Welcome back for yet another Monday Cigar review here at Stogie Review. Moving right along with the theme of bargain level cigars for the upcoming Christmas budget crunch I have the Perdomo Fresco. This cigar sports a Connecticut Shade Grown Wrapper, and Nicaraguan Binder and Fillers from the Jalapa Valley. This particular stick measures in at 5.00 inches long with a 50 Ring Gauge.
During my pre light inspection I found the wrapper to be nice and smooth with a dull sheen. The aroma at both the head and foot were rich and pleasant. When pinched the cigar felt firm and evenly packed with no soft spots throughout. The pre light draw was good with a little resistance and a mild tobacco flavor. After a quick toast and light the cigar was burning evenly and producing a good volume of thick mild bodied smoke.
The first third of the cigar came across mild and relaxed. There wasn’t much in terms of body but the finish was smooth and sort of creamy on the palate lasting for a few minutes then fading. The base flavor was that of rich tobacco with a mild nutty aftertaste. The burn was slow and produced an even, firm ash that hung on for about three quarters of in inch before needing to be persuaded off of the cigar with a firm tap on the ashtray. The draw had a little resistance but put out a good volume of thick smoke that left a mild and pleasant aroma in the room.
As I worked my way into the second third of this cigar, I found the body slowly creeping more towards the Mild – Medium range but wasn’t quiet there yet. The finished remained smooth and creamy while laying on the palate for just a minute or two before fading and leaving your mouth feeling clean and ready for the next puff. The base flavor remained a rich tobacco flavor with a mild nutty aftertaste. The surprising part was that there was virtually no “Nicaraguan zing” to the flavor as I expected from a Nicaraguan cigar. The burn line remained even and produced a compacted and light colored ash.
The final third of my Perdomo Fresco was much like the earlier portions of the cigar with the exception that at about the 1.5 inch mark it was beginning to turn harsh. Up until that point the body was still creeping towards Mild to Medium and had a smooth finish that was easy on the palate. The base flavor remained a straight up natural tobacco flavor with a mild nutty flavor. The draw continued to please and provided a dense smoke. The room aroma was mild and enjoyable while the burn remained even and produced a compacted and firm ash,
Overall I was happy with the cigar and felt that it was a good value for a cigar that performed the way it did. It was far from brimming with complexity but it provided a very straight forward decent smoking experience. If you enjoy Mild to Medium cigars and are looking for something to smoke that will not take you away from whatever you are doing I think that this is a good choice.
The price paid at my local shop was $1.95 each
Instead of weights in at… 50 x 5
Measures in at… I would think makes more sense.
Other than that, LOL, great review!
Fixed it just for you Jabba 😉
Maybe this year I’ll get around to smoking those Montesino Maduros you recommended around this time last year. I haven’t touched the 5 pack yet so hopefully the age does them some good and they wind up being better than I expected.
They are a very nice cigar for the price… I think. If you buy the 5-packs from JR they run like $2 a cigar and they get better with age for sure. I like to smoke them in the afternoon because they are on the mild side. For me they are similar to a Fuente Gran Reserva Maduro.
This is a really good cigar, especially at the price. I would strongly suggest the maduro for maddy fans, it has to be one of the best out there and at a price that cannot be beat.
Thanks for the review.
The Maduro version is very good for the price, but I’ve not had the natural. As it was I prefered the Fresco to the bundle of maduro Perdomo 826 Slow-Aged I’ve been working my way through.
i tried the maduro and i think there is nothing better in that price range
I am now enjoying one of the maduro torps- an interesting smoke for a mild stick at this price indeed…I’m about an inch in: the forward is a nicely-balanced tobacco blend, with touches of cedar and cranberry, the finish is most interesting: dark chocolate- at about 70% cocoa solids… 😉 and cream with a hint of hazlenut; and it seems to change little as the story unfolds….not terribly complex, no, but I, too, am amazed at the volume of smoke. Overall I’d say Perdomo has a good thing going here: I’m certain that newbies, who make one of the Frescos their first, will be back…
I smoked one of the connecticut and one of the maduro so far and I REALLY like the connecticut! I was not very fond of the maduro, but so far the Rocky Patel Edge and the CAO Gold Maduro are the only 2 maduros that I have liked.
I am going to stop by the local cigar shop and buy a couple of these today again, just to make sure I really get a good sense for them so I do not order something I will not like 😉
I might get a bundle of 100 of these before April 1st and just keep them in a ziploc or tupperware container.
Mike
Friggin tax is gonna kill nice low cost stogies like these! grrrrrrrrr
Great review Walt.
Im relatively new to the cigar world & have been looking for a regular smoke at a good price.
I purchased a couple of these with an online order based on this review and was pleased with the smoke.I will be adding a bundle or two to my rotation.
Thanks for the hook up
Joe
I am not a smoker but I bought 5 Perdamo Fresco cigars at a local shop as gifts for aficionados. The marked price was $4 but the clerk gave me a “deal” and sold them to me for $17. Should I return to said store? Thanks in advance for your comments.
Pam,
I’m unsure of what state you live in, you could have a hefty state tax to content with when buying cigars. Where I am, in Pennsylvania, there is no state tax. This review was also done before SCHIP was put into effect and added a $0.40 tax to all cigars.
Considering that this review was done in 2007, I don’t think $3.40 per single was too out of line ($17.00 divided by 5 cigars). I’m sure you could return them and save yourself some money by purchasing online, by by the time you pay for shipping you might be too close to the price you paid to make it worth-while.
Hope that helps
-Walt
Smokers……you folks are fortunate. That cigar in Canada sells for $10 a stick and smoking in public places and private cigar lounges are illegal. The laws in your neck of the woods are likely to reflect the ones in Canada before too long.
Canada made it illegal to smoke in a private cigar lounge? I can understand in restaurants and other public venues, but to outlaw it in a cigar lounge is unreal. I feel bad for my neighbors up north. Best regards my friend.
Great review! I also love this website for it’s rich collection of informative reviews. I’m pretty new to the cigar game still, and I find the input very helpful.
I smoked this cigar for the first time yesterday, and I have to say that I was pleasantly amazed by it. I had tried the maduro before and was fairly non-plussed by it (being more of a maduro guy, I usually try that variety first.) I agree that the thing wasn’t necessarily the most complex cigar I’ve ever smoked, but this thing was so pleasant, that I didn’t mid that a bit! In fact, I think the fact that it was so simple, so creamy clean that made it so magical!
I do have another fresco maduro which I will try next week. I only smoke 3 to 4 cigars a week, and over the past few paydays it’s been about doing head to heads (I.e. Perdomo Habano Maduro vs CAO MX2…I’ll have to try that one again, but I think the win goes to the Perdomo).
This pay period it’s the battle of the cheapies for me. This week it’s Perdomo Fresco vs Perdomo Nick’s Stick vs Natural Brand Cuban Seed (all in the natural), and next week will be the same, except for the maduro versions. All six are Robustos except the Nick’s Stick Maduro which I could only find in a Toro (or a Torpedo, which would be even further away from the Robusto size I was aiming for).
The only two of the six which I have not had before were the Perdomo Fresco Natural (which I had yesterday), and the Perdomo Nick’s Stick Sun Grown (which I’m planning to smoke today) but it’s been so long since I had the National natural, and I was brand new to cigars at the time, so I don’t know how reliable my memories are of it, or if my impression of it was even reliable being so uninformed.
As I’ve said, I am more of a Maduro guy, but there has been several weeks where I’ve smoked nothing but Maduros and I want to kind of branch out a bit, and find a small selection of non-maduros that I can make into regulars to sort of mix things up a bit. Unless the Nick’s Stick Natural or the National Natural just blow this Fresco out of the water, I think I just might have found the non-Maduro cheapie that I want to make into my regular stick for the category.
Once again, great review, great site! Keep writing! I’ll keep reading! 🙂
God Bless!
-Maduro Mardigan
p.s. 10pts to whoever can figure my screen name. It’s a double entendre, and the one half is obviously cigar related. All I’ll say about the other half is that 1) it’s not dirty, 2) it’s a nod to a mid-late 80’s high fantasy movie.
Willow – Val Kilmer as Mad Mardigan
Hello all, I too am a fan of these Perdomo Fresco Maduro. I am enjoying a toro size, purchased as a bundle of 25 for $50-ish total, including shipping, from an online site cigarplace.biz.
As for the laws against cigar smoking (city ordinances), yes, they are everywhere now here in USA, and even in the Deep South where I’m from. Fortunately, I work in Shanghai, China, and also have work travels to Vietnam…and in these “Communist” countries, I can freely smoke my cigars at bars, restaurants and in taxi cabs. LOL
I agree with your review. I have buying at a local cigar shop in mid Michigan at $4.10 per stick I found them online for $2.00 per stick
Thanks