El Credito - El Perrito

Quick Smoke When You're Broke - $2.50 cigar
The El Perrito isn't the prettiest looking thing; but its rugged look gives it some character.  There isn't a lot of informationon this cigar and E.P. Carillo has got a value line called El Credito, so you can imagine research on this cigar wasn't too easy. This little value cigar is actually made by La Gloria Cubana, so it can't be complete shit.
Stats:
Size - 5 1/2" X 38 Ring
Wrapper - Ecuadorian (definitely not a shade wrapper- too dark)
Binder- Conn. Broadleaf
Filer- Dominican, Nicaraguan
Cost- $2.50

I smoked this cigar with low expectations and had already been told by my buddies at the shop that it was garbage.  I had actually taken a puff off of a friends when he was ready to trash it because of how horrible he thought it was.  I clipped a bit off the end to give me a fresh mouth-piece, and took a drag. It just tasted harsh and I tossed it in the ash-tray as I was in the middle of somking another cigar. 
However, my local shop's owner gave me a free one the other day, and I figured I'd give it a chance and a review as I know folks are always interested in high-value, low-price smokes.  


Smoking it:
The cigar took about 25-30 minutes to smoke, and I gotta say it was ten times better then I expected it to be. These cigars come in boxes of 50 and look like the roller that rolled them had just learned to craft a cigar.  The cigar isn't finished with a cap, so I just lit it and started smoking.  I could taste some a little punch to the smoke, but the draw wasn't worth a damn, so I clipped off a bit and went back to smoking.

The first few puffs are unremarkable, but not as harsh as I had thought it was, based on my one puff from a friends sample.  Surprisingly, once the cigar is lit and about an inch in the smoke gets a little creamy and there is a lot of flavor.  I'm not saying its delicious, it is a tad harsh, but it is pretty good.  I taste mostly earthy flavors and spice, but the retrohale and resting smoke are creamy with a little sweetness.

So to sum it up, the first inch or so is too harsh.  Once the cigar gets going its actually pretty good.  I won't over do it on the flavor description, but its a little creamy with a lot of spice and earthiness.  The final third of the cigar is a little to harsh and starts to get bitter.
The cigar burned nicely and required no touch ups.  I spent most of the smoke, amazed at how good this ugly duckling ended up being.  I'm not predicting a Cigar Aficianado's Top 25 of 2011, but I've spent $10 on worse cigars, so I can't hate on this little fella.  At $2.50, this is a great cigar.  At $7, I would have felt a little wripped off; but honestly it was a decent smoking experience.  I will smoke this cigar again.