Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro Staff Review
I’m smoking a brand-new cigar, Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro, in a 6-by-54 Epicure. Brand owner Nick Perdomo blended his new 30th Anniversary series to celebrate his company’s third decade in business. Like most lines in the Perdomo portfolio, the 30th Anniversary comes in three wrapper options: Connecticut, Sun Grown, and the Maduro I’m smoking today.
I like darker cigars in general, but I especially enjoy a good Maduro during the colder months. A hearty Maduro wrapper offers more stability if I’m smoking in cold weather, and Nick finishes his Maduro cigars with a thick Nicaraguan wrapper leaf that he grows on his own farms. For the Perdomo 30th Anniversary blend, he chose a fifteen-year-old Cuban-seed wrapper and aged it in a bourbon barrel to create more sweetness. Underneath is a complex marriage of premium Nicaraguan long-filler tobaccos, also grown on Perdomo family estates.
When I open a fresh box, a gorgeous row of oily Epicures gets my attention with their shiny, oversized cigar bands and the toothy, dark-brown color of the wrappers. Once I slide the cellophane off, powerful aromas of cedar, pepper, and dried fruit fill my nostrils when I sniff the foot of an Epicure. After clipping the cap, the cold draw reveals delicious notes of milk chocolate, cayenne, and maple syrup with hints of charred oak.
Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro deserves your patience. Nick aged the tobaccos for so long, I don’t mind taking my time to toast the foot slowly with a cedar spill to ensure I preserve the cigar’s natural taste when I’m lighting it. Once the binder, filler, and wrapper tobaccos are burning at an even pace, the cigar’s woody flavor flares up. Notes of dark-roast espresso bean mingle with a noticeable current of leather, anise, and black pepper.
The Epicure burns like a champ. I’ve come to expect perfection in Nick’s cigars due to his ultra-high quality control standards. And you can bet Nick’s obsession with blending the 30th Anniversary series reflects pure flawlessness, as this line currently sits at the top of the Perdomo brand hierarchy. Tasting notes of dark chocolate and espresso dominate the middle of the cigar. After thirty-five minutes, the retrohale offers impressions of oak and cedar with a slightly floral aroma and hints of maple in the aftertaste.
When the band is off and I’m indulging in the nub, Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro subtly shifts into a sweet and peppery profile. Because Nick blended the cigar with extra-mature tobaccos, don’t expect sudden shifts of flavor or strength. Older tobaccos develop gradually and smoothly most of the time. The 30th Maduro is an accessible example of superior blending.
The nub of the Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro is spectacular. The cigar expires after sixty-plus minutes, but its sweet and spicy aftertaste lingers on my palate like a chocolate brownie. Pair it with a vintage cognac or bourbon before any other spirits. I’m rating it 91 points and recommend you order Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro if you’re looking for one of the best Nicaraguan cigars to add to your humidor this season.
