Perdomo cigars have a rich history in the tobacco and cigar industry, going back to San Jose de las Lajas, Cuba during the pre-revolution era. Silvio Perdomo, the first of the family, worked with both H. Upmann and Partagas, two well known and widely successful cigar makers. After the Cuban Revolution Silvio was imprisoned for years, but would eventually be released. He would finally settle in Miami, FL, where his family would start Tabacalera Perdomo. Perdomo has since become well known for master craftsmanship, blending, and a quality product in every line they’ve produced. The cigar I’m reviewing today is a Champagne Noir in a robusto size. The entire cigar is made with Nicaraguan tobacco, and the binder and filler blending is the same that can be found in the 10th Anniversary Champagne cigars. The key difference between the two is the dark Cuban seed Nicaraguan maduro wrapper that’s triple fermented for at least 14 months. It sounds as though the cigar has quite a reputation to live up to.
The cigar is wrapped in a dark, almost black, maduro leaf. The wrapper is so dark that I can barely see the small veins in the leaf. There’s an oily sheen that’s clearly visible in the sunlight, and gives a smooth appearance. The wrapper has a texture of velvet or crushed felt, and is very pleasing. The cigar is densely packed, and offers no soft spots. Bringing the cigar up to my nose I pick up sweet earthy tones, floral notes, and a slight hint of sweet herbs. All in all, it’s a very pleasing cigar to every sense, and shows quite a bit of promise. I toast the foot easily with my torch lighter and cut the cap with my Xikar to get my first impression of the cigar. The draw has some resistance without being tight, and brings forward plumes of thick dense smoke that’s medium in body. I pick up notes of wood at the front, leading into a blend of espresso and cocoa that starts off bittersweet and finishes with a sweet earthy tone, and retrohales bring sharp red and black pepper to the nose. The flavors are sharp and bold, with clear shifts from one to the other. The clear cut flavors complement one another well, with smooth transitions and breaks, avoiding any clashing of flavors. What I like most with this cigar is the sweet earthy tone that the entire flavor profile holds from the maduro leaf, which adds a nice sweetness to everything.
The flavors don’t change too much as the cigar progresses. The flavor profile remains fairly consistent, starting with wood that leads into the core flavors of espresso and cocoa. The finish remains sweet and earthy, and only changes towards the last third of the cigar. At that point a nice caramel note picks up and mixes in to add to the sweetness. The pepper builds up until the halfway point, and then starts to tone down gradually. Really the only notable changes in the flavors are that they build and mellow. Now some would complain about the lack of changes and claim it to be boring. To that I would like to point out that the flavors were put together well, presented boldly, and allowed for subtle changes in the profile. It wasn’t boring to me, and served well as the first cigar of the day.
Overall I’m quite pleased with this cigar. The presentation of the cigar is quite nice, with a wonderful dark wrapper and a band that adds to the attractive looks. The cigar burned slowly and evenly, and produced cool smooth smoke. The slow burn helped the cigar last me roughly two hours, which was great because the flavors were very enjoyable. Add all that together with a very good price at $5.65 and you have yourself a real winner. I’d also like to point out that this isn’t an online price that doesn’t factor in shipping; this is the price from a good tobacconist. I’d gladly buy more of these cigars at that price, and would highly suggest that you go find one to try yourself as well.
I’d like to give a special thanks to Eddie of Tobacco Country USA again for providing me with this cigar to review. As always, he has given me a great cigar and I highly suggest anyone in the Jacksonville, NC area to check out his stores.
