Casa Carrillo (E.P. Carrillo)

Casa Carrillo is the current parent identity of the family business long known as EPC Cigar Co. and E.P. Carrillo Cigar Co. Founded in 2009 by master blender Ernesto Perez-Carrillo with his children Ernesto III and Lissette, the company links a four-generation Cuban and Miami tobacco story to a modern manufacturing operation in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

In 2025, the business adopted Casa Carrillo as its unified company name after renaming its Dominican factory in 2024. The E.P. Carrillo name remains visible within the portfolio, so a useful manufacturer hub must explain the distinction: Casa Carrillo is the company and house of brands; Perez-Carrillo, the Essence Series and INCH are principal portfolio identities.

Cuban Roots and the El Credito Legacy

The Perez-Carrillo family's modern cigar story begins in Cuba. Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Sr. purchased the El Credito factory in Havana in 1948 after years in the tobacco trade. Political upheaval and the Cuban Revolution forced the family to leave for Miami in 1959, and the Cuban government confiscated the family's property.

After rebuilding in the United States, Ernesto Sr. acquired a small Little Havana factory in 1968 and again used the El Credito name. His son Ernesto Jr. initially pursued music and jazz drumming, but returned to Miami and committed himself to cigar making when his father considered selling the factory in the 1970s.

La Gloria Cubana and the Cigar-Boom Breakthrough

Ernesto Perez-Carrillo took control of El Credito after his father's death in 1980. He developed the American-market La Gloria Cubana brand, which moved from local recognition to national demand after strong ratings in 1992. Its success made Carrillo one of the defining boutique cigar makers of the 1990s and eventually required Dominican production as well as the Miami operation.

In 1999, Swedish Match acquired El Credito and the American La Gloria Cubana business. Ernesto remained with the operation through March 2009 under the Swedish Match and General Cigar structure. That history belongs on the Casa Carrillo company page, but La Gloria Cubana itself is no longer a Casa Carrillo-owned brand.

A Family Relaunch in 2009

Ernesto's children, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo III and Lissette Perez-Carrillo, encouraged him to begin again as an independent cigar maker. The family founded EPC Cigar Co. in 2009 and committed to a 40,000-square-foot standalone building in Santiago's Zona Franca in April of that year.

The factory was named Tabacalera La Alianza to reflect the family's collaboration. The E.P. Carrillo portfolio followed, and the company built a modern reputation around blends such as La Historia, Encore and Pledge while retaining the founder's personal role in tobacco selection and blending.

Casa Carrillo Factory and In-House Production

The Santiago factory handles fermentation, aging, sorting, rolling and packaging. Official company materials describe 12 rolling tables and training centered on Cuban-style construction and triple caps. The factory site reports annual production above four million cigars and distribution to more than 50 countries.

Most Casa Carrillo lines are produced at the Dominican factory, but the company also uses selected manufacturing partners. Allegiance, for example, is made by Oliva in Nicaragua. Product pages should therefore identify the actual factory and country for each cigar instead of treating the corporate name as a universal production location.

From E.P. Carrillo to Casa Carrillo

The Dominican factory changed its name from Tabacalera La Alianza to Casa Carrillo in 2024. In April 2025, the parent business followed, changing from E.P. Carrillo to Casa Carrillo so the Miami headquarters, Dominican factory and international organization would share one identity.

The rebrand did not erase the better-known search terms. Readers will continue to look for E.P. Carrillo cigars, EPC Cigar Co. and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. The manufacturer page should use all of those names naturally, explain the timeline once and make Casa Carrillo the canonical company entity.

Ownership, Leadership and Operating Structure

Casa Carrillo describes itself as a family-owned company. Ernesto Perez-Carrillo remains founder and master blender. His son Ernesto III and daughter Lissette are co-founders who participate in factory operations, global growth, creative direction, strategy and regulatory work.

Jorge Luis Fernandez Maique serves as general manager of the Casa Carrillo factory in Santiago. The company's U.S. headquarters is in Miami, while its main manufacturing home is in the Dominican Republic. This two-country operating structure should be stated clearly in search copy and structured data.

Pledge, Encore and La Historia

Pledge, Encore and La Historia form the best-known Perez-Carrillo sequence. La Historia presents the family story; Encore became Cigar Aficionado's 2018 Cigar of the Year; and Pledge Prequel received the same honor for 2020. Their lasting company-level value is the way they connect family narrative, the founder's blending identity and Dominican production.

Allegiance, Endure and the Expanding Perez-Carrillo Series

The Perez-Carrillo Series has expanded beyond the original trilogy through lines such as Allegiance, Endure and Ascend, plus extensions including Encore Black, La Historia Silk, Pledge Purple and Deep Blue. Allegiance also demonstrates the partner model because Oliva produces it in Nicaragua. Blend, country and factory details belong on each cigar page.

Essence Series

The Essence Series organizes approachable E.P. Carrillo-branded expressions around wrapper or origin identities such as Sumatra, Maduro, Honduras and Connecticut. For the manufacturer hub, the key point is that E.P. Carrillo remains an active product-facing name inside the larger Casa Carrillo house of brands.

INCH Series

INCH is the company's large-ring-gauge family, with Natural, Maduro and Nicaragua expressions. The name turns ring gauge - measured in sixty-fourths of an inch - into the organizing idea of the line. It also connects to Ernesto Perez-Carrillo's earlier role in popularizing larger formats.

Classics, Limited Releases and Collaborations

New Wave Connecticut anchors the current Classics category, while limited, anniversary and retailer-specific projects rotate through the portfolio. Casa Carrillo also performs selected contract and collaborative manufacturing. These programs support the company's factory identity but should not be presented as permanent owned brands without current verification.

Casa Carrillo in the Ashology Network

The Casa Carrillo page should be the parent hub for E.P. Carrillo, Perez-Carrillo and INCH searches. Each product page should preserve separate fields for company owner, brand family, factory and country of manufacture. That structure prevents the 2025 corporate rebrand from obscuring older product names or partner-made lines.

The company page should not receive a universal Ashology score. Company history, ownership, leadership, factory context and portfolio relationships belong here; tasting, construction, consistency, value and competition evidence remain attached to the individual cigar.