Today, we are reviewing the Perez-Carrillo Pledge Purple from Casa Carrillo. Since its launch with La Historia in 2013, the Perez-Carrillo line has become the company’s most premium and successful offering. This line was created to honor family and the people who surround it.
The Perez-Carrillo Pledge is the third installment under this line and was named based on feedback from consumers who visited the E.P. Carrillo booth at Cigar Aficionado’s 2019 Big Smoke Las Vegas event. E.P. Carrillo describes the Pledge as a tribute to all cigar smokers. The Pledge Purple was released in 2026 and marks the first extension of the Pledge line.
The Pledge line centers on a Connecticut-grown Havana wrapper. Master Blender Ernesto Pérez-Carrillo Jr. has previously used this wrapper in some of his releases for Crowned Heads, including Four Kicks Maduro and Mule Kick LE 2018. It is also featured in E.P. Carrillo’s Original Rebel Rebellious and the TAA Exclusive 2018 cigars. Additionally, Pledge Purple uses the same wrapper.
Notably, Pledge Purple is part of the Premier Collection. This designation is reserved for cigars that are more premium and limited within the Pérez-Carrillo portfolio.
Without further ado, let’s break down the Pledge Purple and see what this cigar brings to the table.
SPECIFICATIONS
Blend and Origin
The Pledge Purple uses the same Connecticut Havana wrapper that is found on the original Pledge Cigar, but it has been aged an extra five years. Dunn & Foster grows this wrapper in Connecticut. Underneath, the Pledge Purple is a different blend than the original Pledge. It uses a Mexican binder and all Nicaraguan fillers from Condega, Estelí, and Ometepe.
- Wrapper: Connecticut Havana
- Binder: Mexican
- Filler: Nicaraguan (Condega, Estelí, and Ometepe)
- Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
- Factory: Casa Carrillo
Vitolas Available
Pledge Purple comes in one size – a 6 x 54 Toro. A total of 3,500 ten-count boxes have been initially produced. Multiple batches will be produced throughout the year, but as I understand it, tobacco availability will eventually affect this release.
Appearance
The Pledge Purple features a dark roasted espresso bean color. The wrapper shows some mottling and minimal oiliness. Visible veins appear on the wrapper, while the seams blend into the dark color, making them hard to notice. This cigar is box-pressed, resulting in a firmer shape with sharp edges, unlike the Cuban press style, which has slightly rounded edges.
PERFORMANCE
Pre-Light Draw
After removing the footer band of the Pledge Purple, a straight cut was used to remove the cap. After removing the cap, it was time to begin the pre-light draw. The cold draw delivered notes of coffee, dark chocolate, and licorice. Overall, this was a very good pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to toast up the footer of the Pledge Purple and see what the smoking experience would have in store.
Tasting Notes
The opening notes of the Pledge Purple picked up right where the pre-light draw left off. There were more notes of coffee, dark chocolate, and licorice. In addition, there were some earth notes. There wasn’t any dominant note during the early stages of the smoking experience. Eventually, the earth and coffee notes moved into the forefront; the dark chocolate and licorice settled in the background. Often, the chocolate and coffee-style flavors from tobacco form a fused “mocha”-like flavor. In this case, the notes remained separate and distinct. Meanwhile, there was a layer of white pepper on the retro-hale.
In the second third of the Pledge Purple, white pepper and mineral emerged in the background with the dark chocolate and licorice. Meanwhile, the coffee and earth notes remained primary. There was a gradual diminishing of the chocolate notes, where they were dissipated by the second half of the cigar. Meanwhile, the coffee notes diminished as well, falling into the background. By the second half, the earth notes were primary, with the pepper, mineral, coffee, and licorice notes secondary.
The final third saw the mineral notes join the earth. Meanwhile, the pepper, licorice, and coffee notes remained secondary. The secondary notes rounded out the flavor profile with (not overwhelming) spice and sweetness. This is where the Pledge Purple came to a close. The resulting nub was slightly soft to the touch and cool in temperature.
Burn
While the Pledge Purple maintained a straight burn path and a relatively straight burn line, it required frequent touch-ups. The touchups did the trick, but I needed more touchups than I preferred. The resulting ash wasn’t overly firm. The ash was silver-gray. Meanwhile, the burn rate and burn temperature. were both ideal.
Draw
The Pledge Purple had an open draw. It wasn’t a loose draw, but as many know, I prefer a little resistance on this draw. The draw wasn’t problematic, but this was more of a personal preference in my book.
Strength and Body
Overall, the Pledge Purple delivered a medium strength, medium-bodied smoking experience from start to finish. There wasn’t much variance in the intensity levels. I could even make the argument that the strength and body were slightly higher at the start of the cigar before leveling off. At the same time, both the strength and body balanced each other, with neither attribute overpowering the other.
BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)
I wasn’t sure what Purple meant for this release, but Casa Carrillo did a great job using it on the band. This might be the toughest color to pull off on a cigar’s packaging, and Casa Carrillo gets high praise here.
There are three bands. The primary band is a classic Perez-Carrillo band featuring the color purple. The primary band features the Perez and Carrillo family shields and women representing past and current generations of the family on each side. The secondary band also uses purple and represents the cigar name (Purple). A footer band identifies Dunn & Foster Farm as the supplier of the wrapper (a similar approach was used on the other Premier Collection release, Endure, to identify the Meerapel family). The footer band is gold with purple trim and contrasts the other two bands.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
Final Thoughts
I have to say, while I didn’t quite grasp the “Purple” angle, I believe this is Casa Carrillo’s most logical extension of the Perez-Carrillo series. I’ve struggled to connect the Encore and La Historia offshoots to the original, but with the Pledge, it’s clear. It’s simply an extra-aged version of the same wrapper.
As for the cigar itself, things started out nicely in the first third, then got more mundane throughout the second third. By the second half, this was a very earth and mineral-forward cigar, and I was having trouble keeping interest. The cigar itself earns a respectable 88 points, but the $18.00 price point didn’t make this an automatic buy for me. As a result, I recommend trying a sample of first.
Summary
- Key Flavors: Coffee, Earth, Mineral, Dark Chocolate, Pepper
- Burn: Very Good
- Draw: Very Good
- Complexity: Medium Minus
- Strength: Medium
- Body: Medium
- Finish: Very Good
Rating
Value: Try a Sample
Score: 88
REFERENCES
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
(*) Indicates this is not factored into the score or value rating.
