Perdomo Double Aged 12 Year Vintage Sun Grown Epicure Review
Verdict: Hand-Me-One (2/4). I put it down midway through the final third... my money stays home on this one. The bitterness just kept building until it ran the whole show. Which stings a little, because the Maduro from this exact same line was an easy Box Buy for me.
Same background as the Maduro... Perdomo bale-ages this tobacco 10 years, then 2 more in white oak bourbon barrels. "Double Aged 12 Year Vintage" is the official name, "12 year bourbon barrel aged" is what everybody calls it. This one wears the sun grown wrapper.
The Setup
- Cigar: Perdomo Double Aged 12 Year Vintage Sun Grown, Epicure (6 x 56)
- Street price: ~$12.50 for a single online... same money as its Maduro brother
- What I paid: $13.50 listed, $10.80 after a 20%-off code... my own money, nobody sent me this
- Storage: 69% RH in my Herf-a-Dor
- When/where: 6pm, right after dinner
- Food beforehand: Texas Roadhouse... grilled chicken, baked potato, corn, some boneless buffalo wings, ice water
- First cigar of the day
One more data point from light-up: my wife immediately said "that one stinks." She's not the biggest fan of cigar smoke in general, but she almost never comments... so when she does, I write it down.
Light Up and First Third
A little spicy on the light with a tiny bit of sweetness and light spice through the retrohale. The first third was fine... light tobacco sweetness, a little nuttiness, almost zero spice on the retro, and a light bitterness hanging around underneath. Nothing wrong yet, but nothing grabbing me either.
Second Third
The tobacco sweetness lingers and coffee starts coming through, along with some light earth. The bitterness comes and goes. About halfway through the third the spice ramped up on the retrohale, and by the end it was getting earthy with the sweetness taking a back seat. You can see where this is heading.
Final Third
I'd left it sit a bit too long and had to relight, and honestly the relight bought it a short reprieve... the sweetness came back some. Then the slide started. Lots of spice through the retro, bitterness ramping hard, and pretty quickly it was just very bitter and earthy with a ton of spice out the nose and nothing sweet left to balance it. The bitterness kept building until there was no reason to keep going. I put it down midway through the third.
Construction
No complaints here, which almost makes it worse... the cigar was built great, the blend just lost me.
- Wrapper: great. Band came off clean. Small crack near the burn line late in the final third.
- Draw: near perfect, start to finish.
- Burn: great through the first half. One relight was on me for neglecting it... but then it needed 2 full relights in the final third.
- Ash: great, held on through the entire first third before dropping.
- Smoke output: no issues.
Bottom Line
Same line, same vitola, same 12 years of aging as the Maduro I loved... completely different ending. The Maduro finished sweet and nutty with the earth showing up politely at the very end. This one let the earth and bitterness take over the whole final act. I've got one more resting in the humidor and I'll give it a good long sit to see if age calms it down... I'll report back either way.
Would I smoke it again? Hand-Me-One. I'm not spending another dollar on it, and it doesn't get my full attention fresh... but if you put one in my hand while I'm doing something else, I'll smoke it. The jury's out on the aged retry.
Best for: somebody who actually wants an earthy, full-flavored finish that leans bitter... that's a real preference, it's just not mine. If you're new to this line, start with the Maduro instead.
My rating 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).
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Perdomo Double Aged 12 Year Vintage Maduro Epicure Review
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