Our Grand Cru cigar was recently rated a 91 by Cigar Snob magazine:

Why not buy a box today for yourself!?

Last month (June 2010) saw a major cigar event in Russia. According to the site MyCigars.ru:

The evening was dedicated to the opening of Salon Award Cigar Clan Best of the Best. The event was held in a huge white tent in the middle of the exhibition center. Awards received:

The best Cuban cigar Vegas Robaina Famoso;
Best Dominican cigars Bossner Petr I Maduro;
Best Nicaraguan Cigar Perdomo Habano Maduro;
Best Honduran cigars CAO Italia Gondola;
Discovery of the Year Ashton Estate Sun Grown 22 Year Salute Torpedo;
Discovery of the Year Kirsanoff Collection Vegas De Montana Churchill.

Nick Perdomo accepts cigar award

As most friends of Perdomo will already know, our Australian GM, Jason Nelson, married his fiancé Marianne (aka Mez) last week in Positano, Italy!

Congratulations, guys!

I’m sure Jason would want me to share the lovin’ and I’ve been sitting here scratching my noggin trying to think what I can do.

So… I’m going to run a competition for the next 24 hours for Perdomo fans in Australia!

It’s all about spreading the lerve.

At 5pm tomorrow (that would be Thursday 01 July 2010… ooh, end of the financial year) I will be picking someone at random from our followers on the Perdomo Cigars Australia Twitter account. That person will receive a FREE three-pack of Perdomo cigars!

All you need to do to be in the running is to follow us on Twitter. If you don’t know how to do that yet… well, Google it. You can work it out. I’ll pick someone at random but you HAVE to be in Australia to qualify. Limited to one person only.

Shhh… don’t tell Jason I’m doing this. He’s left me in charge of the Perdomo stash while he’s away and I figure I might as well have some fun.

Hey there, sexy people!

Do you think you have what it takes to look good hanging on a wall?

How would you like to have a “high art” poster of yourself, shot by one of Brisbane’s best photographers, to hang on your wall?

We’re planning an exciting, classy series of promotional posters to hang on the walls of the new Club Perdomo in Brisbane and, rather than use professional models, we’d rather use REAL people.

That’s where YOU come in.

If you (or someone you know) would look good hanging up large on the wall, fill out the below form, attach a photo of yourself (or your friend), and we’ll see if your “look” fits with one of the scenarios we have in mind!

We’re not actually looking for people who look like models. We’re looking for “real” people, people who represent Perdomo customers. That said, we’re going to be hanging these posters on the wall of our club, so we’re looking for people who are easy on the eyes. We need people of all ages (well, between 18 and 80), so it doesn’t matter how old you are.

No promises, folks, so please don’t take offense if we can’t use you – we’ve only got room for a handful of people. If you’re interested in helping us out, fill out the form below, and we’ll be in touch if we think we can use you.

A few things you need to know:

1. We’ll require you for half a day in Brisbane during the next few weeks.
2. We’re not going to pay you.
3. The pay-off for you is that there will be a “high art”, classy poster with you in it that you can hang on your wall and show your friends.
4. You don’t have to be a cigar smoker…. but obviously that would be a bonus.

This episode features the highlights of the May 2010 Brisbane Perdomo cigar tasting evening and features one of our local customers, James Ford from LimoByJames.com.au.

Don’t miss any Perdomo news – sign up for our free email!

Nick Perdomo was the first guest on the first episode of a new cigar podcast called “The Cigar Authority“. He talked about some recent Perdomo news, including new Lot 23 sizes!

Wil Anderson and Perdomo Cigars

Yesterday Jason and I were flying back from Melbourne, where we had the pleasure of having dinner with Mr Jeremy Oliver, Australia’s #1 wine critic, which included a bottle of the Luciano Sandrone Barolo le Vigne 1999 – truly amazing. I asked Jeremy for his off-the-cuff tasting notes on the wine and that was a mind-blowing and wonderful experience!

ANYWAY…

On the flight back to Brisbane, I noticed that famed Australian comedian, television and radio host Wil Anderson was sitting in the seat in front of me, so I took a photo of the back of his head. As we were disembarking (or what I like to think of as “disemboweling” the plane), I asked Wil if he liked cigars. He said he did and so I presented him with two Perdomo Grand Cru Toro Natural as a gift. I’ve enjoyed Wil’s work on TV shows such as The Glass House and The Gruen Transfer over the years and this was just my way of saying thanks. I knew he was doing a series of shows this week at Brisbane’s Powerhouse, so I wished him luck. He said thanks and shook my hand.

As I was leaving the plane, I sent him a quick message on Twitter, and he replied with a warm DM a few hours later, saying it was a good way to be greeted into Brisbane.

Anyway, today I got a few calls / tweets from people who said they heard Wil on radio this morning and he mentioned getting the cigars and talked for a few minutes about cigars. I’d love to hear it but I don’t know which radio show to search for the podcast version. Can anyone help me? Thanks to @c_jen for letting me know it was on Nova 106.9. I just listened to it and the cigar story starts about 2:44 and goes for a couple of minutes.

The main point, though, is that it’s pretty cool – people saw it unfold on Twitter, then heard it mentioned on radio (or had someone tell them about it at work), and knew about the incident from reading my tweets, then told me about the mention on radio. It’s like some kinda group mind.

Hope Wil enjoyed the sticks!

Well Jason and I are sitting in the lounge at LAX, waiting for our flight back to Oz after an amazing trip! We’ve got lots of video and photos to share with you over coming months from our tour of the Perdomo facilities in Esteli and Miami but as a tease, check out this trailer for an upcoming video series that the folks at Perdomo HQ have been putting together!

Jason and I arrived in Nicaragua yesterday! We flew from Miami International Airport (which, by the way, has to be THE. WORST. AIRPORT. IN. THE. WORLD.) with Hillman, Vincent and Bill from Perdomo Asia, as well as Billy Perdomo and a few guys from the US and Poland, arriving in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, a couple of hours later. Compared to Miami, Managua airport was a breeze. Most of the guys hit the liquor stores, where you can buy 12 year-old Flor De Cana rum (a local Nicaraguan product which is “the world’s most awarded rum”) for about $20, and stocked up for the trip.

We had a bus waiting for us at the airport and started the three hour trip to Esteli, the home of Perdomo Cigars’ manufacturing facilities.

As soon as we jumped on the bus, Billy handed out cigars and Nicaraguan beer (Tona, a very good drop).

Cameron on the bus to Esteli

The three hour trip to Esteli was fascinating. As far as the landscape goes, Nicaragua looks incredibly like Australia. I half expected to see a few roos jumping around. The main differences I noticed were:

a) we don’t have vultures back home and

b) we don’t have people living in tiny corrogated iron shacks in the dirt.

Although, I supposed if you go to certain parts of WA and the NT, you might see something similar.

c) more mountains.

A few stats about Nicaragua:

Population – about 6 million, the lowest population density in Central America. Possibly because so many people died during the revolutionary and Contra wars in the 70s and 80s.

Unemployment – 46%. It is the second poorest country in the Americas. 48% of the population in Nicaragua live below the poverty line, 79.9% of the population live with less than $2 per day. According to UN figures, 80% of the indigenous people (who make up 5% of the population) live on less than $1 per day. According to the FAO, 27% of all Nicaraguans are suffering from undernourishment; the highest percentage in Central America.

Religion – 95% Catholic. Under the influence of the Catholics, the govt introduced a 100% ban on abortion last year, which leads to horrifying situations like this.

Culture – Nicaragua is a country that takes poetry SERIOUSLY. Ruben Dario is considered a national hero.

Jason on the bus to Esteli

So the people here are very poor, very religious and had to fight tooth-and-nail to win the right of self-government, after first being colonized by the Spanish for centuries, then the USA, then for almost half of the 20th century the country was run by the brutal Somoza family dictatorship, then when the revolution kicked the last Somoza out, the USA under Reagan illegally funded the Contras (a counter-revolutionary militia) to try to overthrow the new government (which was unsuccessful and lead to the infamous Iran – Contra scandal with Oliver North) and put Nicaragua under an economic embargo for five years.

So they’ve been doing it tough for a long, long time.

Nicaragua has always been a predominantly agricultural country and they are well known for their rum, coffee, lobsters, beef and, of course, CIGARS. Not just Perdomo – there are a range of cigar manufacturers based here in Esteli, because of the soil and climate.

When we arrived in Esteli, about 5pm, we took a quick visit to the Perdomo factory, which was closed because it’s a Sunday (and everyone’s in church).

Perdomo Cigars factory in Esteli

Today we’ll be heading back to the factory to witness the entire Perdomo operation. Perdomo has vertically integrated the entire process – from growing their own crops, to making their own boxes, to, of course, drying, rolling and ageing their cigars.

I’m going to be shooting lots of video for the PerdomoVision podcast.

(BTW you can see more photos on our Facebook page.)

Nick Perdomo in Esteli

Thanks to Eric Brown from The Party Source in Bellevue for tweeting this photo of Nick Perdomo Jr in Esteli, Nicaragua! That’s EXACTLY where Jason and I will be in about 7 days! Can’t wait!