Ernie Carillo's reintroduction of El Rico Habano has become one of my favorite cigars. It's full bodied, complex, and well constructed. The new version, which was introduced in the past year, comes without cello, irrespective of size. As many of you know, Ernie struggled for years trying to get his blend back on track after producing several versions of ERH that were just awful, and were frequently closed out at bargain prices. Currently there are three or four versions of ERH floating around. Two have received rave reviews; the others, panned unmercifully. If you have ERH that have two stripes on the band, you have beautifully aged (3+years) cigars in Carillo's original blend. If you have boxed uncelloed ERH, you have the wonderful new blend. But...if you're buying celloed, red banded ERH, you may have acquired cigars that are not representative of the fine cigars Senor Carillo is currently making. Most of the celloed ERH currently on the market are not of superior quality. They were produced during the boom and are being liquidated. If you've smoked an ERH that came with cello, and thought, "Yech...terrible" try one of the new ones. They are cigars that are miles apart.
