E.P. Carrillo Launches Endure, Wrapped With Meerapfel Cameroon Leaf
Cameroon wrapper is a prized leaf, one that’s used far less often than it was years ago. Ernesto Perez-Carrillo turned to Cameroon for his newest smoke, E.P. Carrillo Endure. It’s the first brand of his to be made with Cameroon since the 1970s, when he was working with his father.
“In the ’70s [Cameroon] was one of the few wrappers everyone had access to in Miami so my father used it for a few years until he started using Sumatra,” Perez-Carrillo tells Cigar Aficionado.
Aside from the wrapper, Endure is entirely Nicaraguan. The filler leaves include ligero from Jalapa and Condega. It has two binders, one Habano, the other Criollo ’98, both grown in Nicaragua.
The Cameroon wrapper is grown by the Meerapfel family, which has been involved in the trading and cultivation of tobacco since 1610, and a company that has a longstanding history of growing world-class wrapper in Africa.
The Meerapfels saved Cameroon from extinction. In the 1990s, Rick Meerapfel was instrumental in keeping the leaf alive in the difficult environment of Western Africa. Unlike most tobacco-growing countries, Cameroon has enormous challenges: the tobacco is farmed in the middle of a rain forest, with panthers, lions, elephants and snakes.
“It’s very challenging,” Jeremiah Meerapfel said in a video with Cigar Aficionado’s David Savona. “Micro farms, thousands of them scattered around rain forest. You have no access, you have no irrigation, you have no electricity, you have uniquely mother nature to deal with. You need to be very, very patient and very resilient.”
The announcement of this release was timed to honor the ing of Rick Meerapfel, who died on November 28, 2003. He prevented Cameroon tobacco from vanishing by rebuilding the industry after the French, who subsidized the majority of Cameroon crops, pulled out of the country.
Initially, Endure will be available in two sizes, Robusto and Toro, selling for $18 and $20 each, respectively. A Corona Gordo size is planned for a future release. The first two sizes are expected to ship in late January. Endure will become the first cigar in the Perez-Carrillo Premier Collection.
