Perdomo Event at Cigar Mojo, Perdomo Habano Maduro and Sungrown Cigars

Last night I paid a visit to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA where they were having a Perdomo event. When I pulled into the parking lot, which is reasonably large, I was lucky to find one vacant space, and lucky I have a small car!  The place was packed, I think the crowd was larger  for this event than any I’ve been to at this particular shop.  In attendance for the event were Nick Perdomo and his wife, Janine, Arthur Kemper and Joe Winder. This time of year in this part of Pennsylvania there are a lot of cigar people around due to this weekend’s Cigars International Cigarfest. I never had any interest in Cigarfest, 3000 people per day, lined up for a glimpse at their favorite cigar maker isn’t for me.  I’m sure it’s fun, just not my kind of fun.  I bought some Perdomo cigars upon arrival, I opted for some of the Habano series as opposed to the usual 20th Anniversary Maduros that I enjoy so much. I lit up a Perdomo Habano Maduro  Epicure (6″ x 54) and spent the next two hours hanging out, talking to the Perdomo folks and some of the attendees. The Habano series features wrappers that are aged in bourbon barrels, and the Maduro was a nice, medium bodied cigar with subtle flavors of cocoa and espresso, right up my alley. At one point, Nick told us some stories of event attendees going to great lengths to get his autograph or a picture with him, including sliding a magazine under a stall door.  Nick is very appreciative of his customers, and goes out of his way to greet everyone and thank them. It was quite an event, loads of great people and great cigars.

Tonight I selected a Perdomo Habano Sungrown Robusto (5″ x 54) that came in a sampler of the three versions (Maduro, Sungrown and Connecticut) from last year’s IPCPR show.  This was a really nice cigar, sharing the seco from  Condega,  viso from Jalapa and ligero from Esteli as the Maduro (and Connecticut), with a bit of a spice and an earthy flavor. It’s amazing the difference the wrapper makes. The Robusto burned perfectly, where the Maduro last night had a little bit of an uneven burn which required some touch-ups. I’m going to credit nine months in the humidor for the perfect burn and draw of the robusto, although another thing Nick mentioned last night was that they can draw test something like eighteen cigars per minute in the factory, and they draw test every cigar.  While the 20th Anniversary Maduro is on my “goto” list, these Habanos were very enjoyable, and the bands are really classy too (and they come off easily!). Nick showed me some pictures of the Pearl drums that are being made for him, and each shell features the Perdomo logo. They will be quite beautiful, right up there with my own 1966 Ludwig Holiday kit in Black Diamond Pearl :-).

That’s all for  now, until the next time,

Cigar Craig