THE PERDOMO PODCAST
Welcome to The Perdomo Podcast—your front-row seat inside one of the world's most respected premium cigar manufacturers.
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Straight From the Cigar Makers™
THE PERDOMO PODCAST
Ep12 • Why Is Bourbon Barrel Aging So Important?
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Bourbon barrel aging gets talked about like a flavor trick, but we treat it like what it really is: an extension of tobacco fermentation and cigar aging that takes serious time, money, and discipline. From our studio in Miami Lakes, we kick things off with what we’re smoking, then take you on a virtual trip to Estelí, Nicaragua to get right next to the barrels and the leaf, where the changes in aroma and color are impossible to ignore.
We explain the real mechanics behind bourbon barrel aged cigars. The barrels are non-varnished so the tobacco can breathe, and the inside is heavily charred, creating charcoal that helps filter and round out rough edges. We’re not pouring bourbon into tobacco or trying to “infuse” alcohol flavor. What we rely on is the residue in the wood, the pressure inside the barrel, and the natural heat that builds as the leaf goes through another fermentation. That second fermentation helps bring sugars and starches forward, caramelizes the tobacco, and refines texture so the smoke comes across smoother and more balanced.
You’ll also hear how this process shows up across different wrapper leaves, from Connecticut turning into a honey butterscotch shade to deeper, oilier Nicaraguan shade grown and rich, dark Maduro. We talk timelines too, because patience is the whole point: wrappers may rest in barrels for months, and some projects take years on top of long bale aging. We also connect the dots to the Perdomo lines you see in humidors and why bourbon barrel aging has become part of our DNA, not a one-off release.
If you like deep craft details and want your next premium cigar to make more sense from first light to final inch, subscribe, share this with a cigar friend, and leave a review and a comment with what you’re smoking right now.
Welcome And What We’re Smoking
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the world of Perdomo Cigars. We deliver the most authentic in-depth cigar education to you, the cigar enthusiast. Recorded at the Perdomo Studio in Miami, Florida. Brought to you by third and fourth generation Master Cigar Makers. This is the Perdomo Podcast. Your hosts, Nick and Nicholas Perdomo.
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to the Perdomo Podcast. I'm Nicholas Perdomo. I'm alongside my dad, Nick Perdomo. Dad, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. How about yourself? I'm doing really well. Let me ask you a question. Sure. What are you smoking? I was going to ask you. I'm smoking a Perdomo Legacy Nicaraguan shade grown Churchill 7 by 54. What are you smoking?
SPEAKER_02I am smoking a Perdomo Legacy Maduro, and this is like a chocolate bar. And I'm all over this like a fat kid eating candy, I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_01I'm loving this cigar. Leave us a comment. Tell us what you guys are smoking while you're watching the show. And we appreciate you guys coming back on. And Dad, today we have a very special episode like we did previously.
Why Bourbon Barrels Matter
SPEAKER_01We are going to do our virtual experience again today. We are going to take you guys to Estely, Nicaragua to show you another process that we have. And today we're going to be talking about why bourbon barrel aging is so important. And we're going to be taking you inside one of the most unique, probably the one one of the most unique processes in premium cigar making, which is bourbon barrel aging.
SPEAKER_02It's a process that pretty much nobody does, and but we think it's very important.
SPEAKER_01It is. And bourbon barrel aging, it's definitely not a gimmick. It helps the tobacco, it changes the flavors. It actually helps accent many different types of nuances, aromas, things like that.
Where The Barrel Method Came From
SPEAKER_01Dad, one of the things I want you to do is I wanted you to explain to our audience, give them the backstory of bourbon barrel aging. How long have you been doing it and why did you do it?
SPEAKER_02Well, I actually learned it from my father. You know, once tobacco doesn't ferment, we ferment all our tobacco 100% before it goes into a bale. A lot of manufacturers think you ferment the tobacco 50% and the bale does the the rest of the job. And I personally don't believe that with all due respect to some manufacturers. The reason I don't believe in it because the bale doesn't have enough pressure like a pilon has. And I'd rather just ferment 100%. I think the bale is used for aging to marry the flavors, which we'll be talking about here in the near future. So that's first and foremost. So when tobacco doesn't ferment anymore, your fingers don't stick. You got the fragrance of tobacco core where it should be, the colors are uniform. That's it, right?
SPEAKER_01Yep, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02But my dad said, no, it's not it. There's a thing we did at H. Upman. We took American whiskey barrels, which are bourbon barrels, and we would put tobacco in. And I said, Well, what's that do? And he said, Well, what it does, it does three things. First thing they use French oak at the time. Now we use a lot of French oak and American oak, very similar, splintery woods that absorb. And I said, okay. And he said the second thing they do on these torches and these barrels are they don't varnish them so the tobacco can breathe. I see people saying I age tobacco and rum barrels, or rum barrels are varnished. If you have varnished, you can't have any any oxygen going through. You're gonna have mold in the tobacco, so I don't know how people do that. And the third thing he said is they char the inside of the barrels with cetylene torches. And what does that do? Charring? Charring produces charcoal. We know charcoal is a filtering agent, and the filtering agent will help round out any of the rough edges on the tobacco and actually smoothen out the tobacco. And I scratched my head, I never wanted to argue with my dad.
The First Barrels And The Heat
SPEAKER_02So we ended up buying 12 barrels up in Kentucky, a company called Buffalo Trace, and brought the barrels down, deposited tobacco that was 100% fermented. I didn't think it was going to heat up. And about six days later, on a Saturday morning at 5.15 in the morning, my dad wakes me up and said, Let's go to the factory. And I was like a kid, I was really, really excited about it and put my hand in that tobacco and it was warm. It was about 102 degrees, and I was blown away. And what was really blowing me away too was the fragrance of that tobacco. You could taste, you could smell the starches, the sugars, the molasses. It was beautiful. And what we're doing is we're not imbuing alcohol or bourbon, infusing them in cigars. We're actually allowing the alcohol that's the residue that's in the barrels under pressure with the tobacco. What happens is biochemically the free radicals run. And I'll explain that when we go to Nicaragua. And basically what we're doing is we're fermenting the tobacco one more time. The charcoal is rounding the edges and really taking all the roughness that you get with no matter how well-aged the tobacco is. And you're seeing the cask of colors darkening them up, and you see darker casts. If you look at our Connecticut, it never looks yellow, it looks almost like honey butterscotch. That's because those barrels brings all the sugars, starches, the grease, the oils, the resins, everything we want to taste. And what it does is it refines the tobacco, just kind of like what you said earlier, and it makes a huge difference. Look, we would have never invested what we did. We have 984 barrels in our facilities today, and we think it's extremely important. People are going to ask me how long do the barrels last? I remember talking to the No family years ago in Kentucky. They said it could last up to 25 years. With that being said, every year we case it with fresh bourbon just to make sure they're good. But I tell you, I have the original 12 bourbon barrels we had from 1999, and they still have that fragrance in them. And it does last a long time. And that French oak and American oak does absorb it all.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. So now, Dad, what we're going to do is we're going to show our audience exactly how we bourbon barrel age our tobaccos. And you're going to really learn why time and patience and how we age are really go through the second fermentation process, why we do this and truly why it's so important. So, Dad, without further ado, I think it's time to go to Nicaragua. Join us, guys.
Inside The Estelí Barrel Room
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to Estaline, Nicaragua. We're here at Tobacco Learn Perdomo, and we have our beautiful bourbon barrels here. And we're going to talk about why bourbon barrel aging is so important. So, Dad, one of the things that we've, you know, you've taught me and you've learned from your grandfather, your great-grandfather, this is an old way of doing stuff, right? And this is an old way of making tobacco, really making tobacco better, softer, and things like that. Your grandfather, your dad, they were doing this in Cuba. And so we're doing it today, and we've been doing it for many, many years, decades, as a matter of fact. And Dad, can you explain to our audience why it's so important and why this makes our cigars so special?
SPEAKER_02So I learned this from my father. Once tobacco is completely fermented, where we had talked earlier in an earlier podcast, where the tobacco has a solid tobacco coarse smell, when it the tobacco doesn't tack anymore and it's fully fermented. This is another fermentation that we get. And I doubt it, my dad, but you should never doubt your father. So if you look at these barrels, if you go underneath, they're charred, completely charred underneath. And we use American whiskey barrels or bourbon barrels. And the reason we use them is for a couple reasons. The first is they're non-varnished. And because they're impregnated with whiskey, we're not imbuing the tobacco with whiskey. What we're doing is we're using the alcohol residue in the barrels to be able to give it another fermentation. And what happens is, and I wish you guys could be here to smell the aromas here. They're unbelievable. Beautiful. It does three things. First of all, what it does, it gives it another fermentation. The tobacco actually heats up in the barrels. The alcohol and the free radicals run to give it that other fermentation. It brings the sugars up and caramelizes the tobacco. And what it does is because they're charred on the inside, which I showed you on the top, it really takes any of the rough edges out of the tobacco and makes it extremely smoother, like Nichols said earlier, almost soft, a really beautiful flavor. And you really taste the tobacco the way it was intended to be. It's an expensive process, but what it does, because it adds a lot more time, but it really helps in the flavor. And I think, Nicholas, that's really one of the reasons that our cigars are so special, because of the barrel aging process we do. And depending on how long the tobacco needs to be here, is how long we'll keep it here, but we'll ferment it and finish it thoroughly till the tobacco is completely fermented where it doesn't ferment anymore, and we'll let it age here, depending up to 10 months, a year, up to two years, depending on what brand we're making. So these are the fillers, and if you look at them, they almost have like a wine color, like a reddish brown, because all the sugars and starches have come up, and it's due to the barrel aging. And if you feel these, these tobaccos are slightly warm because they're fermenting. It's very important. And also, what we want to do is when we come over here, is this is what's going to set our wrappers. These are fillers and binders you see over here, but these are the wrappers. And if you look at our Connecticut, instead of being like a light yellow egg yolk, it almost has like a honey butterscotch color. These tobaccos are over 60 months old and they'll be in these barrels for over a year. And what it does, it really finishes it off, and you really taste really the fragrance and the aromas of the tobacco, where you get that nice creamy finish with no bitterness. As we move over, you'll see the habano wrappers and you'll see that beautiful reddish-brown texture. And these tobaccos are just wonderful and they don't stick. And what it does is because it's a darker cask of colors, naturally, because of the alcohol and the extra fermentation. And the taste is what really makes. And this is our Nicaraguan shade grown. If you look, even though it was grown under shade, it almost has like a wine color. It's really beautiful and very oily when you look at it. And that's because of the barrel process where it does. It really finishes off. This color was actually two tones lighter before it sat in the barrel. And finally, you have the Maduro wrapper where you have this dark, more chocolate color here, where you see these wrappers, and these wrappers are ready, and these is what's going to make the tobacco taste so good because the wrappers impart such a nice amount of flavor when you have to finish cigars. So this is the importance of barrel aging. Again, the three steps: free radicals running, another fermentation process, darker cask of colors, sugars rise up because the cask of colors darkening through an extra fermentation period that takes quite a bit of time, but it really, it really helps. It does. It really helps the flavor. And we're we do it on every one of our cigars, regardless of which one we make. And I think it's what makes us really special. And you really get to taste the tobacco the way it was intended to taste once we finish the blends and making the cigar. So I think barrelaging.
SPEAKER_01It definitely takes out the harshness. And we use, we have a great saying, we call it bare-aging. It's a fat. So it improves really the flavor, the aroma, the color, and the texture, like my dad was saying. And it's just it's to your point, very expensive process. It costs a lot of money to do it, but we find it's well worth it because you, the consumer, our retail partners, you guys deserve the best, especially from us. And let's get back to Miami. All right. Thank you.
Which Cigars Get Barrel Aged
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to the Prodomo Podcast here in Miami Lakes, Florida. We're very happy to have you guys back. And thanks for joining us in Esteli, Nicaragua, and going through all of the bourbon barrel aging process and seeing how this special process, really why it's so special. And so bourbon barrel aging, it truly is an extension of the tobacco aging/slash really fermentation process. It's like another fermentation process. And again, Dad, just to give a little bit of a recap, those white oak charred bourbon barrels, I know you said in the beginning, but it's really so special how that filtering agent, to your point, and I think it's great insight for our audience because they've seen brands like Perdomo Habano, Bourbon Barrel Age. Now they understand. I think they put a little bit together. But in reality, when you look at not only just Perdomo Habano, Bourbon Barrel Age, the first cigar that you and my grandfather started bourbon barrel aging is with was with our Perdomo 10th anniversary champagne. But all our 10th anniversary line, Perdomo Lot 23, 20th anniversary, of course, the Perdomo Habano line, 30th anniversary, every single cigar, all the way down to Perdomo Fresco. We bourbon barrel age every single wrapper leaf. And then, of course, you have the famed and well-acclaimed Perdomo 12-year double-H vintage line that you took a very big risk in the sense that the financial commitment of taking every single leaf, wrapper, binder, and filler leaves, and bourbon barrel aging each of those for an additional two years after they've been bale-aged for 10 years, by the way. So that's something that this is definitely not a gimmick, like I said in the beginning. This is something, this is really part of our DNA. And this is really what I believe makes us so special here at Perdomo Cigars, and it really separates us from the pack.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's kind of funny. People ask me all the time, do you smoke other people's cigars? And a lot of manufacturers say no, they don't. I smoke everybody's cigars. Look, I think it's no different than a fine chef in a restaurant. I want to try different things and I want to be impressed with stuff. Maybe I can come up with something better. That's that's what we work every day to try to be better and better every day and everything we do, right? And of course, you guys do the same thing. But the bourbon barrel aging differentiates the cigar so much that it makes it really world-class. And I get it, it's time consuming naturally with people having to go down and up with those bourbon barrels and you know, casing this tobacco, deposit them once the heat goes in. But I'm telling you, it's so worth it. And I think it makes our cigars very different, and I love it.
SPEAKER_01It does. And when you guys think about bourbon barrel aging, and you hear it especially with Perdomo cigars, just think about bourbon barrel aging as another fermentation process, like what we talked about on our first trip altogether, going to Estely, Nicaragua, and looking how we ferment tobacco. But also just think about it in terms of bourbon barrel aging, it's a fact, like I said in the video. It's really about flavor, it's about aroma, it's about color and texture, and that's the improvements through the bourbon barrel aging. But also, too, just think about
How Long Each Wrapper Rests
SPEAKER_01the time and the patience. Because it really does. Whether you take Connecticut wrappers and we barrel age those an additional minimum of an eight months, sungrown wrappers or famed Nicaraguan shade grown wrappers, we barrel age those for an additional 10 months after barrel after bale aging, and then the thick, rich, lush, dark chocolate Maduro wrappers that we barrel age, we barrel age those an additional 14 months after we have bale aged those tobaccos. So patience is everything. And when you guys really take a look and you look at that wrapper and you look at the cigar and you're really going to taste it, just think about how that patience is what truly has elevated the flavors and what makes Perdomo cigars known for what we are today, one of the best in the world. And I think, in our opinion, the best in the world. And I I definitely hold that near and dear to my heart. And I think as we do more of these videos and you see all the processes that we have and all the procedures that we follow and everything and how intention detail and the time and patience is everything, I think you guys are going to believe the same exact thing too.
Final Takeaways And Listener Requests
SPEAKER_01But Dad, without further ado, I'd like to thank our audience. I'd like to thank you guys for being with us today. Super honored to have you. If you guys really enjoyed this, please like, subscribe, also share to our YouTube page, and please leave some comments. Like we've said in previous videos. We love your comments. We love to talk to you guys about everything. Any questions that you have or any other type of comments you'd like to make. We'd love to be connected and talk with you. Also, please follow us on our personal Facebook and Instagram pages, and also follow us on our Perdomo Cigars on Facebook and Instagram as well.promo.podcast.com, correct?
SPEAKER_02I'm an old guy. He knows better than me.
SPEAKER_01It's the Perdomo Podcast. That's all right. But I appreciate it, and thank you guys so much. Looking forward to seeing everybody the next episode. Thank you. Thank you, guys.
