This is the first Perdomo featured in our blind tasting. Perdomo has never been particularly shy about aging tobacco, and the Reserve 10th Anniversary Sun Grown is a good example of the company's preference for time over novelty. The current version arrived in 2020 as part of a reworking of the Reserve 10th Anniversary collection. It is a Nicaraguan puro made entirely from Cuban-seed tobaccos grown in Estelí, Condega, and Jalapa, three regions whose different soils and climates have shaped much of Nicaragua's modern cigar industry.
The tobacco is aged for six years, but the Sun Grown wrapper gets an additional treatment before it reaches the rolling table. After fermentation, the wrapper is aged for another ten months, a process intended to soften some of the strength that comes with growing tobacco directly beneath the Nicaraguan sun while preserving its heavier oils and natural sweetness. The cigar is made at the Perdomo factory in Estelí and box-pressed after rolling. There is nothing particularly experimental about the recipe. It is instead an exercise in what Perdomo does unusually well: growing its own tobacco, giving it considerably more time than necessary, and allowing the differences between Nicaragua's growing regions to carry the blend.
