Perdomo Legacy Shade Grown Review — Perdomo Legacy Shade Grown Epicure

Today, we review the Perdomo Legacy Shade Grown in the Epicure (Toro) size. Legacy is a project spearheaded by Nicholas Perdomo III, the son of Nick Perdomo Jr. Nicholas sought to create a cigar to honor his father on his 60th birthday. In the process, Nicholas would undertake one of the most ambitious projects in Perdomo Cigars’ history. At the heart of this project is a shade-grown wrapper grown from a proprietary hybrid seed developed from a combination of seeds from Cameroon and Cuba. Perdomo’s agronomy and genetics teams created the seed. The tobacco was grown on Perdomo’s Finca Natalie farm in Estelí, Nicaragua.

As the name suggests, the Legacy Shade Grown uses a Shade-Grown wrapper. Typically, Perdomo has a Sun Grown, Connecticut, and Maduro offering, but in the case of Legacy, the Shade Grown replaces the Sun Grown offering:

Perdomo Legacy Shade Grown
Perdomo Legacy Connecticut
Perdomo Legacy Maduro

For the Connecticut and Maduro offerings, Nicholas decided to still include Shade Grown tobacco in those blends, but in those cases, the Shade Grown is used as the binder. For now, our attention will turn to the blend that uses the Shade Grown tobacco for the wrapper, the Legacy Shade Grown.

Perdomo Legacy Shade Grown Epicure – Open Box

Perdomo Legacy Shade Grown Epicure – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

In addition to the hybrid Shade Grown wrapper, the remainder of the blend also utilizes tobaccos from the Perdomo farms, making the Shade Grown a Nicaraguan puro.

Wrapper: Hybrid Nicaraguan Shade Grown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacalera Perdomo

Vitolas Offered

There are five sizes to the Legacy Shade Grown. All three blends under Perdomo Legacy come in the same five sizes. Each vitola comes in a 24-count except for the Gran Belicoso, which is a ten-count box. The Gran Belicoso is also box-pressed, while the other sizes are parejos.

Robusto: 5 x 54
Epicure: 6 x 54
Churchill: 7 x 54
Gordo: 6 x 60
Gran Belicoso: 6 x 60

Appearance (*)

The Shade Grown wrapper of the Legacy Shade Grown Epicure had a medium brown color with a slight rosado tint. The rosado put a slight reddish color into the hue. There was also a light sheen of oil on the surface of this wrapper. The surface of the wrapper had some visible veins and minimally visible wrapper seams.

Perdomo Legacy Shade Grown Epicure – Close Up

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

A straight cut was used to remove the cap of the Legacy Shade Grown Epicure. Once the cap was removed, it was time to commence with the pre-light draw experience. The cold draw delivered notes of chocolate, citrus, and bread. Overall, this pre-light draw hit the mark and delivered an excellent appetizer for the smoking experience. At this point, it was time to toast up the Legacy Shade Grown Epicure and see what the smoking experience would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The Legacy Shade Grown Epicure picked up where the pre-light draw left off with notes of chocolate, citrus, and bread. The citrus note had a distinct orange-honey flavor. As the cigar progressed through the early stages, the flavors of orange-honey and chocolate moved to the forefront. Meanwhile, the bread settled in the background, joined by the baker’s spice notes. Midway through the first third, the bread notes moved into the forefront, joining the orange-honey. The chocolate notes settled in the background. The retro-hale was a combination of black pepper and orange honey.

As the Legacy Shade Grown Epicure moved into the second third, the bread notes slowly took over as the primary note. The orange-honey settled in the background, joining the chocolate and baker’s spice. Some black pepper now emerged on the tongue in the background.

The final third still saw the bread notes in control as the primary note. The background notes were orange-honey, chocolate, pepper, and baker’s spice. During this stage, the pepper notes emerged as the most prominent of the background notes while the baker’s spice diminished. This is the way the Legacy Shade Grown Epicure came to be. close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The burn of the Legacy Shade Grown Epicure performed excellently. This cigar maintained a straight burn path and line, requiring minimal touchups. While there was an occasional flake of ash, this was, for the most part, a firm ash. The ash was light and silver-gray in color. Meanwhile, the burn rate and burn temperature maintained ideal levels.

Draw

The draw of the Legacy Shade Grown Epicure also performed flawlessly. This had a touch of resistance to it. If you have followed my assessments, you will know this is a sweet spot for my draw. At the same time, this was a low-maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

The Legacy Shade Grown delivered a medium strength, medium to full-bodied smoking experience. There was a slight increase in intensity in both attributes; however, the cigar remained in the medium strength, medium to full-bodied range overall.

In terms of strength versus body, the body maintained a slight edge throughout the smoking experience.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

The bands of the Perdomo Legacy series really pop. Each of the bands features the Perdomo sunburst logo in the center. The three blends have color variances. In particular, the Shade Grown features red and gold with some blue accents. I also really like the gold foil.

The boxes of the Perdomo Legacy have a bevel design, which I found really made the boxes stand out. Like the bands, the boxes have different color variations for the blends, and the Shade Grown color scheme is carried over. The boxes employ a design similar to that used on the bands. The Legacy band logo really translates well to the larger images used on the outside and inside of the boxes. In particular, the logo on the outside of the boxes is basically embossed on it. It gives an excellent presentation and might be Perdomo’s best packaging work to date.

Perdomo Legacy Shade Grown Epicure Closed Box

The references to 1965 and 2025 pay homage to Nick Perdomo’s birth year (1965) and 60th birthday year (2025).

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

As I stated in the introduction, the Legacy Shade Grown was a very ambitious project by Nicholas Perdomo III and Perdomo Cigars. The result is a cigar that comes through with flying colors – particularly with the Epicure size. This is one of the best cigars of 2025. One thing that really stood out about this cigar is that it was pretty different than any Perdomo cigar I’ve had before. At the same time, this cigar will more than satisfy the Perdomo Army. The flavors really shine with this cigar – particularly that orange-honey sweetness, which was quite enjoyable. The cigar is well-balanced and has enough complexity to satisfy.

The Legacy Shade Grown Epicure is a cigar I’d recommend to any cigar enthusiast. At the same time, this is a cigar that I would not only buy, but also commit to a box purchase. Coming in at 92 points, the Legacy Shade Grown Epicure far exceeds the Cigar Coop Standard of Excellence threshold.

I look forward to also smoking the other sizes.

Summary

Key Flavors: Orange-Honey, Bread, Chocolate, Baker’s Spice, Pepper
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium Plus
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium Plus
Finish: Very Good