Perdomo Small Batch Sun Grown 2005 Belicoso – Cigar Review
Size: 5x54 Belicoso
Blend: Nicaraguan Puro
Construction: The Colorado coloured wrapper on this cigar had the smallest veins which were only obvious upon close inspection of the perfectly consistent wrapper. The whole cigar was extremely neat, something you’d typically see in the photo shopped pictures used for cigar sales. The cigar was very firm and consistently packed along its length. Its wrapper was smooth, slightly oily with minimal tooth. The wrapper seams were invisible and the belicoso cap was neatly finished with similar coloured tobacco.
On inspection of the foot this cigar had a very diverse blend, featuring every colour of the tobacco rainbow from light to dark.
Smell: On the wrapper the cigar smelt of caramel and hay with subtle nuances of tobacco. The foot smelled strongly of wood, dark aged tobacco along with a boozy hint of rum.
Cold Draw: Only a very small cut on the taper was required to offer a near perfect draw, which was surprising given how tightly packed this cigar felt. Flavours on the cold draw consisted of hay, dark aged tobacco and that curious boozy rum.
First Light: Flavours on the first light were spicy with white pepper sporting hints of charred nut and something sweet which was hard to identify over the char and spice from lighting. Smoke production was good, producing clouds of slightly oily and quite dry white smoke.
Aroma: The aroma of this cigar was primarily toasty with slight hints of wood.
First 3rd – 13 min
Once the cigar started to develop and moisten the flavours became easily identifiable, offering smooth white pepper spice, cedar, nuttiness and the sweetness of honey (FYI: The flavour profile on the packaging suggests almond and honey). The retrohale produced a cedar and white pepper laden punch in the sinus, not overly enjoyable with the semi dry smoke being produced. The overall body of the cigar settled at approximately a medium. The burn was damn near perfect sporting a near perfect straight line around the circumference of the stick.
I managed to drop the cigar into the ashtray when attempting to place for a photo…. Unlucky.
The cigar appeared to smoke very slowly at the 21 minute mark, still sitting in the first third and this was the case with the previous ones I smoked in the last few days.
The ash started to grow after being prematurely knocked off due to my butterfingers; and it appeared to be a very stiff white ash. Unfortunately the ash was flowering and raining down all over me in the windy conditions. This encouraged me to roll the ash off regularly as to keep the ash in the ashtray rather than on my new shirt.
Second 3rd - 28 min
Flavours in the second third were comprised of those experienced in the first, though they did shuffle around to keep things interesting. The honey sweetness slightly increased while the white pepper continued to mellow out and be less dominant over the flavour profile. The flavours of cedar and toast seemed to meld together and a new addition further through the first third was the slightest inkling of a richer wood lurking in the background.
As the second third progressed the body of the cigar move upward slightly to a solid medium with the increase in the cedar tang offered by this stick.
Third 3rd - 49 min
Flavours in the final third shifted yet again. The cedar built and moved to the forefront until it was dominating the rest of the flavours. Behind it came the honey sweetness accompanied by the nutty profile, toast and a very timid rich wood. The white pepper had all but disappeared at this stage. The cigar continued to smoke well, producing slightly oily dry smoke and maintaining a perfect burn and draw.
Toward the end of the cigar the cedar started wind down significantly and the cigar took on a very sweet honey character, especially in the finish.
With about 25mm remaining this cigar started to warm up so I elected to retire it at 1 hour 20 minutes.
Summing up: Overall this belicoso was a brilliant cigar that was impeccably constructed and smoked like a dream. I’m fortunate enough to have been able to get my hands on a box of belicosos and a box of toros from the Perdomo small batch sun grown line of which there were only 3000 boxes made. I can with confidence say that buying them blind was a wise move. I’m yet to be even remotely let down by anything made by Perdomo.
Suggested pairing for this cigar would be a light whisky with notes of honey and oak to compliment the honey notes exhibited by this cigar, such as The Balvenie Triple Cask 16 year old.
Thanks for reading!
