Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Robusto

If you’ve read this site for some time and with some regularity, you’ve probably heard someone bemoan the task of keeping track of the anniversaries that cigar companies celebrate. It is a rather mundane problem to complain about, and keeping track of such things does come with the job of covering the industry.

So while I won’t mention it much further, I did have to take a moment to remember just what Perdomo’s two newest releases were celebrating when they were announced this summer.

The company expanded its Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary with both a maduro version and a sun grown version, which join the existing Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Champagne, which uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. The addition of the two new sizes rounds out the Perdomo trinity of wrappers that have been featured on seemingly every new line that the company has put out in recent years.

Yet the gap in between the releases was interesting. The Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Champagne came out in 2004, just over a decade after the company was founded in 1992. Since that time, the company also celebrated its 20th anniversary with the aptly named Perdomo 20th Anniversary that was released in 2012. Interestingly, that line was released in maduro and sun grown options first, then the Connecticut was added in 2014.

“Our Perdomo Reserve line has been on the market for over 20 years,” said Nick Perdomo, Jr., president and ceo of Perdomo Cigars, via a press release. “We wanted to come out with something really special to honor the history of the brand and offer a cigar that every cigar smoker would truly fall in love with.”

The Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro features a six year-old-wrapper, with 14 months spent aging in bourbon barrels. The binder and filler are also six-years-old, though did not get the bourbon barrel treatment.

• Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Figurado (4 3/4 x 56) — $7.25 (Box of 25, $181.25)
• Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Robusto (5 x 54) — $8.25 (Box of 25, $206.25)
• Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Epicure (6 x 54) — $8.75 (Box of 25, $218.75)
• Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Churchill (7 x 54) — $9.25 (Box of 25, $231.25)
• Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Torpedo (7 x 54) — $9.50 (Box of 25, $237.50)
• Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Super Toro (6 x 60) — $9.75 (Box of 25, $243.75)

“We blended these cigars with six-year aged Cuban-seed wrapper, binder, and filler tobaccos that we carefully hand-selected from our most prestigious farms located in the Estelí, Condega, and the famed Jalapa Valley in Nicaragua,” said Perdomo. “We blended these cigars to not only be rich in flavor, but also to be very smooth on the pallet with slight hints of sweetness. Our tasting panel with over 250 years of cigar making and premium tobacco experience was amazed at how great this blend tastes.”

• Cigar Reviewed: Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Robusto
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Tabacalera Perdomo S.A.
• Wrapper: Nicaragua
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Robusto Extra
• MSRP: $8.25 (Box of 25, $206.25)
• Release Date: July 20, 2020
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The cigar felt a bit soft at first, but then I remembered it was box-pressed and it suddenly felt very familiar. It’s rolled and pressed well, though a small piece of tobacco doesn’t lay flat on the head of one cigar. As for the visual appearance, the band commands a lot of attention thanks to its glossiness, but looking past that, the wrapper has a cocoa-hued color with a bit of toothy texture and small veins. It’s also a bit on the dry side, not offering much oiliness for the eyes or fingertips. The foot smells like a bit of chocolate-covered raisins, almost Raisinets, though with a bit less of a chocolate component as it takes on a cocoa powder aroma. There’s also a bit of wood, wheat bread and finally black pepper, appearing in that order. The cold draw is a bit open on the first sample and a bit firm on the second, while the third is the happy medium. Regardless of the air movement, the Perdomo is very tame with flavors offering a bit of a wheat bread or cracker flavor and the occasional repeat of cocoa powder and a hint of raisins.

The Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Robusto starts off with an earthy flavor the is big and bold, packing a mix of black pepper for the tongue and white pepper for the nose, but not much in the way of sweetness. It’s seemingly an unapologetic start to the Nicaraguan puro, going right after the taste buds while retrohales pack a fitting follow-up punch and tingle. While not shy, the initial body is a bit thin, a bit under matched for the flavor, but it works. The second sample doesn’t deliver quite the same flavor, adding a bit of waxiness while dialing down the flavors, a tradeoff the doesn’t quite seem worth it. Other than the occasionally uneven burn line and a draw that’s a bit open, this Perdomo burns well through the first third, producing plenty of smoke as well. Flavor is medium-full to full, body is medium-full, and strength is medium but building.

Between a slightly open draw and the removal of the band, the first sample feels like it rushes into its second third rather quickly. In the case of this cigar, it’s just under 30 minutes, and that’s with my normal smoking pace. Not long after it’s into the section, I get a bit of milk chocolate coming out, first a slightly smokey version that reminds me of a s’more, before black pepper comes along to dash that thought. The second and third samples show an impressive acceleration of the flavors and aromas, not quick but progressive into a more robust profile, and even with firmer draws, still burn quickly. Black pepper and a bit of dry, aged wood come out around the midway point, the first time I pick up flavors that would suggest the barrels in which the wrapper was aged. At the end of the second third, the Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Robusto is quite robust thanks to a rocky and peppery earthiness, those flavors so tightly intertwined it’s hard to pull them apart. What does stand out is a slightly burnt brownie note on the finish, a very pleasant and familiar sweetness that slowly overtakes the original flavor. The draws are each what they have been previously, but things are problem-free otherwise. Flavor is full, body is medium, and strength is somewhere in the middle. 

It’s a bit of a stretch, but the brownie note is evolving into a chocolate milkshake flavor, though the physical sensation that goes with it is still much more brownie-like as my mouth gets a bit drier with each puff. Beyond that, there seems to be a bit more of the combination of the woodiness of the barrel-aged tobacco, the earthiness and the black pepper. It’s dry and robust but still palate friendly, certainly more so than I would have expected had I been given that description. That progression into the more robust profile is the story of the second half, though each cigar gets there on its own timeline. However, by the final two inches, they are all quite earthy and dry with decent amounts of pepper as well. It’s also where the idea that the cigar might be getting to be a bit much for my palate enters my mind, though it’s not enough to have me put it down early. Flavor finishes full, body medium-full, and strength a manageable medium-full as well. Construction remains problem-free as well.

Final Notes

• Doing some research on this cigar reminded me of one of the under-the-radar cigars in Perdomo’s portfolio, the Perdomo Limited Cameroon Edition. Its band shares some design elements as the Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary.
• While I wouldn’t call the Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Robusto an intense cigar in terms of flavor, it is still quite flavorful, with few puffs that don’t hit the senses with some force. It’s not until the final inches where the earthiness begins to really dominate that it gets to be a bit too gruff.
• If you have the chance, I highly recommend visiting Tabacalera Perdomo in Estelí, Nicaragua. The company hosts some fantastic factory visits that do an impressive job of condensing the entire cigar-making operation into an interactive and informative couple of days.
• It’s impressive to think that Perdomo will be celebrating its 30th year in 2022, especially thinking about the company’s early days when Nick Perdomo was buying small amounts of tobacco and selling cigars out of his trunk in the Nick’s Sticks days.
• The same goes for the family-run aspect of the company, as Nicholas Perdomo III has taken on increasing roles within the company in recent years, while Janine Perdomo serves as the company’s chief operating officer.
• There is definitely some strength to be found in this blend, though I think the shorter vitola and fairly quick smoking time minimized the effects. I’d have to think that smoking this in the larger sizes would have me reaching for a little white sugar.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was one hour and 15 minutes on average.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigar Hustler, Famous Smoke Shop and STOGIES World Class Cigars carry the Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box Pressed Maduro Robusto.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.