burn performance was amazing, and the draw had a mild amount of resistance to it. All in all, it was an enjoyable cigar to smoke, but the second and last thirds didn’t have enough complexity to elevate the overall flavor experience to much more than just above average. Total smoking time was a generous 1 hour and 58 minutes.
Jiunn: I was excited to hear about a Short Run Connecticut Broadleaf version. But the thing with broadleaf is, most of the ones in the market fall short. In the case of the E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play, it does fall short. It’s on the wrong side of what a broadleaf should be (dank in earth and chocolate forward). This was sharp in harsh, burnt cedar and minerals. This is a pass for me.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.85

Cost/Point

$1.45

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.25

Cost/Point

$1.62

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.95

Cost/Point

$1.43

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

5.50

Cost/Point

$1.55

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: E.P. Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022 Maduro Short Play