April 28, 2026 • 18 mins
A Connecticut-wrapped cigar that actually tastes creamy, rich, and complex sounds obvious now, but it wasn’t in the late 90s. We’re Nicholas Perdomo and Nick Perdomo, and we’re finally telling the real Perdomo Reserve Champagne story: how one phone call about aging Connecticut seed wrapper inventory turned into a blend that changed what people expected from a “light wrapper” premium handmade cigar.
We get specific about what made Champagne different from the crowded humidor scene back then. Instead of following the dominant formula, we paired a Connecticut shade wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler and worked the blend hard so the fillers wouldn’t overpower the wrapper. We talk about building the recipe through lot numbers, why we aimed for a medium-bodied cigar that’s easy-going, and how “smooth” and “mild” are not the same thing when you’re chasing real cigar flavor and balance.
Then we go deep on process: sorting, curing, fermentation, and why we believe great Connecticut needs roughly 60 months of aging to lose the sharp edges and develop those honey tones and creamy, almond-vanilla character. We also share the quality mindset behind stockpiling tobacco and the behind-the-scenes reason the gold cellophane exists: UV protection that preserves wrapper color under humidor lighting, while accidentally creating a signature “champagne” look.
If you’ve never tried Perdomo Reserve Champagne or you thought Connecticut wrapper cigars were always tart or boring, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share the show with a fellow cigar lover, and leave a review telling us what “smooth but flavorful” means to your palate.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Nicholas Perdomo with Perdomo Cigars,
alongside my dad, Nick Perdomo,and you are listening to the
Prodomo podcast.
Dad, today we got something veryspecial.
First of all, it's great to bewith you again, and this is
episode number three.
But we have something very nearand dear to our hearts that
(00:20):
we're going to be talking about.
We're talking about a brand thatreally was the first of its
kind, something that you reallywent outside the box and created
over two decades ago.
And Dad, this this episode'sabout the Perdomo Reserve
Champagne story.
So, Dad, you know, going backand looking, you know, at what
you were able to really dosomething totally different.
(00:44):
You created Perdomo ReserveChampagne.
And it was a different time.
You're looking late 90s goinginto 2000.
Explain a little bit in terms ofwhy you wanted to create Perdomo
Reserve Champagne.
SPEAKER_00 (00:56):
Well, really, the way it started was a phone call
from my father where we had atremendous amount of inventory
of Connecticut seed wrappers,because back in the late 90s, we
were usually using mostly uhHabano and Maduro and Cameroon
seed tobaccos.
And we had all this wrapper thatwas really well aged, and we're
(01:17):
talking 1999, and we hadwrappers from the 92, 93 crop.
Certainly wasn't because of myinfinite wisdom.
And my father had a great pout.
I asked him to make some cigars,and he said, Wow, these are
different.
You know, most Connecticut thatyou smoke, you'll see it's kind
of like that egg yolk color.
Yeah.
And these these wrappers had ahoney or butterscotch type
color, really beautiful.
(01:38):
And my father said, Man, you canreally taste the essence of the
wrapper, the creaminess and soon and so on.
So he had sent us some cigars upfrom Nicaragua before I went
down there, and the whole staffloved them.
And we decided to make a blend.
And what we wanted to do is wewant to do something different.
Look, I was just talking toArthur earlier, and in the in
the mid-90s and the late 90s,80% of the humidors were
(02:01):
Dominican cigars withConnecticut shade wrappers,
Dominican tobacco with Mexicanbinders and Connecticut shade
wrappers, very mild to say theleast.
And I want to do somethingdifferent.
I wanted to blend it withNicaraguan tobacco because it
was unheard of, to be quitehonest with you.
And I think we hit a home runout of that cigar.
We loved it.
(02:21):
It had a lot of flavor.
It was something that wastotally different, kind of out
of the box, because I would talkto customers.
You know, it was the mostimportant thing was being there
and being able to talk to yourconsumers and your retailers.
And people wanted more and moreflavor.
It was kind of very similar, allthe cigars.
I'm not saying they were bad,but I always think people are
always looking for more flavor.
(02:42):
And that's how we came out withPerdoma Reserve Champagne.
26 years later, it's still ournumber one seller, and it
continues growing.
And I'm very proud of the brand.
And I love it.
And I'm really excited.
We're smoking Perdomo ReserveChampagne on the on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (02:54):
Yeah, it's an incredible cigar, continues to
grow every year.
But I think the more I look atit, Dad, and when you really
look behind, and it's a storythat we really never talk about,
but it's the truth.
You know, you mentioned in theold days it was the it was
Connecticut Shade Wrapper overDominican binders, Dominican
fillers, or Connecticut Shadewrapper over Mexican binder and
(03:14):
Dominican fillers.
You were the first to create abrand out of the country of
Nicaragua that was specificallya Connecticut rapper over
Nicaraguan binders andNicaraguan fillers.
So you were the first to do it.
And Perdomo Cigars, our family,we were the first to do it.
So I think that's somethingwithin itself that's absolutely
(03:35):
incredible.
And if you can, if you couldtalk a little bit more behind
the blending side of it.
SPEAKER_00 (03:40):
Yeah, so I wanted to have something where the
Nicaraguan fillers wouldn'toverpower the cigar.
And that was kind of a challengebecause I wanted to be able to
pick up that creaminess that myfather was talking about.
But I also wanted something thatwas extremely flavorful.
And there was risk because itwas unheard of at the time.
Like I said earlier, everythingwas very mild at the time, but I
(04:01):
knew and I felt really goodabout it that people were, like
I said, want more and moreflavor.
And we worked really hard and wedid it in lot numbers.
So we didn't just take regionsand say that I'm going to use
Seiko, Tobacco, Visa from Halop,I'm going to use Lihero from
Esteli.
We we truncated them in lotnumbers, and we really worked
(04:21):
hard.
It took us quite a while.
And that's how it came out.
Took us to 2000 or almost partof 2000, the RTDA show when he
came out with the with thebrand.
And it's been it's been awinner.
And what I love about the cigar,I would say it's medium-bodied.
I think it hits every flavorcharacteristic from somebody
from the from the newbie whowho's starting to the guy who's
been an experienced smoker.
(04:41):
It's really an easy-going cigar.
I think it's a cigar forsomebody who's looking for a
rich flavor, looking forcomplexity.
And what we really wanted,Nicholas, is those well-aged
Connecticut shade wrappers toreally shine where you could
taste the tobacco.
And I think it's beenconsistent.
The consumers love it.
We continue growing.
(05:02):
And the feedback that I get hasalways been astronomical.
And a lot of my older friendsthat have been really serious
cigar smokers love the ease ofthe cigar.
Right.
It has very little acidity, it'svery cream, it's it's smooth.
And I think that risk at the endpaid off.
But I felt really good about ittoo.
SPEAKER_01 (05:21):
Yeah, of course.
And I think it's something thatwhen you look, you know, people,
when we've done events over theyears and we've gone and we've,
you know, we try to tell peoplewhat do you like to smoke to the
mild, medium, full body, andthey like something a little bit
more mild to medium.
And you tell them, well, youshould try champagne, and they
look at the wrapper, they go,Oh, it's a little bit.
I find Connecticut to be alittle bit tart, a little bit
(05:42):
bitter.
And but I think one of thethings that you've done, outside
of creating a Connecticut blendover Nicaraguan binders and
fillers, is the way we age andthe way we really ferment the
tobacco and age the tobacco,specifically the Connecticut
wrapper.
So if you don't mind, if youcould tell our audience a little
bit in terms of how we do that.
SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
Look, any great tobacco has to be sorted,
selected, cured, fermented, andaged tremendously.
It takes a long time to do that.
But what happened withConnecticut, it gets a gets a
bad footing because one, it'svery expensive.
It's the most expensive wrapperin the world.
Two, the farmers bring it fromthe curing barns after they pick
(06:21):
the tobacco, they give it onesweat and they're on cigars
months later.
And that's wrong.
Just because the tobacco burnsdoesn't mean it's great.
It has to be well aged.
Just because you put grape juicein a in a in a bottle doesn't
make it a great, great wine justbecause you can drink it, right?
Sure.
So it takes a lot of patienceand it takes a lot of time.
And I have come to realize thegreat Connecticut seed tobacco
(06:44):
needs approximately 60 months ofreal aging to be fantastic,
where you get these beautifulhoney butterscotch colors, where
you get that nice, creamy,almondy, vanilla taste.
And it pairs so well with theNicaraguan fillers and binders
that we make.
And we the proofs in thepudding, it's our number one
selling cigar, not only inAmerica, but in all 77 countries
(07:04):
around the world that we sellto.
Yeah, it's true.
SPEAKER_01 (07:07):
And I think one of the things that when you take
Perdomo Reserve champagne andstarting and you know, using
Connecticut wrappers overNicaraguan fillers, and you gave
me a great story one time whenwe had a competitor come and
visit us, and basically what yousaid was is that he was looking
and saying, Man, you have allthese tobaccos, you know, aged
for so long, you know how muchweight you lose with you know
(07:28):
from when you bought it, and itloses the moisture within the
within the bales of tobaccos.
But explain, you know, in termsof our whole mindset, we're
driven by quality.
And if you can explain thatstory to our audience.
SPEAKER_00 (07:42):
Well, my father always said it takes 10 years to
get a customer and takes threeseconds to lose one.
I've always been resolute aboutthat.
And a lot of people call me thetobacco hoarder.
I stockpile a lot of tobaccobecause you're as good as your
tobacco is, and you have to havereally well-aged tobacco.
So I had a competitor, a friendof mine, who said, My God, I
can't believe the inventory.
Just envision lines and boxes ofConnecticut wrapper till the eye
(08:06):
can't see.
And he said, You lose about 10pounds of moisture per bale, and
if you cost you$50 a pound,that's$500 a box.
And if you take all by thethousands of boxes, I don't
know, the math came out to be alittle over a million dollars.
And I said, No, your math iswrong.
And he said, Well, how do youfigure?
I said, What you have to do isyou have to take the bale of
tobacco and see how many leavesyou get out of, which is
(08:27):
approximately$24,700 cigars youcan make, and then you divide it
by the$500.
And at the end, it's irrelevantbecause if you make a customer
happy and he enjoys thatproduct, you have a customer for
life.
How much is that worth?
It's certainly worth a lot morethan$500 per box, and certainly
worth more than a milliondollars when you look at the
(08:48):
longevity we've had as acompany.
So to me, it was money wellworth spending.
We continue doing it, wecontinue stockpiling Connecticut
because I want our customershappy and I want them to taste
Connecticut that's not acidic,that's not acrid, it's not
bitter.
I want them to taste Connecticutthe Prodoma way, which is
smooth, clean, flavorful, andenjoyable for every palate.
SPEAKER_01 (09:12):
Well, it goes back to your old saying it takes ten
years to get a customer, but itcould take three seconds to lose
one.
And that mantra's the rightmantra.
So I think it's everything interms of just just the mindset
that we have.
So I'm proud of that.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
Me too.
I I love the cigar.
I mean, look, I it's just acigar that just everybody who
smokes it really enjoys it.
It's just right on.
And we can't really make a mildcigar with it because of our
volcanic grounds and how fertileeverything is in Nicaragua.
But we age these fillers andbinders for a long time too, so
we can make the cigar become soharmonious and become one, and
(09:47):
it really has worked.
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
It's true.
That's true.
And that's and then now takinganother step back and looking,
you release the cigar, you startblending Perdoma Reserve
champagne in the latter part ofthe late 90s, 97, 98, and you
have the mindset of, okay, Iblended this cigar, I'm going to
release it in 2000 at the RTDAshow, which is now the PCA show.
Looking back now, 26 yearslater, when did you know that
(10:11):
Perdoma Reserve champagne becamea hit?
SPEAKER_00 (10:14):
Yeah, that's a that's a hard question.
I remember talking to Arthurmany years ago.
We were walking around thefactory, and people asked me,
when did you figure out you'd beyou guys were were were hitting
in stride?
And I said, really about threeyears ago.
But this is a cigar that I feltreally great out of the gate.
I remember when we we opened upthe trade show in 2000, the
lines of people, and 26 yearslater, the lines of people that
(10:37):
still come to the PCA show todaywaiting to buy and purchase
Perdomo Reserve champagne fortheir stores all around the
world.
I had a great I had a greatfeeling about it.
It was very unique.
You know, we look at thepackaging.
The packaging, I think, issuperb.
People wonder why do we have thegold cellophane?
SPEAKER_01 (10:54):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
And I'd like to talk about it if I could.
SPEAKER_01 (10:56):
Yes, you can.
SPEAKER_00 (10:56):
So that cellophane is really orange, but when you
put the cigar in it, it turnsyellow.
And it really reminded me ofCrystal Champagne, the packaging
of it.
That's not really the reason whyI did it.
The real reason why we did itwas because back in those days,
we all had the fluorescentlights and all the humidors
around the country.
And what it would do is it wouldblanch out any wrapper you could
have.
And we wanted to protect thatwrapper.
(11:18):
So it actually has a UV coatingand an ovia films out of Chicago
who does our cellulos before wemake our cellophane tubes with
our machinery.
Offered that, and it was in thatparticular tint of color.
And then I noticed when I putthe cigar in, it had that
champagne look on it.
And my father always said, Thisis the champagne of wrappers,
hence how we came out with theword Perdomo Reserve champagne.
(11:39):
So it's been a love affair forme since day one, and I've
always felt very good about thecigar.
And uh, it's been a winner 26years later, still growing like
crazy, and people love it fromPittsburgh to Munich to
Amsterdam to you know anywhereyou can think of around the
world.
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible.
You start out, you're you're asmall guy, you know, really
looking back.
You have Perdomo ReserveChampagne, you see celebrities
today smoking this cigar.
You see Aaron Rodgers lightingit up.
I mean, what an honor for us.
I mean, you look back at thetimes you started out of your
garage, you moved multiplefacilities within Miami, then
eventually to Nicaragua.
(12:20):
And now you got now we have oneof the world's best-selling
Connecticut wrapped cigars inthe market.
And it continues to grow, andI'm so proud of it, Dad.
And I'm proud of you for takingthat risk when we look back and
go, man, everything was mild,mild, mild.
And you decided, no, I want tomake medium in a Connecticut
wrapped cigar.
Because at the end of the day,we can make any cigar that's
super flavorful or reallyoverpowerful, right?
(12:42):
Even if it has even if it has alight wrapper, but we work
within what people are lookingfor.
Overall, people who want tosmoke a light wrapped cigar,
they want to have somethingsmooth.
And smooth doesn't necessarilymean mild, in my opinion.
Smooth means flavorful, right?
In terms of using well-agedtobaccos, blending all the
components correctly, right,which you did.
(13:03):
And making a Nicaraguan cigarwith a Connecticut rapper dead,
it was an incredible move onyour part.
SPEAKER_00 (13:08):
Well, I appreciate it, but I got to give a lot of
credit to our staff inNicaraguan here in Miami, who
were open-minded about itbecause you got to remember it
back in those days, it wasHabano for us.
That's what I was famous for,the Cuban seed rappers that we
used, our Maduro rappers thatwere Cuban seed, and our
Cameroon rappers.
So we really went out of therealm of it, even though
(13:28):
Connecticut still to this day isabout 80% of the consumption.
To do something with Nicaraguanfillers and binders was really
kind of revolutionary, the wordI hate the most, but it really
was.
SPEAKER_01 (13:38):
Well, I guess the thing I want to say is thanks
for making Connecticut wrapcigars fun.
Yeah, they thanks for makingthem taste great.
SPEAKER_00 (13:44):
Yeah, and I appreciate that.
And our staff has done a greatjob, and and it's it's the
curing, the fermentation, theaging process that our team does
so extremely well that makethose rappers really sing with
the fillers and binders.
SPEAKER_01 (13:58):
It's true.
So, Dad, you know, PerdomoReserve Champagne's a huge hit.
And but there's still, I mean,we know in our hearts, we know
it's reality, there's still alot of people who have never
tried Perdomo Reserve Champagne.
I mean, there's stories wherewe've done events recently and
people said, Oh, we we lovePerdomo.
What's new?
And you go, Well, have you evertried a Proomo Reserve
champagne?
(14:18):
Never.
The brand's been out for 26years.
So it's old to us, but new to alot of people.
So I guess my question to you isis to the person who has never
tried a prodomo reservechampagne.
I guess who's it for and whyshould they smoke one?
SPEAKER_00 (14:32):
Well, that's a great question.
I think that if you're gonnalearn how to taste scotch, for
example, there's no reason whyyou have to drink a bad scotch
to start.
Why can't you drive, why can'tyou drink a nice single malt
scotch that's 25 years old?
And I think that's whatchampagne is.
SPEAKER_01 (14:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:47):
I think it's a really refined, great-tasting
cigar.
I think it's I think everybodywants smoothness.
I think everybody wants richnessand flavor that's not
overpowering.
But you hit it right on thehead.
Flavor is something soimportant, and people don't
understand the variances offlavor and strength.
And we're gonna be talking aboutthis in the future podcast
because we want people to refinetheir palates, and it's practice
(15:08):
makes perfect.
And I think everybody, like Isaid earlier, whether you're a
mild meme or full-bodied smoker,you're gonna enjoy this cigar.
And I've seen it, the proofs inthe pudding.
And for people who haven'tsmoked the cigar, to answer your
question, I trust they're reallygonna enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01 (15:26):
Yeah.
And I think it's for everybody.
I mean, listen, we smoke veryrich, heavy, powerful cigars.
And I'll tell you what, thiscigar, there is no cigar that we
make that is mild.
It just doesn't exist with thehigh primers that we use,
well-aged tobaccos.
I mean, you're talking about abrand that every year certified
six-year-aged tobaccos wrapper,binder, filler, okay, and
Perdomo Reserve Champagne.
But the great thing aboutChampagne, where you mastered
(15:49):
how to blend a Connecticut wrapcigar with Nicaraguan fillers,
you eventually created PerdomoHabano in Connecticut.
Perdomo 20th Anniversary has anincredible Connecticut wrapper,
eight-year-aged tobaccos,Perdomo 12-year double-aged
vintage Connecticut, what amonster cigar.
Perdomo 30th anniversary, allthe way up to Perdomo Legacy
having Connecticut wrap cigars.
So it's one of those thingswhere when people smoke our
(16:11):
cigars and really dive into thePerdomo portfolio, it every
single brand from Champagne allthe way up to Perdomo Legacy,
it's just the evolutions offlavor and the and just really
just how we continue to getbetter and better, and not even
better, but just how everythingcomplements each other and how
every brand just evolves overallin flavor.
(16:32):
So I'm really proud of it, Dad.
But I think this was a reallygreat episode.
I'm proud of this brand.
It's very important.
I think having it one of ourearlier episodes being episode
number three.
Perdomo Champagne definitelydeserves its own segment, not
only outside of sales, butreally this episode's about you
and going outside of the box,making the risk of creating
(16:54):
something when everybody wasdoing the same thing over and
over again.
Connecticut rap over Nick overDominican fillers, Dominican
binders, or Mexican binders.
You did something that set atrend, and the trend continues
today and will continuetomorrow.
So, Dad, job well done.
SPEAKER_00 (17:10):
Well, thank you.
But again, thank you.
And I'd like to thank everybodyand the staff at Perdomo's
cigars, like I said, they wereopen-minded.
Yeah.
And it's what makes usdifferent.
And it's a reason why, still tothis day, our product lines have
three wrappers, and thatConnecticut is by far our
biggest seller.
And the important thing is it'sa phenomenal cigar.
(17:31):
And if you haven't tried it, Ihighly recommend you get a box.
I think you'll really enjoythem.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (17:37):
Well, Dad, great episode.
I'd like to thank our audience.
If you like this, please like,share, and subscribe to our
Prodomopodcast.com, also onProdomo YouTube and our Prodomo
Facebook and Instagram pages.
Thank you so much, and we'relooking forward to seeing you
guys in the next episode.
Hi, I'm Nicholas Perdomo with Perdomo Cigars,
alongside my dad, Nick Perdomo,and you are listening to the
Prodomo podcast.
Dad, today we got something veryspecial.
First of all, it's great to bewith you again, and this is
episode number three.
But we have something very nearand dear to our hearts that
(00:20):
we're going to be talking about.
We're talking about a brand thatreally was the first of its
kind, something that you reallywent outside the box and created
over two decades ago.
And Dad, this this episode'sabout the Perdomo Reserve
Champagne story.
So, Dad, you know, going backand looking, you know, at what
you were able to really dosomething totally different.
(00:44):
You created Perdomo ReserveChampagne.
And it was a different time.
You're looking late 90s goinginto 2000.
Explain a little bit in terms ofwhy you wanted to create Perdomo
Reserve Champagne.
SPEAKER_00 (00:56):
Well, really, the way it started was a phone call
from my father where we had atremendous amount of inventory
of Connecticut seed wrappers,because back in the late 90s, we
were usually using mostly uhHabano and Maduro and Cameroon
seed tobaccos.
And we had all this wrapper thatwas really well aged, and we're
(01:17):
talking 1999, and we hadwrappers from the 92, 93 crop.
Certainly wasn't because of myinfinite wisdom.
And my father had a great pout.
I asked him to make some cigars,and he said, Wow, these are
different.
You know, most Connecticut thatyou smoke, you'll see it's kind
of like that egg yolk color.
Yeah.
And these these wrappers had ahoney or butterscotch type
color, really beautiful.
(01:38):
And my father said, Man, you canreally taste the essence of the
wrapper, the creaminess and soon and so on.
So he had sent us some cigars upfrom Nicaragua before I went
down there, and the whole staffloved them.
And we decided to make a blend.
And what we wanted to do is wewant to do something different.
Look, I was just talking toArthur earlier, and in the in
the mid-90s and the late 90s,80% of the humidors were
(02:01):
Dominican cigars withConnecticut shade wrappers,
Dominican tobacco with Mexicanbinders and Connecticut shade
wrappers, very mild to say theleast.
And I want to do somethingdifferent.
I wanted to blend it withNicaraguan tobacco because it
was unheard of, to be quitehonest with you.
And I think we hit a home runout of that cigar.
We loved it.
(02:21):
It had a lot of flavor.
It was something that wastotally different, kind of out
of the box, because I would talkto customers.
You know, it was the mostimportant thing was being there
and being able to talk to yourconsumers and your retailers.
And people wanted more and moreflavor.
It was kind of very similar, allthe cigars.
I'm not saying they were bad,but I always think people are
always looking for more flavor.
(02:42):
And that's how we came out withPerdoma Reserve Champagne.
26 years later, it's still ournumber one seller, and it
continues growing.
And I'm very proud of the brand.
And I love it.
And I'm really excited.
We're smoking Perdomo ReserveChampagne on the on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (02:54):
Yeah, it's an incredible cigar, continues to
grow every year.
But I think the more I look atit, Dad, and when you really
look behind, and it's a storythat we really never talk about,
but it's the truth.
You know, you mentioned in theold days it was the it was
Connecticut Shade Wrapper overDominican binders, Dominican
fillers, or Connecticut Shadewrapper over Mexican binder and
(03:14):
Dominican fillers.
You were the first to create abrand out of the country of
Nicaragua that was specificallya Connecticut rapper over
Nicaraguan binders andNicaraguan fillers.
So you were the first to do it.
And Perdomo Cigars, our family,we were the first to do it.
So I think that's somethingwithin itself that's absolutely
(03:35):
incredible.
And if you can, if you couldtalk a little bit more behind
the blending side of it.
SPEAKER_00 (03:40):
Yeah, so I wanted to have something where the
Nicaraguan fillers wouldn'toverpower the cigar.
And that was kind of a challengebecause I wanted to be able to
pick up that creaminess that myfather was talking about.
But I also wanted something thatwas extremely flavorful.
And there was risk because itwas unheard of at the time.
Like I said earlier, everythingwas very mild at the time, but I
(04:01):
knew and I felt really goodabout it that people were, like
I said, want more and moreflavor.
And we worked really hard and wedid it in lot numbers.
So we didn't just take regionsand say that I'm going to use
Seiko, Tobacco, Visa from Halop,I'm going to use Lihero from
Esteli.
We we truncated them in lotnumbers, and we really worked
(04:21):
hard.
It took us quite a while.
And that's how it came out.
Took us to 2000 or almost partof 2000, the RTDA show when he
came out with the with thebrand.
And it's been it's been awinner.
And what I love about the cigar,I would say it's medium-bodied.
I think it hits every flavorcharacteristic from somebody
from the from the newbie whowho's starting to the guy who's
been an experienced smoker.
(04:41):
It's really an easy-going cigar.
I think it's a cigar forsomebody who's looking for a
rich flavor, looking forcomplexity.
And what we really wanted,Nicholas, is those well-aged
Connecticut shade wrappers toreally shine where you could
taste the tobacco.
And I think it's beenconsistent.
The consumers love it.
We continue growing.
(05:02):
And the feedback that I get hasalways been astronomical.
And a lot of my older friendsthat have been really serious
cigar smokers love the ease ofthe cigar.
Right.
It has very little acidity, it'svery cream, it's it's smooth.
And I think that risk at the endpaid off.
But I felt really good about ittoo.
SPEAKER_01 (05:21):
Yeah, of course.
And I think it's something thatwhen you look, you know, people,
when we've done events over theyears and we've gone and we've,
you know, we try to tell peoplewhat do you like to smoke to the
mild, medium, full body, andthey like something a little bit
more mild to medium.
And you tell them, well, youshould try champagne, and they
look at the wrapper, they go,Oh, it's a little bit.
I find Connecticut to be alittle bit tart, a little bit
(05:42):
bitter.
And but I think one of thethings that you've done, outside
of creating a Connecticut blendover Nicaraguan binders and
fillers, is the way we age andthe way we really ferment the
tobacco and age the tobacco,specifically the Connecticut
wrapper.
So if you don't mind, if youcould tell our audience a little
bit in terms of how we do that.
SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
Look, any great tobacco has to be sorted,
selected, cured, fermented, andaged tremendously.
It takes a long time to do that.
But what happened withConnecticut, it gets a gets a
bad footing because one, it'svery expensive.
It's the most expensive wrapperin the world.
Two, the farmers bring it fromthe curing barns after they pick
(06:21):
the tobacco, they give it onesweat and they're on cigars
months later.
And that's wrong.
Just because the tobacco burnsdoesn't mean it's great.
It has to be well aged.
Just because you put grape juicein a in a in a bottle doesn't
make it a great, great wine justbecause you can drink it, right?
Sure.
So it takes a lot of patienceand it takes a lot of time.
And I have come to realize thegreat Connecticut seed tobacco
(06:44):
needs approximately 60 months ofreal aging to be fantastic,
where you get these beautifulhoney butterscotch colors, where
you get that nice, creamy,almondy, vanilla taste.
And it pairs so well with theNicaraguan fillers and binders
that we make.
And we the proofs in thepudding, it's our number one
selling cigar, not only inAmerica, but in all 77 countries
(07:04):
around the world that we sellto.
Yeah, it's true.
SPEAKER_01 (07:07):
And I think one of the things that when you take
Perdomo Reserve champagne andstarting and you know, using
Connecticut wrappers overNicaraguan fillers, and you gave
me a great story one time whenwe had a competitor come and
visit us, and basically what yousaid was is that he was looking
and saying, Man, you have allthese tobaccos, you know, aged
for so long, you know how muchweight you lose with you know
(07:28):
from when you bought it, and itloses the moisture within the
within the bales of tobaccos.
But explain, you know, in termsof our whole mindset, we're
driven by quality.
And if you can explain thatstory to our audience.
SPEAKER_00 (07:42):
Well, my father always said it takes 10 years to
get a customer and takes threeseconds to lose one.
I've always been resolute aboutthat.
And a lot of people call me thetobacco hoarder.
I stockpile a lot of tobaccobecause you're as good as your
tobacco is, and you have to havereally well-aged tobacco.
So I had a competitor, a friendof mine, who said, My God, I
can't believe the inventory.
Just envision lines and boxes ofConnecticut wrapper till the eye
(08:06):
can't see.
And he said, You lose about 10pounds of moisture per bale, and
if you cost you$50 a pound,that's$500 a box.
And if you take all by thethousands of boxes, I don't
know, the math came out to be alittle over a million dollars.
And I said, No, your math iswrong.
And he said, Well, how do youfigure?
I said, What you have to do isyou have to take the bale of
tobacco and see how many leavesyou get out of, which is
(08:27):
approximately$24,700 cigars youcan make, and then you divide it
by the$500.
And at the end, it's irrelevantbecause if you make a customer
happy and he enjoys thatproduct, you have a customer for
life.
How much is that worth?
It's certainly worth a lot morethan$500 per box, and certainly
worth more than a milliondollars when you look at the
(08:48):
longevity we've had as acompany.
So to me, it was money wellworth spending.
We continue doing it, wecontinue stockpiling Connecticut
because I want our customershappy and I want them to taste
Connecticut that's not acidic,that's not acrid, it's not
bitter.
I want them to taste Connecticutthe Prodoma way, which is
smooth, clean, flavorful, andenjoyable for every palate.
SPEAKER_01 (09:12):
Well, it goes back to your old saying it takes ten
years to get a customer, but itcould take three seconds to lose
one.
And that mantra's the rightmantra.
So I think it's everything interms of just just the mindset
that we have.
So I'm proud of that.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
Me too.
I I love the cigar.
I mean, look, I it's just acigar that just everybody who
smokes it really enjoys it.
It's just right on.
And we can't really make a mildcigar with it because of our
volcanic grounds and how fertileeverything is in Nicaragua.
But we age these fillers andbinders for a long time too, so
we can make the cigar become soharmonious and become one, and
(09:47):
it really has worked.
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
It's true.
That's true.
And that's and then now takinganother step back and looking,
you release the cigar, you startblending Perdoma Reserve
champagne in the latter part ofthe late 90s, 97, 98, and you
have the mindset of, okay, Iblended this cigar, I'm going to
release it in 2000 at the RTDAshow, which is now the PCA show.
Looking back now, 26 yearslater, when did you know that
(10:11):
Perdoma Reserve champagne becamea hit?
SPEAKER_00 (10:14):
Yeah, that's a that's a hard question.
I remember talking to Arthurmany years ago.
We were walking around thefactory, and people asked me,
when did you figure out you'd beyou guys were were were hitting
in stride?
And I said, really about threeyears ago.
But this is a cigar that I feltreally great out of the gate.
I remember when we we opened upthe trade show in 2000, the
lines of people, and 26 yearslater, the lines of people that
(10:37):
still come to the PCA show todaywaiting to buy and purchase
Perdomo Reserve champagne fortheir stores all around the
world.
I had a great I had a greatfeeling about it.
It was very unique.
You know, we look at thepackaging.
The packaging, I think, issuperb.
People wonder why do we have thegold cellophane?
SPEAKER_01 (10:54):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
And I'd like to talk about it if I could.
SPEAKER_01 (10:56):
Yes, you can.
SPEAKER_00 (10:56):
So that cellophane is really orange, but when you
put the cigar in it, it turnsyellow.
And it really reminded me ofCrystal Champagne, the packaging
of it.
That's not really the reason whyI did it.
The real reason why we did itwas because back in those days,
we all had the fluorescentlights and all the humidors
around the country.
And what it would do is it wouldblanch out any wrapper you could
have.
And we wanted to protect thatwrapper.
(11:18):
So it actually has a UV coatingand an ovia films out of Chicago
who does our cellulos before wemake our cellophane tubes with
our machinery.
Offered that, and it was in thatparticular tint of color.
And then I noticed when I putthe cigar in, it had that
champagne look on it.
And my father always said, Thisis the champagne of wrappers,
hence how we came out with theword Perdomo Reserve champagne.
(11:39):
So it's been a love affair forme since day one, and I've
always felt very good about thecigar.
And uh, it's been a winner 26years later, still growing like
crazy, and people love it fromPittsburgh to Munich to
Amsterdam to you know anywhereyou can think of around the
world.
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible.
You start out, you're you're asmall guy, you know, really
looking back.
You have Perdomo ReserveChampagne, you see celebrities
today smoking this cigar.
You see Aaron Rodgers lightingit up.
I mean, what an honor for us.
I mean, you look back at thetimes you started out of your
garage, you moved multiplefacilities within Miami, then
eventually to Nicaragua.
(12:20):
And now you got now we have oneof the world's best-selling
Connecticut wrapped cigars inthe market.
And it continues to grow, andI'm so proud of it, Dad.
And I'm proud of you for takingthat risk when we look back and
go, man, everything was mild,mild, mild.
And you decided, no, I want tomake medium in a Connecticut
wrapped cigar.
Because at the end of the day,we can make any cigar that's
super flavorful or reallyoverpowerful, right?
(12:42):
Even if it has even if it has alight wrapper, but we work
within what people are lookingfor.
Overall, people who want tosmoke a light wrapped cigar,
they want to have somethingsmooth.
And smooth doesn't necessarilymean mild, in my opinion.
Smooth means flavorful, right?
In terms of using well-agedtobaccos, blending all the
components correctly, right,which you did.
(13:03):
And making a Nicaraguan cigarwith a Connecticut rapper dead,
it was an incredible move onyour part.
SPEAKER_00 (13:08):
Well, I appreciate it, but I got to give a lot of
credit to our staff inNicaraguan here in Miami, who
were open-minded about itbecause you got to remember it
back in those days, it wasHabano for us.
That's what I was famous for,the Cuban seed rappers that we
used, our Maduro rappers thatwere Cuban seed, and our
Cameroon rappers.
So we really went out of therealm of it, even though
(13:28):
Connecticut still to this day isabout 80% of the consumption.
To do something with Nicaraguanfillers and binders was really
kind of revolutionary, the wordI hate the most, but it really
was.
SPEAKER_01 (13:38):
Well, I guess the thing I want to say is thanks
for making Connecticut wrapcigars fun.
Yeah, they thanks for makingthem taste great.
SPEAKER_00 (13:44):
Yeah, and I appreciate that.
And our staff has done a greatjob, and and it's it's the
curing, the fermentation, theaging process that our team does
so extremely well that makethose rappers really sing with
the fillers and binders.
SPEAKER_01 (13:58):
It's true.
So, Dad, you know, PerdomoReserve Champagne's a huge hit.
And but there's still, I mean,we know in our hearts, we know
it's reality, there's still alot of people who have never
tried Perdomo Reserve Champagne.
I mean, there's stories wherewe've done events recently and
people said, Oh, we we lovePerdomo.
What's new?
And you go, Well, have you evertried a Proomo Reserve
champagne?
(14:18):
Never.
The brand's been out for 26years.
So it's old to us, but new to alot of people.
So I guess my question to you isis to the person who has never
tried a prodomo reservechampagne.
I guess who's it for and whyshould they smoke one?
SPEAKER_00 (14:32):
Well, that's a great question.
I think that if you're gonnalearn how to taste scotch, for
example, there's no reason whyyou have to drink a bad scotch
to start.
Why can't you drive, why can'tyou drink a nice single malt
scotch that's 25 years old?
And I think that's whatchampagne is.
SPEAKER_01 (14:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:47):
I think it's a really refined, great-tasting
cigar.
I think it's I think everybodywants smoothness.
I think everybody wants richnessand flavor that's not
overpowering.
But you hit it right on thehead.
Flavor is something soimportant, and people don't
understand the variances offlavor and strength.
And we're gonna be talking aboutthis in the future podcast
because we want people to refinetheir palates, and it's practice
(15:08):
makes perfect.
And I think everybody, like Isaid earlier, whether you're a
mild meme or full-bodied smoker,you're gonna enjoy this cigar.
And I've seen it, the proofs inthe pudding.
And for people who haven'tsmoked the cigar, to answer your
question, I trust they're reallygonna enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01 (15:26):
Yeah.
And I think it's for everybody.
I mean, listen, we smoke veryrich, heavy, powerful cigars.
And I'll tell you what, thiscigar, there is no cigar that we
make that is mild.
It just doesn't exist with thehigh primers that we use,
well-aged tobaccos.
I mean, you're talking about abrand that every year certified
six-year-aged tobaccos wrapper,binder, filler, okay, and
Perdomo Reserve Champagne.
But the great thing aboutChampagne, where you mastered
(15:49):
how to blend a Connecticut wrapcigar with Nicaraguan fillers,
you eventually created PerdomoHabano in Connecticut.
Perdomo 20th Anniversary has anincredible Connecticut wrapper,
eight-year-aged tobaccos,Perdomo 12-year double-aged
vintage Connecticut, what amonster cigar.
Perdomo 30th anniversary, allthe way up to Perdomo Legacy
having Connecticut wrap cigars.
So it's one of those thingswhere when people smoke our
(16:11):
cigars and really dive into thePerdomo portfolio, it every
single brand from Champagne allthe way up to Perdomo Legacy,
it's just the evolutions offlavor and the and just really
just how we continue to getbetter and better, and not even
better, but just how everythingcomplements each other and how
every brand just evolves overallin flavor.
(16:32):
So I'm really proud of it, Dad.
But I think this was a reallygreat episode.
I'm proud of this brand.
It's very important.
I think having it one of ourearlier episodes being episode
number three.
Perdomo Champagne definitelydeserves its own segment, not
only outside of sales, butreally this episode's about you
and going outside of the box,making the risk of creating
(16:54):
something when everybody wasdoing the same thing over and
over again.
Connecticut rap over Nick overDominican fillers, Dominican
binders, or Mexican binders.
You did something that set atrend, and the trend continues
today and will continuetomorrow.
So, Dad, job well done.
SPEAKER_00 (17:10):
Well, thank you.
But again, thank you.
And I'd like to thank everybodyand the staff at Perdomo's
cigars, like I said, they wereopen-minded.
Yeah.
And it's what makes usdifferent.
And it's a reason why, still tothis day, our product lines have
three wrappers, and thatConnecticut is by far our
biggest seller.
And the important thing is it'sa phenomenal cigar.
(17:31):
And if you haven't tried it, Ihighly recommend you get a box.
I think you'll really enjoythem.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (17:37):
Well, Dad, great episode.
I'd like to thank our audience.
If you like this, please like,share, and subscribe to our
Prodomopodcast.com, also onProdomo YouTube and our Prodomo
Facebook and Instagram pages.
Thank you so much, and we'relooking forward to seeing you
guys in the next episode.
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