Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 6.5 x 54 “Belicoso”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $8.50 MSRP
Number of Cigars Smoked Prior to Review: 1
Accompanying Libation: Water
Today we take a look at an old standby: the Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro.
BACKGROUND:
On the first day, Perdomo made the ESV 1991. It was popular but it moved into obscurity and the tobacco disappeared. Years later, a new crop was cultivated and Perdomo called it the 2002.
Readers have asked for everyday cigars to be reviewed and while $8.50 is not everyday pricing, auction sites have the cigars going for $3-$4 each. I got mine on the CI Clearance List. A 10 pack for $39.88. Also included in this sale are the Sungrown and the Natural for the same price for the pack of 10.
SIZES AND PRICING:
The cigar comes in four sizes if you buy them without going to the Clearance List.
Churchill 7 x 54 $8.00, Toro 6 x 54 $7.50, Robusto 5 x 54 $7.00, and Torpedo 6.5 x 54 $8.50. The belicoso is not shown. So maybe only that size is being closed out. The Churchill and Toro are sold out. But since this is a regular production cigar, I’m sure you can find it everywhere online.
DESCRIPTION:
One noticeable difference between the 1991 and 2002 is the absence of the year on the cigar band. Plus the 2002 has silver trim instead of the original gold trim.
The Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro is a nice looking beast. A very oily, coffee bean, wrapper with some tooth. The cigar is not dense and feels light in the hand. But there are no soft spots. Seams are very tight. There are a lot of small veins and the triple belicoso cap is flawless.
AROMA AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
Lovely notes of chocolate and coffee along the shaft. As well as dried fruit and sweetness.
The aromas are intensified at the clipped cap and foot. There is a big bundle of citrus from the cap. It varies to orange/lemon/grapefruit. The sweetness is molasses at the foot. And just a touch of hay.
FIRST THIRD:
It takes a couple minutes to toast this large foot. Large corpuscles of wood, sweetness, chocolate, citrus and leather attack my palate with panzer force.
The draw is perfect causing the room to be look like a flash smoke grenade was tossed in.
And then comes the goodies: Creaminess, red pepper, and fruitiness on several levels.
A wonderful toastiness appears and brings with it roasted nuts. Cedar makes its debut. Clearly, the tobacco density is more than I thought as I watch the foot burn very slowly.
Golden raisins, dates, and black cherry fill out the fruity menu.
I get the lighting just right on this dreary, rainy day so you can see what almost appears to be translucence on the wrapper highlighting the veins.
The cigar is uber flavorful. I won’t get to smoke it with months of humi time because when I buy them, I smoke ‘em two weeks later. Or smoke nothing. I made a hit on the Clearance List on CI and got some incredible deals that the fools are not touching with a ten foot pole because of the stigma of the word “Clearance.” I will get to the price discussion soon.
The strength started out at high medium and is now medium/full.
The sweetness of the fruit and molasses explodes with each sip of water.
The Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro is a well-balanced, well rounded blend. It is already complex at only 2-1/2” burned which takes us to the second third.
SECOND THIRD:
Here they are: Chocolate, coffee, fruit, molasses, spiciness, sweetness, cedar, toasty, nutty, and a big bag full of citrus.
There is a warm meaty element going on. In fact, the Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro presents a warm cozy feeling from the sweetness and other flavors.
The flavor profile expands to allow in a bit of graham cracker and the creaminess becomes much stronger at this point. The spiciness has been somewhere in the middle but now lurches forward.
I really can’t believe that this cigar is on the clearance rack. It is a great cigar. Especially, for $4 a pop. I also bought some E.P. Carrillo Short Run 2013 for $3 each…Fallen Angel for $2.50 each…and the Man O’ War Ltd. Edition Orange County Choppers for $4 each. Only 5000 boxes made and I guess it was a marketing dud. But a great cigar. You should really check out their Clearance items. There are some real gems in there.
With each puff, the Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro becomes more complex, more balanced, a stronger finish, and more flavorful. The strength has evened out at medium/full.
The Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro is very definitely for the experienced palate. So many things going on at once that it is like riding a carousel and grabbing those rings.
While I don’t normally care for large cigars, the Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro is just where it should be size wise. It’s a long slow roll of excellence.
HALFWAY POINT:
The strength moves to full. A little nicotine. Crash helmet by my side.
Taking my wife to Mother’s Day brunch at an upscale area of Milwaukee County. It is called Flemings Steak House and is in Brookfield. Same place as Prime Cigar and my buddy Johnny Piette.
They have a prix fixe menu of incredible foods, a brunch hot line (I hate those), and the dinner menu. All for only $40 a person. If we were back in L.A., we’d be hard pressed to find this quality for only $40.
My mother has been gone for 47 years in July. So this outing is as much for her as it is for my wife. I’m going to say Kadish before we eat. It is a Hebrew mourning prayer for the deceased.
Back to happy things like the Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro. It is just a great blend. I tip my hat to Senor Perdomo. This is certainly a work of art. I know it ain’t no Lost & Found blend but still….LOL.
There are so many good regular production cigars out there at a very low cost: “The Katman’s List of 133 Great Cigars in the $5.00-$6.50 Range.”
Slow smoke. 45 minutes or more to this point. And I’m loving it. I so much enjoy reviewing a good cigar and fawning over it rather than write a negative review like my last one: Viaje Jalapeno. A good cigar review starts my day with a smile. Instead of a bad review and starting the day with ((^#&__(##^^$#$%&*!!!!!.
Construction has been very good. The char line on point. Nice even burn. No touch ups required. I’m guessing these cigars have been hanging around in CI’s warehouse a long time. I’ve only had the Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro for a week. I burned one a few days after receipt and thought this would take a month to be ready. I was wrong. Strictly on the spur of the moment did I decide to review this morning. I did it on a gut feeling. And if the Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro wasn’t ready, no harm no foul. I’d try again at a later date. But my gut was right. The Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro has been nicely aged in by CI. Why they are on clearance is beyond me. This is a rock steady cigar blend.
LAST THIRD:
An hour and 15 minutes has passed and a joyful one at that.
The black cherry is really showing off. Along with the creaminess, graham cracker, toastiness, roasted nuts, and coffee.
Strength remains at medium/full and the nicotine does not require a crash helmet.
I don’t know how long I can allow the balance of the cigars to rest in my humidor. It all depends on my stash and how long it will hold out. I’m sure with a couple months of rest, it will be even better.
The ash is delicate and fragile. It never seems to last longer than half an inch.
I’m now at 90 minutes. And still have a bit less than 2” to go. The Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro doesn’t get stronger than medium/full. But it might happen shortly.
Normally, I get bored with a long smoke. But the Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro is so delightful that boredom never sets in.
I’m at the 1-1/2” to go mark. Strength finally hits full body. And nicotine swoops in on its broom stick. Crash helmet time.
All in all, this is an excellent blend. It’s a shame that they are being closed out. I assume that Perdomo is fixing to bring out a new blend of the ESV line.
PRICE POINT:
I saw these going for $2-$3 on Cbid but that’s always a gamble that someone will swoop in at the last moment and jack the price. Buying them for $4 each is less stressful. I just don’t use Cbid anymore. My cigar budget is too fragile and Cbid can really cause a cluster fuck with my budget.
SUMMATION:
I highly recommend this cigar. Don’t mess with Cbid. Go the Clearance List at CI and snag a 10 pack. Plus take a look at the other deals. I nabbed a 10 pack of Fallen Angel during the checkout process. Only $24.99 for a 10 pack of toros.
The Perdomo ESV 2002 Maduro is an ultra-smooth blend. It is flavorful from the first puffs. It is complex and constantly changing. The balance is right on the money. And the finish is long and chewy.
Construction was flawless. I’m impressed with the entire package. Clearly, they have aged nicely while in the possession of CI. It is unheard of for a Perdomo to be ready to smoke after only one week.
When I use my tiny cigar budget, I look for cigars that I know won’t take too much humidor time before they are ready to smoke. And while I would love to review the new stuff coming out, the cigars are just too cost prohibitive. I saw the new L’Atelier is $16 a stick!!! Ridiculous.
I haven’t smoked the other two blends and I believe I picked right. All three are available in the Clearance list and if you have the dough, snag them all. They are all 10 packs for $40. $4.00 a stick instead of $8.50.
I loved the sweetness. I loved the toastiness. And the fruitiness is out of this world.
For a Nicaraguan puro, I didn’t get those chocolate/coffee heavy flavor elements. That was what I expected. Don’t get me wrong. There was plenty of chocolate and coffee but the other listed flavors ran the show.
And now for something completely different:
I’ve published this before but it’s been awhile so for my loyal and longtime readers, my apologies.
I hated Butch Patrick from almost the beginning. He had some serious substance abuse problems and was unreliable. Mostly from alcohol. His dad was an alcoholic so he had the gene.
For those that don’t know about my association with Butch; it began while I owned my recording studio in Long Beach. A good friend had grown up across the street from Butch and brought him to my studio. Butch had a rough idea for a song called “Whatever Happened to Eddie?”
At the time, Butch was on hard times. His dad owned a bunch of poker casinos in Gardena and was filthy rich. So he gave Butch a job as a parking attendant at one of the casinos. What a dad!
Butch did a rough demo in some guy’s living room and they used the theme from the Munsters. They wrote some crude, rudimentary lyrics.
So I decided to organize the whole thing, got Butch to sign a management deal and off we went. I literally became his manager, booker, producer, and pseudo father even though I am only a couple years older than he.
I brought in real musicians to record the title song and the B side as well. It was to be a 45 single…yes, those were the days…Vinyl.
The single ended up selling 181,000 units in 4 months before the FBI shut down the Rocshire Records.…another story.
Because Butch was so unreliable, he was a handful. And both the record company and my press agent made it my responsibility to be his fairy god mother and watch over him and his errant behavior. No easy feat and one I swore I would never do again after the Sonja in Curved Air debacle.
The record was finished. Time to move on to the music video which I wrote, produced and directed. I got a top notch film crew to help me out. I got cinematographer Marvin Rush who has since become a big wig in the movie industry.
We shot at two locations. The first was Hollywood High School and the second was at the Princess Louise docked at San Pedro Harbor. Permanently. It had two restaurants and a chapel on top for weddings.
We signed with Rocshire Records who were tied to the mob. Didn’t know that at the time.
Remember, back in 1983, it was the birth of the MTV nation. We were ground breakers. In fact, we were the first video to be shown on MTV’s “Basement Tapes” show.
The record company, and PR firm, sent Butch and me on a PR tour across America. It was deemed a necessity that I be with Butch the whole time to make sure he showed up at all the TV and radio shows he was booked for.
Now Butch had no musical talent. So the band, Eddie and the Monsters, had a member who did the singing: Brent Black. I played bass, which in the video, showed Butch playing it. So we couldn’t play live. Basically, we were Milli Vanilli.
The promotional tour was nothing more than an autograph signing tour. We would do media interviews and show up at clubs for Butch to mingle and they would show the video on a loop.
We did the Today show in NYC. Rockefeller Center. The Rock.
I met Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley. Most of you are too young to remember this.
The producers couldn’t make up their minds as to who was going to interview Butch right into the commercial prior to the interview.
“Bryant, you do it. No, Jane you do it.” This went back and forth.
Gumbel had enough and slammed his hand on to the desk and said, “Goddam good thing we don’t make dynamite here!!”
Also being interviewed was Billy Mumy of “Lost in Space” fame. Now Billy had his shit together and I remember watching the interview wishing I could manage Billy instead of Butch.
The interview went well and we left. We then took off with Billy to some high falutin’ bar in Manhattan. We sat and drank and kibitzed. Everyone was drinking Bloody Marys. Not Butch. He was downing beer after beer after beer so by the time we left; he was completely shit face at noon.
They put us up at the Waldorf Astoria. Back then, it was a real hoity toity place to stay. People dressed well. We dressed in jeans and rock n roll Tee shirts. We got lots of looks that were not approving.
Some girls, who watched the Today Show and approached Butch and invited us to a party out on Long Island. Butch pleaded that we go. But it was a very long ride.
I reminded him that we had an early radio interview with Don Imus in the morning and we couldn’t stay long. He agreed.
Well, the worst happened. Butch got sloshed and coked up and it wasn’t until 2am that we headed back to the hotel.
I got up at 6 am. Butch never got to sleep til 5am.
When I got out of bed, I went into the adjoining room and there were a dozen people on the floor, out cold. Half were naked. Thankfully, they were women and not men. Butch had invited them back to his room.
I rattled Butch awake but he was still very drunk. He begged me to call the radio station and postpone the interview until the next day. We fought but I eventually gave in and called the station. Butch was so drunk that he was cross eyed and drooling. His speech was completely slurred. And he had only one hour of sleep.
Man, they were pissed off. I was put on hold for several minutes. The voice on the phone said to make sure Butch was there at 7am the next day and he hung up on me.
So I told Butch I made the arrangements he asked for.
And then from left field, he told me that he was OK and to call them back and tell them we could do that morning’s interview.
I exploded.
I dragged him to the floor. I mounted his chest and began to strangle him. Really. Pounding his head on the floor at the same time.
In a croaking voice, he pleaded with me to stop and I regained my senses. I had no reservations about killing him on the floor of the Waldorf Astoria. It would have been worth it.
I was already packed because after the interview, we were heading back to L.A.
I threw his airplane ticket on his chest along with a $20 bill and told him he better be at the interview. And I left for the airport.
When I got home, the record company and PR firm were furious with me. I didn’t care. I told them to go fuck themselves.
Butch returned home, having done the Imus interview as scheduled, but we didn’t talk for a week.
He came over to apologize and I allowed him to do so. He was at my door with a beer in his hand and totally shit faced. It was noon.
I owned my own home in Long Beach and I had made myself some spaghetti for lunch.
He began to speak and I requested that he wait until I finished my lunch in peace. He kept talking. He wanted to discuss the project.
I kept asking him to stop. Finally, out of frustration and anger, I got up and threw my plate of spaghetti across the room and it smashed into the wall across from me.
This shocked the shit out of Butch. He finally shut the fuck up. I screamed at him to get out. I was done being his babysitter.
To be continued…
Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS
Cigar Reviews by Phil 'Katman' Kohn 
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