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A PLEA FROM PERDOMO

Plus tasting and grading Perdomo’s newest lines!

Los Angeles, October 5 – In an open letter to the U.S. Congress and the tobacco trade circulated yesterday, Tabacalera Perdomo founder and president Nick Perdomo laid out the case for not only upholding U.S. President George W. Bush’s veto on the SCHIP legislation, but what to do about cigar taxes when the bill is reconsidered:

“Unfortunately for myself and the thousands of people involved in the cigar industry, our businesses and livelihoods will cease to exist if the proposed SCHIP cigar tax passes. I beg you to support President Bush’s veto; it is the right thing to do. I cannot stress this enough – this excessive tax will put us all out of business. I must state that I am not against SCHIP. I am a proud father of two and of course children are very important to us, however this tax is simply punishing and would put thousands of American families and their workers out of business.

“The negative impact of this tax is already being felt. The threat of losing my company, my home and our employee’s careers [is] very real. My workers here and in Nicaragua are frightened. The rumors of a mass exodus from Central America to cross the border into our Country truly frightens me and many fellow Americans.

“After speaking to several people who worked on the SCHIP bill, I honestly don’t believe that when they wrote the cigar tax, they did not intend to destroy the cigar industry. However, intentional or not, the proposed cigar tax will have that effect. I am a third generation cigar maker. My family left Cuba because the Government simply destroyed our dreams and took away our business. Please do not let this happen to us again in the land of freedom. I am an honest American businessman and our workers and I work extremely hard.”

Perdomo noted the impact of the cigar tax burden the current bill would impose:

• “Low cigar demand shall lead to layoffs and job losses at all levels of the cigar industry. Many of the U.S. cigar factories will now be forced to close. Many of these factories have been in existence since the early 1900’s. All these people will now lose their job. Remember these are all hardworking taxpayers. This will lead to a greater dependence on government-supported social aid programs, negatively impacting the economy. Not to mention that the cigar makers are true artisans will have done this unique work all of their lives. They will now have to be retrained. Case-in-point — the luxury tax of the 1990’s. When the exorbitant luxury tax was enacted, an entire industry (the yacht industry) was decimated, leading to drastic job-losses in shipbuilding yards. These working class Americans were left without incomes to support their families. We still have not gotten over that to this day. I assure you the very same thing will happen here.

• “There will be a widespread negative economic and social impact of the cigar tax on developing countries that make cigars and grow cigar tobacco including the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, the Bahamas, Ecuador, Columbia, Peru, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica and Cameroon, Africa. Cigars and cigar tobacco are some of the largest exports from these countries and 95% of their cigar exports are to the U.S. market. The rest of the world cigar market is predominantly supplied by Communist Cuba. Honest Americans and their families will lose their jobs and Communist Cuba will become stronger. This is just plain wrong as you can well see.

• “The cigar tax will negatively affect the United States international relationships with the above mentioned countries due to the over 750,000 people will lose their jobs because of the American government placing a huge tax on a product that these countries make. This will help fuel anti-American political movements instigated by radical Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro. Just yesterday Daniel Ortega was spouting off at the mouth on how America is trying to put out over 100,000 people in the streets with this punitive tax. (There are numerous supporting news articles on this and the others). The only true happy one is the tyrant Fidel Castro.”

And Perdomo was specific about what the outcome should be: “I propose that you increase the tax cap on cigars by the same percentage that you increased the cigarette tax in the Senate version of SCHIP, which is 156%. If you apply this percentage increase to the current $.05 cap, it would increase the cap to approximately $.12 per cigar. Even though I believe that this is still very unfair at least we won’t go out of business. If you apply a reasonable cigar tax increase, you would still be more than doubling the cigar tax, increase the government’s revenues from cigars and not kill an entire industry.”

Perdomo’s passion for the issue should not be underestimated and neither should his newest cigar blends. We took a taste of five:

Perdomo Habano – Corojo wrapper:
[Nicaragua: available in 5 sizes]
We have tried almost every blend offered by Perdomo and this may very well be the best of them all.

The Habano is a new blend, introduced this summer at the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America (RTDA) trade show, made from tobaccos from three different regions in Nicaragua: Condega, Esteli and Jalapa.

The Corojo blend has a spicy aroma and a medium-to-full-bodied presence. The flavor emphasizes a sweet, caramelized taste with a splash of spice on the tongue. It’s quite rich and the balance between the base flavor and spiced finish is impressive.

Well made with an easy draw and even burn, it’s consistent to the end with just a drop of pepper signaling the end of a sumptuous smoking experience. Even better, it’s very reasonably priced at $5.00 to 7.00 per cigar before local tobacco taxes. Yowsah!
Overall grade: A: Exceptional.

Perdomo Habano – Maduro wrapper:
[Nicaragua: available in 5 sizes]
The maduro-wrapped version of the Perdomo Habano line uses a Nicaraguan-grown wrapper and has a full-bodied presence along with a spicy aroma.

The sweet taste you would expect from a maduro cigar is present, but the taste is demure, even gentle, is comparison to the Corojo version. An element of spice is introduced is mid-course that becomes balanced with the steady core taste of sweetness.

This is a very fine cigar with plenty to offer, but without the brightness in flavor of the Corojo blend.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.

Perdomo Lot 23 – Natural wrapper:
[Nicaragua: available in 4 sizes]
The Lot 23 blend debuted in 2006 and features binder and filler tobaccos from a specific field in Nicaragua designated as “Lot 23.” It’s full-bodied with a toasty aroma and a very unique taste.

The flavor approaches cocoa in consistency with a sweet and creamy approach and has a tingle of spice on the finish. It’s quite smooth, but a spicier note is present in the second half. It’s an interesting cigar and worth exploring, especially at a bargain price of just $4.25 to $5.00 each!.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.

Perdomo Lot 23 – Maduro wrapper:
[Nicaragua: available in 5 sizes]
Introduced in early 2007, the Lot 23 maduro-wrapped edition is full-bodied but very gentle, emphasizing a sweet taste with a toasty and just slightly spicy aroma.

There’s a caramelized core to the flavor, with a medium-to-long finish that’s especially enjoyable because the cigar burns so well and doesn’t tire you out. The intensity of the taste recedes a bit in the second half and there’s a pinch of spice that comes on late. There’s also some hidden power in this blend that can surprise you if you draw on it too heavily. Like the natural-wrapped version, it’s also a great value and comes in beautifully varnished boxes.
Overall grade: A: Exceptional.

Perdomo Reserve Limited Golf Edition:
[Nicaragua: available in 8 sizes]
The last of the Perdomo Reserve blends to be introduced (in 2006), the Golf Edition is reported to be specially blended for enjoyment on the golf course.

With a medium-to-full body, the cigar doesn’t overpower you, but there’s a nice core taste of dark caramel and a spiced current that you’ll notice on the tongue that runs through the medium finish.

The balanced approach of this blend makes it easy to appreciate, even outdoors, thanks to the spiced finish. It’s offered in a wide range of sizes, appropriately priced at $4.50 to 10.00 each.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.

Nick Perdomo’s passion for cigars, seasoned by his experience in growing his tiny Nick’s Cigar Company into one of the industry’s major players, was the starting point for these five terrific blends which are not only a joy to smoke, but will leave your pocketbook happy as well.
~ Rich Perelman

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