Thursday evening I went down to Cigar Mojo in King Of Prussia, PA to their Perdomo event. I have not smoked a lot of Perdomo cigars for whatever reason. I may have been turned off to them back in the late ’90s. I’m making a concerted effort to correct this oversight. Perdomo’s sales rep, Joe Winder, was on hand and the place was quite impressively packed for a Thursday evening. Since I’m largely unfamiliar with the line, except for the Lot 23 and a Champagne that I didn’t really care for much a while back, Joe ran through the line with me and a couple other customers. I selected the 20th Anniversary Maduro in the 6½x48 size (which is apparent;y a new size that was the brainchild of Nick Perdomo’s son) a couple Lot 23 Maduro Toros and a 20th Anniversary Sungrown. I lit up the 20th Anniversary Maduro and sat down with Vince, Graham and Steve from The Cigar Lounger Magazine to catch up, after having chatted with Chris (@theLazySmoker), who I seem to run into there more times than not! The 20th Anniversary was an awesome cigar. It was on the high side of medium bodied with good, rich cocoa flavor. I fell in love with this cigar and it made me wonder why I wasn’t sampling more from the Perdomo line. It’s always entertaining hanging out with The Cigar Lounger guys, since meeting them last year, and hanging out with them at the IPCPR show and a few other times, I think I can say they are friends. If you haven’t seen the magazine, check it out, it’s really slick. It’s available as an App for Android or iOS or you can read it on TheCigarLounger.com. I was to find out that they have decided to discontinue their radio show, which I was listening to in podcast form, so I guess I need to find something to fill the 
gap. After finishing the 20th, I lit up the Lot 23 Maduro Toro. I was half expecting this to be just something to smoke while hanging out. This is another really nice smoke, and the price wasn’t too hard on the wallet. it was a nice, rich, creamy smoke, and I liked it. It’s always fun going to an event at a local shop and hanging out with folks who enjoy a cigar, it’s even better when you hang out with folks who are as passionate about them as we are. Robyn from Villiger Cigars even stopped in. Cigar Mojo continues to impress me also. The space is beautiful, and Wade is an attentive host, and our local CRA ambassador, Alan Price, is a more than capable counter-man. Unfortunately, his son and business partner, Trae, was off with his wife expecting their first child (Congrats again on the birth of James Wade!). It’s always nice stopping in that shop.
Friday I dug out a Perdomo Champagne Noir Robusto for my evening walk. After a less than happy experience with the Connecticut Shade Champagne, I was hoping for the best. The Maduro Noir was much more to my liking. Sweet cocoa and coffee were the predominant flavors in this Nicaraguan Puro. I like the chubby 5″ x 54 size too. It was bitterly cold out, and I didn’t really mind too much because the cigar was so good. I’ve got another cigar around someplace that I thought was just a 10th Anniversary Maduro, without the “Champagne Nior” distinction. I’ll have to look for it in the humidors, I recall like it a great deal too. This cigar is another keeper!
Saturday evening I grabbed the Sungrown version of the Perdomo 20th Anniversary in the same chubby robusto size as the Champagne Noir. This is a really pretty cigar, and after enjoying the Maduro version so much I was quite hopeful that I’d have another positive experience. As I did with the previous three cigars, I gave this a V-cut and the draw was perfect. I can say that all four of these cigars were perfectly constructed, once I lit it, I rarely gave it another thought. I may have touched up one of the two I smoked at the lounge as I was talking more than I was smoking, but they all performed well. Kudos to the folks at Perdomo for making high quality cigars at a fair price. I enjoyed the hell out of the Sungrown, maybe not as much as the Maduro, but enjoyed it none the less. It had a really nice flavor, and I’ll be revisiting this in the future for sure, along with the previous three. Quite nice. Thanks to Joe Winder from Perdomo and Wade (Trae and Alan too!) at Cigar Mojo for making Perdomo believer out of me. As a side note, I stopped back in the shop Saturday to offer congrats again and spent a nice 45 minutes with an Illusione Rothschild and Alan, who’s off to Honduras today (travel safely!). That’s another great little smoke for a very reasonable price.
That’s it for today, until tomorrow,
CigarCraig
Thanks for the mention Craig! Always great seeing you out and about.
I agree with your Noir description. A sweeter taste with a better mouth feel than the connie wrapped Champagne. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I was lucky enough to attend a event at the Yuengling Brewery in Tampa a few years back hosted by the Perdomo family. I was able to purchase the Grand Cru 2004 crop. What a great cigar. Nick also signed my box and made my first cigar event memorable.
Hmm, I like the Connecticut Champagne for a morning smoke, and have also enjoyed the 10th Anniversary Maduro, but I’m really a sucker for the little Reserve Limited Cameroon Edition.
I had the pleasure of being able to get a full box of 6×60 Lot 23’s a couple years ago. My father and I got to enjoy them for a couple months. One of my best memories of my father. A great cigar and I’d love to be able to get another box someday.
I’ve just about gone through a box of Lot 23’s, have a box of the 20th Maduro and a box of the ESV, which are all great cigars. Nice to hear you like them as well!
Big fan of Perdomo’s here and when a new smoker comes in I almost always point them to the Lot 23’s, Haven’t had a complaint yet.
I personally liked the Sungrown 20th Anni over the Maduro and I am pretty much a Maduro whore…..glad you enjoyed them Craig.
You are right on the money about the Lot23, great cigars for the price. Have only had one other Perdomo for some reason but will plan on making an effort to smoke some more.
I’ve always like the Perdomo’s I’ve had and looks like there’s a couple of more I need to put on my list. Thanks.
I have had a lot of luck with Perdomo sticks I have really enjoyed nearly all the ones I smoked.. that being said.. not sure the last time I actually smoked one.. .time to change that