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El Perrito War of Flavors
June 7, 2011
Thomas Bender (TommyBB)
Editor-in-Chief
Innovative, creative, proactive are adjectives which aptly and clearly describe General Cigar Company’s recently created “Team La Gloria” aggregated upon the departure of El Credito’s founder Ernesto Perez Carillo a couple years ago. Last month, Team La Gloria debuted another new, interesting cigar, the El Perrito War of Flavors.
These are different, they look different. On first sight, they look a touch rough, they’re not all perfectly-formed parejos and there’s a good reason for this, it’s part of the novelty. According to the press release from Team La Gloria and General spokesperson Victoria McKee, it’s because they are “an innovative new cigar handcrafted entirely by hand and shaped without a cigar mold.” El Perrito (The Little Dog) is the brainchild of Robert Batista and Juan Almonte, the factory supervisors at the El Credito factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic. They “brought their concept for a small, powerhouse cigar to El Credito’s Michael Giannini (director of marketing) and Yuri Guillen (director of manufacturing). The supervisors came to Michael and Yuri, raving about how they made the cigars and describing the taste experience as a battle of flavors in the mouth”
Team La Gloria prides itself on its creative dynamic. Giannini affirms that anyone in the factory at El Credito can be proactive and bring forth new ideas, including the factory supervisors who brought this idea. “We’ve empowered all of our employees, from rollers and bunchers to supervisors, to bring forth ideas for new products.”
Indeed, the El Perrito War of Flavors is a very satisfying, flavorful cigar, with the shape, and smallish head producing a generous amount of smoke upon each, easy draw. “El Perrito cigars are shaped entirely by hand, using the index finger to achieve a torpedo-like head.” At 5½" x 38, this cigar has a nice burn, but can be enjoyed in thirty minutes or less making it an excellent choice for a lunchtime, extended break, or short commute in the car. It’s comprised of Nicaraguan and Dominican filler, bound with Connecticut Broadleaf and wrapped in Ecuadorian Habano leaf.
“Bundled and packed in a rustic wooden box which hints at the cigar’s humble beginnings. El Perrito War of Flavors is currently debuting at tobacco shops across the U.S. for a suggested retail price of just $2.50 per cigar, or for $125.00 for a 50-count, boxed bundle.”
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