Cigar Review: Perdomo Patriarch Corojo

Robusto, 5” x 50, approx. $6
Nick Perdomo, the head of Tabacalera Perdomo, created the Patriarch to honor the memory of his father, Nicolas Perdomo, Sr., who passed away in 2004. Nick Jr. calls his father a mentor and hero and put together these blends that were his father’s favorites. They are comprised of all Nicaraguan tobaccos from Esteli, Condega and Jalapa and are described on the company website as “rich and complex, with a smooth, elegant finish.” They are available in maduro and Connecticut shade wrappers as well as today’s Corojo variety.

This one looked very nice--it was evenly colored with a light brown wrapper that had just a touch of red to it. The triple cap looked like there was an unfinished spot, though--like they ran out of tobacco, but had to rush to finish the stick regardless. The feel is oily, but with just a little toothy roughness, too. The aroma from the body was classic humidor and barnyard; from the foot there was cocoa, coffee and manure. The prelight draw was excellent; the flavors at that time were somewhat odd and not what I was expecting from a Nicaraguan puro with a corojo wrapper--there was some sweet spice and alfalfa, along with a little chili pepper burn on the lips.

Initial puffs were very tasty--mostly featuring flavors of roasted nuts and black pepper. The smoke was creamy, thick & rich, with a pronounced burn when blown through the nose. A more distinctive “corojo” flavor started coming through shortly--a spiciness that is not just head, in addition to a bit of leather and rich tobacco. So far, I would put this cigar in the high-medium range for body, but very full for flavor. The initial ash held on for more than an inch and the burn could not have been straighter. Late in the first third the flavor became more leathery.

Leatheriness continued to dominate in the second third along with some nice notes of sweet spice, pepper, cedar and roasted nuts. Every now and then I got a hint of a nice creamy coffee flavor as well.

During the last part, the flavors morphed to become more earthy. There was nice black coffee and just a touch of black pepper still, too. In all, this was a very fine cigar that did not disappoint in being full of flavor and fairly complex. The edginess of the beginning mellowed to a nice smoothness as it went on, accompanied by a slight increase in body and strength. I enjoyed this a lot and could easily see adding it to my rotation as a nice afternoon smoke.

Body: 7/10

Strength: 7/10

Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2

Construction: 2/2

Flavor: 4.5/5

Value: 1/1

Total: 9/10