Cigar Review: Perdomo Exhibición Exhibit Sun Grown

Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown

In July, we previewed a new line of cigars launched by Tabacalera Perdomo at the 2011 IPCPR Trade Show. This line of cigars is called the Perdomo Exhibicion. The Perdomo Exhibicion line is built similar to many of the other Perdomo lines – namely providing three different wrapper options over a common binder and filler blend. This has proven to be a successful approach for Perdomo cigars because not only creates variations in the flavor profile, but allows Perdomo to reach a wide range of cigar enthusiasts. In this assessment, we take a look at the Perdomo Exhibicion Exhibit Sun Grown. Overall, this was a nice smoke and delivered a solid smoking experience.

For the Perdomo Exhibicion line, there are three wrappers that have been utilized:

Perdomo Exhibicion Exhibit Connecticut (Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade)
Perdomo Exhibicion Exhibit Sun Grown (Nicaraguan Sun Grown)
Perdomo Exhibicion Exhibit Maduro (Nicaraguan Maduro)

With the Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown, this is intended to the “medium” offering in the series. Let’s break down this cigar in more detail.

Blend Profile

The Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown utilizes a Nicaraguan Sun Grown wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler tobacco. All of the Perdomo Exhibicion cigars use Perdomo’s bourbon barrel aging process. The Sun Grown wrapper is then aged an additional 10 months.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Sun Grown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Cuban Seed Nicaraguan (4 Year Condega Seco, 5 Year Jalapa Viso, 6 Year Ligero)

Vitolas Available

Each blend of the Perdomo Exhibicion comes in four sizes. They are
also sold in boxes of 20. The interesting thing is that all of the
cigars have the 54 ring gauge.

Robusto: 5 x 54
Toro: 6 x 54
Churchill: 7 x 54
Torpedo: 7 x 54

Appearance

For this cigar assessment, I opted to sample the Toro vitola of the Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown. From inspecting the wrapper, it seemed to be lighter than many other sun grown wrappers I’ve seen. The best way to put it is that the wrapper is a few degrees darker than an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper. The wrapper itself was quite bumpy. It was toothy, had visible wrapper seams, and some blemishes. The wrapper had a true “hand rolled” theme to it. The aroma on the foot was a combination of farm and cedar notes.

I found the Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown band to be one of the nicer designs on a Perdomo band. The band features a burgundy background on the front with the traditional gold Tabacalera Perdomo sunburst logo. There is a “P” in white font in the middle surrounded by a circle and flanked by “Tabacalera Perdomo” also in white font. The top of the band features “Perdomo” and the bottom features ” Exhibicion”. The back of the band has a black background in the middle with gold pinstriping on a white background on the top and bottom. On the left side of the back, “Exhibit” Sun Grown is in script in gold font on a burgundy panel. On the right side of the back, “Factory Aged” is in scrpt in gold font on a burgundy panel.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

For my cigar experience Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown Toro, I placed a straight cut into the cap and commenced with a pre-light draw. The dry draw notes provided a nice mix of butter and cedar. There was a little bit of a bitter aftertaste on the pre-light draw, but for the most part the pre-light draw was satisfactory. At this point, I was prepared to light my Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown cigar and see what the experience would deliver.

Flavor Profile

The start to the Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown started with some
pepper. The pepper than transitioned to more of a cedar spice. This
was quickly followed by a blast of orange citrus flavors. The orange
citrus blended with the cedar spice to create a classic cigar “sweet
spice”. Around five percent into the cigar experience, the citrus
diminished and some wood notes emerged.

Most of the first half of the Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown had the citrus notes
alternating with the wood notes as to which was the primary flavor
note. Throughout the first half, the cedar spice remained in the
background. As the cigar moved into the second half, the cedar and wood
notes moved to the forefront and the citrus notes were secondary. As
the cigar moved to a close, the finish was a little on the harsh side.
The resulting nub was soft and on the warm side.

Burn and Draw

The burn of the Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown scored very well. While the ash was a little flaky from time to time, it did burn straight and required few touch-ups. The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal. The draw did not score as well. While I usually like a little resistance on the draw, this was a tight draw. I seemed to have to fight this cigar from start to finish and the draw never opened up.

Strength and Body

This cigar was billed as a “medium” in the Perdomo Exhibicion line. From a strength perspective, this cigar had a little more power than I was expecting. I feel it had enough strength to be considered medium to full strength. As for the body, the flavors did have some depth to them. Again, there was probably more depth to these notes than I originally anticipated. I also assessed this as medium to full when it came to body. The strength and body complemented each other nicely.

Final Thoughts

As with other cigars in the Perdomo family, Perdomo is absorbing the SCHIP tax – and the company must be given credit for that. The Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown was the first cigar of the Exhibicion blend that I smoked. Normally, I don’t gravitate toward sun grown wrappers, but this wasn’t a bad smoke. If the draw was better and the cigar had a better finish, this cigar would have scored better. While this might be a little stronger than a novice enthusiast may be used to, I think this is a good smoke for them to gravitate to. Experienced cigar enthusiasts who like a citrus-spin to a cigar should enjoy this as well. As I said up-front, this was a solid cigar, and I would smoke it again.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Fair
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Medium to Full
Finish Fair
Assessment: Nice to Have
Score: 88

Source: The cigars for this assessment were purchased from Union Cigar Company in Monroe NC.