We always enjoy talking to Jose Blanco, this year at IPCPR 2017 we caught up with him in the EP Carrillo booth. He tells us Dusk and La Historia are flying off the shelves and the new Short Runs (Nicaragua and 2016) are selling well too. And despite lower attendance, EP Carrillo’s sales numbers are up for the year. The only thing new for the show was the reintroduction of the Elencos line, which should start hitting shelves around October. The Encore will also be released in the first quarter of 2018, and Jose says it’s probably the best cigar Ernesto has ever made.

Jose quickly touches on the FDA, telling us he’s more optimistic about the situation this year than he was last year. He thinks there’s a good chance that the coming process will wind up being easier on the boutique shops than initially anticipated.

And we had to ask about what sort of collaboration might be happening between Jose and Ernesto, and if we might be seeing something come to market in the future. Jose says we will be seeing something coming from the two in the future, beginning with an undisclosed blend for the European market.

If you’d like to meet Jose Blanco, you will no doubt have a chance. He tells us he expects to spend about 38 weeks in the next year on the road doing blending seminars and events.

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