Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro Epicure Review

2026-10-14  Hand-Me-One · 2/4 My Money · by Eric

Filed under: Box-Pressed · Burn Issues · Ligero / Seco / Viso · Maduro Is a Process · Nicaragua · The Ash · Relighting · Retrohale · Strength vs Body · The Draw · What Cigars Cost · Puro

Verdict: The Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro Epicure is a Hand-Me-One (2/4) at $12.60 to $13 street... good but subtle chocolate, cream, coffee and leather with no bitterness for two thirds, wrapped around a burn that took three touch-ups and two relights before the flavor drained out of the final third. It barely gets that tier, and only because the flavor was good. The burn was horrendous.

Brand

Perdomo

Line

30th Anniversary Maduro

Vitola

Epicure

Size

6 x 54

Wrapper

Nicaraguan Maduro (Cuban-seed, bourbon-barrel aged)

Binder

Nicaraguan

Filler

Nicaraguan

Made in

Nicaragua

Factory

Tabacalera Perdomo, Estelí

Street price

$12.60 to $13

The 30th Anniversary Maduro is Perdomo's anniversary blend for the brand's thirtieth year, a Nicaraguan puro from Tabacalera Perdomo in Estelí. The retailer listings describe a Cuban-seed maduro wrapper aged in bourbon barrels over binder and filler from Perdomo's own Nicaraguan farms, with tobacco aged fifteen years, and the line is box-pressed. The Epicure is 6 x 54. Perdomo is a brand I've had very good luck with here, so I came into this one expecting a lot.

The Setup

• Cigar: Perdomo 30th Anniversary Maduro, Epicure, 6 x 54, soft box press. Cuban-seed Nicaraguan maduro wrapper aged in bourbon barrels, Nicaraguan binder and filler, a Nicaraguan puro made at Tabacalera Perdomo in Estelí.
• Street price: $12.60 to $13 a single online. Neptune lists the single at $12.60, Cigars International had the five-pack at $64.99, which is $13 a stick, and the box of 30 at $357.99, against a $14 MSRP.
• What I paid: $10.46. One single from Neptune, ordered September 22, $12.60 less a 17% Cigar Dojo coupon. My own money.
• Storage: the main humidor, the Herf-a-Dor, at 69% RH since it arrived September 25, so about three weeks of rest. Straight out of the humidor and out to the deck.
• When/where: toasted at 8:09 PM on the back deck. 74°, feels like 75, 79% humidity, calm.
• Smoke time: about an hour and fifty minutes. I laid it down at 10:01 with about half an inch of smokable cigar left.
• Food beforehand: a turkey and ham sandwich on a hoagie roll with a San Pellegrino about two hours before, and two water crackers about twenty minutes before lighting.
• First cigar of the day, and the first in three or four days, paired with water. Cut with the Xikar XO, completely clean, lit with the Jetline single torch.

Light Up and First Third

A soft box press, slightly rustic looking, dark brown, with what looks like a double cap and a well-packed foot. The one odd thing was a weird fold in the wrapper just above the band. It never affected anything and never opened up, it was just there. The cut was completely clean, and the cold draw had a nice sweetness on the retrohale with a very, very mild tingle. This one even smelled sweet before I started toasting it.

The toast was very, very chocolatey. Once it was lit it was throwing off Mexican hot chocolate vibes: a very mild chili spice, a little chocolate, and some light nuttiness, with just a touch of leather, a tiny bit of breadiness, and a tiny bit of cream. A double draw gave the same profile with the chili pepper more intense, not spicy, more the flavor of a chili pepper mixed with a dark chocolate, not a sweet chocolate, and those other flavors still a little subtle underneath.

The retrohale was a mild chili pepper spice. Not white pepper, not black pepper, not baking spice, just the flavor of a chili pepper without the heat. You could retro a good amount of this, but there wasn't a lot of flavor with it, maybe a mild leather and cream, very subtle. I figured I'd see if it built.

The draw was just a touch tight. Not enough to go get the draw tool, and I didn't. The first quarter inch of ash was tight and starting to stack, but a touch flaky at the same time, and the burn line was already wavy, not favoring one side, just not sharp. Smoke production was a bit thin on a single draw and good on a double.

A little over halfway through the first third, a single draw gave me chocolate and a quick hit of a fruity sweetness I couldn't place, almost like a cherry, very quick and subtle, then creaminess, sweet cream, and that chili pepper spice. It wasn't spicy, but you felt it on the tongue through the whole thing, not bitter, not fatiguing, just there. On a double draw the chili spice was slightly more intense, still mild, with some cream, and the long finish had a touch of leather and maybe a touch of black coffee. The retrohale was very mild sweet cream, leather, and some coffee, with the chili spice slightly stronger than at the start. After the retrohale, more sweet cream was coming out on the palate. Not drying at all, the opposite if anything.

The flavors were there, and you didn't have to hunt for them, but they weren't bold or pronounced. Some breadiness on the last double draw of the third. Not intense flavors, no bitterness at all, very smooth.

Second Third

The burn was wavy enough that when I ashed it at the end of the first third, I touched it up right away so the burn would be even going into the second third. That was the first touch-up. The ash itself looked pretty good and mostly stayed together when I knocked it off. The foot was mostly straight across with just a tiny point of ligero sitting dead center, so the construction looked good there. I like this box press. It's a soft press, not super sharp, and it feels good in the hand.

Some nuttiness came out on a double draw, then faded to leather, with a good amount of smoke. The spice was building a little, more of a clean white pepper now without the underlying chili character. Still not tons of flavor on the retrohale, a very light cream and a tiny bit of leather that you almost had to look for, or you just got the white pepper and not a lot more. On a single draw it was cream, light nuttiness, a little leather, and a little coffee. Good, no bitterness, very smooth. You didn't have to look for the flavor, but it wasn't pronounced.

I don't usually notice the aroma of a cigar while I'm smoking it, but this one had a very sweet smell to it, not infused sweet, just a sweet aroma off the cigar. It didn't make or break anything, but it was very nice.

By the time I got to the band, the burn line was more than wavy. It was crooked. One side was almost touching the band and the other side was about a quarter inch short of it, and rotations were not enough to keep it in check. The flavor was still good and still mild. A single draw was a little light on flavor and a little light on smoke. Not bitter, just not a lot there.

A little later I was a solid half inch from one side to the other. I tapped the ash off and touched it up, the second one, and burned a lot of tobacco off doing it. I hate doing that, but there's no way to say it except that it was a bad burn. While I was lighting it I noticed a weird crack in the tobacco, not the wrapper, in the binder or filler, I think the binder. The draw was on the slow side right after, and I'm not sure whether that was the cigar or the touch-up.

The first draw after that touch-up was good: nice chocolate, a little cream, some coffee, a touch of leather, very smooth. A double draw gave roasted nuttiness, a touch of chocolate, leather, and light coffee. Subtle, not in-your-face, but you didn't have to hunt for it. I wasn't happy with the burn.

Around 9:11 the retrohale had turned to more of a black pepper, medium strength, not blowing my sinuses off, but I wouldn't retro the whole thing, maybe half of it at most. With that pepper the flavor was building too: a good amount of cream on the retrohale, the chili pepper back a little, and a tiny bit of leather.

This cigar was not drying my palate at all. I realized at that point I'd taken maybe two or three sips of water the entire time. Not bitter, very smooth. I wouldn't call the smoke creamy, though, something slightly less than that. Not an arid texture, it just didn't have a lot of body to it.

That's about where I said out loud that I'd been hoping for a lot more out of this cigar. Not bad. Just kind of forgettable.

Final Third

Then it went out on me. I wasn't neglecting it or doing anything else. It had been getting thin, so I took four or five draws in a row to get it going, it went from no smoke to a bunch of smoke, and thirty seconds later it was out. I ashed it, and the foot was a little hollow. I was either barely at the end of the second third or just starting the final third, so I'll call it the start of the final third, and it got a full relight.

Back up to good smoke production after the relight, and the first single draw was really good: nice chocolate, a little cream, a little leather, a tiny bit of coffee. A double draw was more leather-forward with a little cream, and I didn't really get the chocolate or coffee on it.

About fifteen minutes later it went out again. I wasn't doing anything else and I wasn't going long between draws. I ashed it, tapped everything off, and lit it again. Very disappointing is all I can say. I expect more out of Perdomo, and I didn't know what the deal was.

The flavor was still good after the second relight: chocolate, light nuttiness, leather, and a little coffee on the retrohale. The black pepper was up again, more than before, so I wasn't retroing much anymore, but even on the retrohale there was a good amount of sweet cream and leather. Flavor-wise, good.

Then it was burning horrendously again. Even after the earlier touch-ups, I had over half an inch from one side to the other. The flavor was good, but I was burning so much tobacco off. So it got a third touch-up, and I wouldn't even call it a touch-up. I burned over half an inch off the one side. The only reason I wasn't putting it down was that flavor-wise it was still good. I didn't get it.

The band came off totally clean along the way. But in the second half of the final third the flavor was almost non-existent. You knew you were smoking a cigar, and that was about it. It was already burning crooked again after that last touch-up, so I laid it down at 10:01 with about half an inch of smokable cigar left.

Construction

• Wrapper: dark brown and slightly rustic looking, soft box press, double cap, well-packed foot. A weird fold in the wrapper just above the band that never affected anything.
• Draw: good on the cold draw, a touch tight once it was lit, and it tightened up a little from there. Never bad, never good. I never reached for the draw tool.
• Burn: the problem with this cigar. Wavy from the first quarter inch, crooked by the band, half an inch off by the middle of the second third. Three touch-ups, at the start of the second third, in the middle of it, and late in the final third, plus two relights early in the final third after it went out on its own twice while I was paying attention to it. It was crooked again after the third touch-up when I laid it down. A lot of tobacco went up the torch.
• Ash: tight and stacking but a touch flaky. The first ash mostly held together and the foot was straight across with the ligero point dead center. A crack in the binder showed up at the second touch-up, and the foot was a little hollow when it went out the first time.
• Smoke output: thin on a single draw, good on a double draw. Not a creamy texture, not arid either, just not much body to it.
• Band: came off totally clean.

Bottom Line

The flavor was good. Chocolate, cream, coffee, leather, a little nuttiness, a chili pepper spice early that turned to white pepper and then black pepper on the retrohale, a sweet aroma off the cigar, and no bitterness anywhere for two thirds. But it was all subtle. The flavors weren't prominent and they weren't non-existent. You didn't have to search and dig for them, but they never got bold, and strength never showed up at all, somewhere between mild and medium start to finish and never building. On flavor alone this was a pleasant, forgettable cigar.

The burn is what sinks it. Three touch-ups, two relights, a crooked line from the first quarter inch, a crack in the binder, and a hollow foot, on a cigar I was babysitting the entire time. Then the flavor left in the second half of the final third and I laid it down with about half an inch of smokable cigar to go. At $13 a stick, with two other Perdomo Epicures on this site in the same price range that both earned a box, that's not good enough.

Would I smoke it again? Hand-Me-One (2/4), and barely. It would almost be a Not Even Free, except that the flavor itself was good for the first two thirds, just weak. The burn, the going out, and having to babysit it the whole way are what put it down here. I wouldn't buy another one, and I wouldn't turn one down, but I'd want a torch next to me.

Best for: someone who likes a mild, smooth, chocolate-and-cream maduro and doesn't mind working a lighter. If you want a Perdomo maduro at this price, the Double Aged 12 Year Maduro Epicure earned a box here.

My scale, one question only... would I spend my own money on this again? 4 Box Buy (box on hand, always) / 3 Five-Pack (yes, a few live in the humidor) / 2 Hand-Me-One (wouldn't buy it, wouldn't turn one down) / 1 Not Even Free (I'd rather smoke nothing).

More reviews