Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro

Binder: Nicaraguan Viso (Aged 5 years), Seco (Aged 4 years)

Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero (Aged 6 years)

Size: 5 x 54 “Robusto”

Body: Medium

Price: $7.00

The Perdomo Bugatti , the newest from the Perdomo folks. It debuted at the 2012 IPCPR trade show. It comes in two separate wrappers, the Maduro being reviewed today, and the Ecuadorian Connecticut.

The cigar is a gorgeous site to behold. The dark wrapper glistens with oil. Construction is solid and the size of 5 x 54 makes it look like a fire cracker, albeit; a big one. It is offset by a beautiful band representing the car for which the cigar was named after. The whole presentation is very classy. Now Bugatti has some input on the cigar but I could not fine definitive information telling me exactly what that was. So let us harken back to Da Vinci and merely say that Bugatti was Perdomo’s Patron on this one.

There are only a few veins but what is there is pretty big. Seams are very tight. The cap is very well done. No info about a triple and it does not appear to be.

I do the sniff-o-rama and detect..guess what? Huge doses of cocoa. It is Nicaraguan at the core. I smell a delightful creaminess, espresso, and cinnamon.

I carefully V cut the stick and light up.

A blast of pepper. So far, so good. A blast of deep, dark cocoa and espresso. A natural sweetness. And stands at the gates of medium body immediately. Smoke spews like a chimney. I open the window in front of me to allow the smoke to air out and by doing so the cold air of a Wisconsin winter enters my dining room. There is no wind and the trees are still. Snow lay everywhere. OK. Enough of me pretending to be Walt Whitman.

The stick is delicious right away. I cannot wait for the second half when I feel the cigar will surprise me. Of course, I grab my Diet Coke for the chocolate soda experience. The chocolate syrup, the vanilla ice cream, and seltzer water make for a perfect 1950’s experience. An egg cream to you New Yorkers.

One of my friends on my Face Book cigar group, Cigar Freaks, showed a photo of this cigar and I had never heard of it. So I went to Atlantic Cigar and pushed the button on a 5 pack. Only rarely, will I buy a box of something foreign to me. I should have bought a box. So far, I think this would be a perfect cigar for your friend wanting a well-rounded experience with climbing the ladder to better cigars. The body is in check. And this cigar is the perfect representation of what a Nicaraguan cigar can do. And at the same time, totally pleasure an experienced smoker. I’ve been fortunate to have had my last several reviews been of Dominican based cigars. It was a really nice change. But now, my first Nic is pure pleasure as I get back in the saddle. Nicaraguan based cigars are the flavor of the month, so to speak. It is because of the aforementioned flavors. Who doesn’t like a chocolate soda? With jalapeno.

The cigar is dense and smokes slowly. This stick is friggin’ amazing. What a wonderful flavor bomb of a cigar. The creaminess should be showing in gale force very soon.

There are some faint baking spices at work here. Cinnamon and nutmeg. The spiciness actually tastes like a spoonful of nutmeg, which is very spicy in high doses. The cigar has a deep earthiness to it. It’s as if I can taste the soil the leaves grew in.

I approach the end of the first half and the stick stretches. It is well balanced. It is rich. Creaminess begins to show itself. It’s a Tootsie-Roll. The natural sweetness of the triple fermented maduro wrapper eggs on the cocoa and espresso.

The second half begins with the pepper waning. The espresso ramps up while the cocoa remains static. The balance of the cigar turns into a highly complex stick. The flavors generally become dynamic while being muted at the same time.

The last third is more of the same. While at first glance, it might be construed as a one trick pony typical of Nicaraguan cigars, this cigar is so rich and earthy due to it being heavily influenced by organic flavors….making it a truly enjoyable cigar.

I let the last couple of inches allow me “turn off my mind, relax and float down stream. “Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void
“It is shining, it is shining.” Yes. I am a big Beatle fan. I’m 63.

I once ran into Paul McCartney on Tottenham Court Rd where the old Fender Sound House was. The biggest guitar store in London. I was leaving and grabbed the glass door’s handle and he was on the other side pulling the handle in the opposite direction. I was stunned and couldn’t move. Finally, Mac spoke and asked if he could come in? I jerked my hand away from the door’s handle and he entered and as he passed, he said, “Thanks mate.” Wow. My hero. And I couldn’t utter two words that made sense. Damn it all.

I might add here that the cap is extremely well made. No loose tobacco and no loss of shape. Kudos.

As the last 2” wanes, there is a flavor explosion. The cocoa makes me smack my lips. The creaminess and coffee are doing a spin class together. The earthiness is so rich that it is hard to believe.

I highly recommend this cigar. The price point is right on target although if it were a couple bucks more per stick, it would still be worth it. Thank you to the marketing and sales people at Perdomo for making this a reasonably priced stick. Go get some.

And now for something completely different:

We were in Italy on our European tour. It was either 1974 or 1975. Don’t remember. Normally, we headlined the arenas; but we did a week with Deep Purple and they headlined and we supported. Got to know all of the guys and they were great.

Italy is beautiful in the summer. And management put us up in a gorgeous 5 star hotel. Again, don’t ask what city. Too much hash.

After the gig, both bands retreated to the hotel where they had laid out a huge spread for us. And we were famished. So we ate and drank and laughed until the wee hours.

Our singer, Sonja, suggested we go skinny dipping in the hotel’s huge pool. Of course it was off limits after 10pm, but we didn’t care…we were rock gods.

We climbed over the short fence and stripped down. There were 10 of us. The water was almost like bath water. We did our best to keep our voices down but to no avail.

Someone ratted us out and then the polizia showed up. Now this was the day of long hair being in fashion on men. The complaint was that a gaggle of naked women were swimming in the pool. So the polizia did not take their time arriving at the scene of the crime.

They were really pissed off when it turned out only one of us was a naked woman…although, after 30 minutes in the pool, there was significant shrinkage which did not help our claim to be males.

Italy has a very free society and nudity means nothing to them. No big deal.

Sonja talked to all the cops, naked, and before long, they left with a smile on their faces. She offered to give them all BJ’s but we stopped her. That was the last thing we needed. Or reported on.

So we got back to our rooms, dressed, and headed back to the ballroom where the food and drink was and kept at it until dawn.

Nice memory.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS