I absolutely love this time of year. As I type this I am less than 24 hours away from the Jaguars first pre-season home game of 2014. And if that were not enough, my beloved Florida State Seminoles are just 23 days away from beginning their title defense when they play Oklahoma State. But it isn’t just the renewed action on the grid iron that makes me happy, it’s all the new cigars that are on their way to our humidors.

With IPCPR just a few weeks behind us, we now turn our attention to all the new items that we ordered. One of them that I am especially excited about is the E.P. Carrillo Inch Corojo 99. It wasn’t long ago that we introduced our guests to the wonderful world of Ernesto Perez-Carrillo cigars. Two of our best sellers of his cigars are his Inch offerings. We carry both the Natural and Maduro, so when he offered a new Corojo 99 version we had to jump on it.

The Corojo 99 is a solid medium strength cigar with lots of wonderful flavors. There are heavy notes of wood and leather in the beginning and a mild sweetness that lingers throughout. The cigar is well-constructed and it starts with a gorgeous Dominican Corojo 06 wrapper. The binder leaf is a Nicaraguan Corojo 99, while the filler is a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican tobaccos. There is not a lot of big pepper spice in this stick, so I suspect not a lot of Esteli in the filler blend. Most of the spice I get out of the cigar is on the sweeter side—consisting mostly of nutmeg and maybe a little cinnamon.

I don’t think there is anyone in the world who makes big ring gauge cigars any better than Ernesto. He really has it dialed in with that format. He is quite often referred to as the godfather of boutique blends, and I guess you can add godfather of big sticks as well.

I know this cigar will be very popular and I recommend it to smokers of all different experience levels. Whether you enjoy it before or after a meal, this cigar will not disappoint. I also endorse this big fella as a perfect addition to your golf bag humidor. It’s sturdy enough to hold up on the course and has enough flavor to aid you in lining up those five foot birdie putts. Well, in my case, those five foot bogie putts—but that is another story for another day.

So look for the Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Inch Corojo 99 at an ABC Fine Wine & Spirits near you. I guarantee you will enjoy smoking it more than watching me play golf.

Long Ashes,

Chris Gwaltney, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits North Florida regional manager, Certified Tobacconist and Cicerone Beer Server

Follow me on Twitter @abccigarchris.