Perez-Carrillo La Historia Doña Elena Review

2026-09-14  Not Even Free · 1/4 My Money · by Eric

Filed under: Burn Issues · Cigar Bands · Dominican Republic · Ecuador · Mexico · Nicaragua · The Ash · Retrohale · San Andrés

Verdict: The Perez-Carrillo La Historia Doña Elena is a Not Even Free (1/4) at about $12.50 street... a great draw and plenty of smoke wrapped around black pepper, leather and earth that turned into a mouthful of pennies and dirt, and I put it down early. The good moments were real, a cappuccino here, a flash of something like raspberry there, but they lasted a puff each, and the rest of the hour was a wavy burn, a flaky ash, and a flavor lane that isn't mine.

Brand

Perez-Carrillo (Casa Carrillo)

Line

La Historia

Vitola

Doña Elena (Toro)

Size

6 1/8 x 50

Wrapper

Mexican San Andrés

Binder

Ecuadorian Sumatra

Filler

Nicaraguan, Dominican

Made in

Dominican Republic

Factory

Tabacalera La Alianza

Street price

$12.50

La Historia is the line E.P. Carrillo built as a tribute to his family, and this size, the Doña Elena, is named for his grandmother. It's a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder with Nicaraguan and Dominican filler, rolled at the family's Tabacalera La Alianza factory in the Dominican Republic. The company renamed itself Casa Carrillo in 2025, so you'll see either name on the box. This is the third Perez-Carrillo cigar reviewed here in three weeks, after the La Historia Silk and the Pledge Prequel.

The Setup

• Cigar: Perez-Carrillo La Historia Doña Elena (6 1/8 x 50), Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, Nicaraguan and Dominican filler. Tabacalera La Alianza, Dominican Republic
• Street price: about $12.50 a single online. Atlantic had singles at $11.88 and Neptune at $13 the night I checked; Cigars International only sells it by the five-pack and box, which works out to $13 to $13.80 a stick, and Famous was out of stock
• What I paid: a five-pack off a CigarBid auction, my own money. I didn't write the price down and couldn't find the order, so no exact number
• Storage: the Herf coolidor at 69% RH, somewhere around nine months to a year of rest
• When/where: lit around 8:10pm on the upper deck. 74°, feels like 74, 74% humidity, no wind at all. A nice break from the heat we've had, about as good as smoking weather gets
• Food beforehand: grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli, some Fritos after that, then a few water crackers to clear the palate, about 45 minutes before the light
• First cigar of the day, paired with water. Cut with the Xikar XO, straight cut, no issues with the cut

Light Up and First Third

The wrapper is dark and almost wrinkly, with a tight ribbon foot band and, I think, a double cap. The foot band did not want to come off. It left some fibers behind on the foot, but it did its job and kept the foot in good shape.

First draws: a really good draw, sweet tobacco, and a slight tingle on the nose when I retrohaled it. Then the first real layer showed up. A single draw was spice, a little chocolate, some nuttiness, leather, and a little coffee. A double draw dropped the chocolate and the nuttiness and gave me spice, leather, and coffee. Not a bad start.

It didn't hold. The draw stayed really good, but the wrapper started cracking down by the burn line, and there were three odd little holes in the front of the cigar early on that I couldn't explain. The burn went wavy and rotating it didn't make any difference. Flavor through the first third settled into mostly black pepper and leather with some earth, and it wasn't enjoyable. The retrohale was black pepper and nothing else.

The ash was ugly, crooked, and kind of cracking and flaky. When I ashed it at the end of the first third, you could see what was going on: the ligero was clearly sitting to one side, that side was burning slow, and the other side was burning quicker with a hole running through it. I touched it up after ashing.

Second Third

The start of the second third opened up a little. A single draw had a dustiness to it along with nuttiness, leather, and a little earth still hanging on. The retrohale was black pepper, and then on a long finish a little leather came in behind it. A quarter inch in, the burn was already wavy again.

Midway through the third was the best this cigar got. The profile turned into a nutty, creamy thing with leather and coffee, and the earth was gone. A couple of times in this stretch I got a hit of chocolate, and once, for a second, something almost like raspberry. It was surprising and it was fleeting. I got the raspberry exactly once and the chocolate a few times, and in between it was mostly black pepper, leather, and earth. Not my lane at all. The draw was still good, and smoke production had been good the whole way.

The secondary band came off completely clean here, gently glued to itself and nothing else.

I wasn't quite to the end of the second third when I decided to ash it, because the ash was flaky and crooked and I didn't want it in my lap. The draw I took right before that was all black pepper, leather, and earth, and I never got to retrohale it, because the ash got all over me first. It bounced off my shirt, landed on the deck, and pretty much crumbled everywhere. Looking at what was left, the cigar tells its own story: a hole in the center, a couple of holes in the center actually.

Right after that ash, it was not good again: like a mouthful of pennies and dirt that somebody happened to sprinkle some black pepper on. That was at 8:44pm, on about as perfect a night for a cigar as you get, and I was wishing I'd picked a better one.

Final Third

Breaking into the final third with a quarter inch of ash since the last one fell. The retrohale had changed a little: the black pepper was milder, and leather and coffee were the main tones through the nose.

Then the cigar did the strangest thing it did all night. One retrohale gave me a light cappuccino, and in about half a second it switched over to a very dark espresso and leather. Light cappuccino to super dark espresso, that fast. I don't understand it. A little later I got the espresso again with a hint of that raspberry for a fraction of a second, and then it was gone. I know raspberry sounds ridiculous in a cigar, and I'm not trying to talk this thing up. That's what I got, for a moment. If the cappuccino or the raspberry had been there consistently, this would have been a completely different experience.

The primary band came off glued lightly to itself and only itself, no issues, and the wrapper underneath was fine.

The next draw was burned oak and earth, those two and nothing else. Three separate puffs in order, over a minute and a half or so: cappuccino, raspberry, burned oak. The draw after that was earth and leather with some black pepper, so the burned oak didn't stick around either. The only things consistent in this cigar were black pepper, earth, and leather.

I got three quarters of an inch of ash on it, flaky, and ashed it on purpose this time. The draw right after was wet leaves and a heavy minerality with earth. Not quite the mouthful of pennies from the second third, but heavy.

That's where I put it down, with maybe a quarter to a half inch left to go. It was all earth at that point and I was done with it. About an hour from the light.

Construction

• Wrapper: dark, almost wrinkly, and I think a double cap. Cracking down by the burn line in the first third. Three small holes in the front early on, then a couple of holes straight through the center that showed themselves when the ash fell. The foot band fought coming off and left fibers on the foot, but the foot itself was fine
• Draw: really good from the first puff to the last. The best thing about this cigar
• Burn: wavy in the first third and rotating did nothing. One touch-up after the first ash, and it was wavy again a quarter inch into the second third. The ligero sat to one side and that side burned slow the whole way
• Ash: ugly, crooked, cracking, and flaky in every third. Fell on me before the end of the second third, bounced onto the deck, and crumbled
• Smoke output: good the whole way through. The other thing this cigar did right
• Band: the secondary band and the main band both came off completely clean, glued only to themselves. Wrapper under the main band was good

Bottom Line

Two things went right, the draw and the smoke output, and they were good enough that I noticed. Everything else went wrong. The wrapper cracked at the burn line inside the first few minutes, the burn was wavy from the first third to the last and never responded to rotating, the ash was flaky and crooked in every third and ended up on my shirt, and when it fell the cigar showed a couple of holes running through its core. That's the construction.

The flavor was the bigger problem, because the construction I could have forgiven. The consistent notes were black pepper, leather, and earth, which is not a lane I enjoy, and at its worst, right after that second-third ash, it was a mouthful of pennies and dirt. The frustrating part is that the good moments were real. The creamy, nutty stretch midway through the second third, the cappuccino on one retrohale, the flash of raspberry twice. Each one lasted a puff and then the cigar went right back to earth and pepper. A cigar that shows you what it could be and then refuses to be it is harder to sit through than one that's just flat.

Would I smoke it again? Not Even Free. I wouldn't smoke this one if someone handed it to me. I'd say thanks and pass. It doesn't matter what it costs, and it doesn't matter what I paid, because the answer to the one question I ask is no. The rest of the five-pack is going to someone who likes this profile.

On the brand: I'm not sure I'll be buying more Perez-Carrillo after this. I don't like writing off a brand as a whole, but when the experiences are consistently bad, I also don't like wasting money. The La Historia Silk landed a Hand-Me-One here two weeks ago on a wrapper that cracked everywhere, the Pledge Prequel landed a Hand-Me-One last week after a rough first third, and this one is a 1. I still have some Allegiance from 2025 and a couple of others of theirs in the humidor, so the brand gets more chances whether I like it or not.

Best for: someone who lives in the black pepper, leather, and earth lane and doesn't mind managing a burn. If that's you, the draw and the smoke will treat you well. If you're chasing sweetness or cream, this isn't it, and the moments where it is aren't long enough to count.

My scale, one question only... would I spend my own money on this again? 4 Box Buy (box on hand, always) / 3 Five-Pack (yes, a few live in the humidor) / 2 Hand-Me-One (wouldn't buy it, wouldn't turn one down) / 1 Not Even Free (I'd rather smoke nothing).

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