This is always an absolutely fantastic cigar. The flavor profile portrays notes of espresso, toast, a little earth, cedar, and some pepper that primarily hits on the retro. The construction is solid, although the drawer remains smooth with a lot of smoke output. The burn pulls out a decent pace while remaining almost razor sharp.
Amazing cigar in an awesome setting. Visit the Club Macanudo if you are in NY. And yes, they have more than Macanudos on their cigar list: Padrón, Plasencia, Oliva, AF, Cohiba… no boutique cigars but still a nice selection,
TL;DR: A celebration cigar that is worthy of the price. The hype is real. Try one.
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67% RH @ Cap, 64% RH @ foot - Home humidor aged 7 months.
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Initial observations - The last of my current “celebration“ cigars on hand, but definitely not the last one to be purchased, I’ve had this Padrón for a while, wondering when I’d smoke it. Today is the day. While I certainly won’t be making a habit of buying cigars that cost $30+ (after tax), sometimes it’s worth it, which is the entire point of a “celebration” cigar. Unfortunately, there’s not much more to celebrate today other than the fact that this is the oldest I’ve ever been in my life, and it’s a random Wednesday. Is there anything else that’s really needed? The big question here though, is, does this cigar hold up to being celebratory, or will I just go “oh…that was…nice”? I will soon find out.
The band is classy in that Pardón way that uses a fancy logo script, muted, but eye-catching colors, filigree, and of course, serial numbers on all their cigars (that really IS a nice touch). It’s a band that is both beautiful to look at, and is also functional. The wrapper is a nice dark chocolate color that is matte and not toothy, but still has a velvety feel between the fingers. The seam is visible now, but wasn’t when I bought it, and there are only one or two prominent veins. The cap is simple, but it’s cut well and placed straight. It is not deep at all though. Nonetheless, I presume it will handle a cut with ease. The foot is exquisitely cleanly cut and shows the filler well. There is no band on it though, and I wish there was for a cigar at this price. The stick is as firm as it can be and has absolutely zero give, even at the box pressed corners, which all adds up to good construction. Scents off the unlit wrapper were faint but included leather and coffee. The foot added cinnamon and chocolate on the nose.
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Cold draw - Despite the simple cap, I choose to cut it with my double sided scissors. I thought about V cutting, but ultimately chose the straight cut for a number of reasons, including mitigating a “hot spot” on my tongue, and keeping with old school tradition that a cigar of this ilk deserves. All the same, what remained of the cap (just a couple of slivers) stayed in place and the cigar showed no signs of unraveling. The resistance was spot on with just a touch of tightness that would loosen up with heat. Flavor notes off the cold draw included cinnamon, coffee, leather, chocolate, and a touch of raisin.
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Light up - The first flavors to cross my palate after setting the foot ablaze with a lit cedar spill were espresso, leather, walnuts, peaty earth, and dark bready notes like pumpernickel. The retrohale had black pepper, a slight touch of cream, almonds, cedar, and stone fruit, mostly plum, but also cherry.
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First third - A half inch in and the light up flavors settled. The ash was solid, light gray, non-flaky, and slightly toothy in spots. The burn line was razor sharp. The draw was spot on, as expected, having loosened up just a touch. On the palate, I got flavor notes of espresso, cedar, oak, cocoa, walnuts, earth, cinnamon, brûléed sugar, and dark bread. The retrohale settled into black pepper, cedar, cherry, plum, cream, almonds, and black coffee. The finish that developed here was medium in duration and let the notes of earth, sweet tobacco, and a hint of floral notes linger. I could tell right away this was a classy cigar with a flavor profile right up my alley. It was apparent early on what the hype was about. The cigar ashed itself after a solid 1” clean. The smoke texture is syrupy and not arid at all. Going into the second third, the cocoa note turned more into a brownie note, and the dark bread shifted to toast.
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Second third - In the second third, the flavors shifted again and settled more. On the palate I picked up espresso, cedar, oak, brownie, walnuts, earth, cinnamon, molasses, and dark bread toast. In the retrohale I got black pepper, cedar, sweet cream with brûléed sugar, cocoa, plum, raisin that gave way to wine, white bread toast, almond, and coffee. The finish lengthened slightly and let earth, hay, and leather linger. The ash at this point looked more like stacked dimes (rectangular dimes lol) still with visible tooth, and held on well. At this point, the room aroma was noticeably rich, but it was of fine tobacco, not necessarily aromatics. The S.O. may not enjoy it as much as you. The smoke texture started drying out, but wasn’t quite arid yet. In the transition to the final third I noticed the sweetness falling away and the drier, more woody and nutty notes come forward.
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Final third - In the final third the band was loose so I moved it as far back as I could. The ash continued to hold on until the cigar ashed itself in one large 2”+ clump. When it did I took the opportunity to remove both bands (yes, the main band is made of 2 bands). Tasting notes in this third included cedar, mildly bitter black coffee notes, white wine, walnuts, peaty earth, raisin, and charred oak. The retro had black pepper, dry cinnamon, cedar, white wine, oak, almonds, a touch of cream with no sweetness, pine nuts, and toast. The finish still tasted of earth, tobacco, and cocoa dusted pecan. I must note that here the burn line got slightly less than perfect, but it didn’t require touching up at all. In the final inch, a dusty chocolate note made a revival. Final tasting notes were cedar and charred oak, and it should be noted that a tobacco flavor never REALLY took over, even at the end. The smoke texture dried out but still didn’t get arid.
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Other notes - This was an extremely well balanced, smooth cigar. As the cigar burned, the best flavors were in the retrohale more than on the palate, so keep that in mind. The burn line started sharp and even and didn’t waver, for the most part. Flavors (body) were full and the strength of nicotine was a medium to medium plus. The reputation of a “celebratory” cigar is well earned. One of my very few complaints is that it burned a little fast for the length and ring gauge. I smoked mine until I couldn’t hold it anymore (less than 0.5”) in 1 hour and 35 minutes. And while that is a great smoke time, especially for the length (a little more than 5”), I thought the ring gauge would give me more.
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Personal Final Score - 93
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Would I buy it again? - Absolutely! Always keep one or two of these in your best humidor.
