Padilla Signature 1932 Torpdeo Monday, Jan 14 2008

Country: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: Torpedo 6.5″ x 52 ring

The cigar I am reviewing today is yet another Patriarchal tribute (see my review of Perdomo’s Edición de Silvio). The Padilla Signature 1932 is Ernesto Padilla’s tribute to his late father, the Cuban poet Heberto Padilla. The Keepers of the Flame have a great profile of Heberto that is very interesting and worth the read. Be sure to go check it out. Just click Heberto’s name above. Ernesto trusted the making of this blend to none other than the greatest cigar maker of the current age, Don Jose “Pepin” Garcia. I received this beefy gem of a torpedo from my friends at CigarsDirect.com.

This cigar sports a dark brown, veiny corojo wrapper that has the look of leather. That combined with an ornate band with earth tones and gold trim gives this smoke a rustic yet very elegant look. The overall effect makes the cigar look vintage. Aesthetically it is an absolutely beautiful cigar. Its beauty doesn’t stop at its appearance. The flavors are beautiful as well. After a typical “Pepin Pepper” start the cigar makes a full on assault of your palate with robust flavors of leather and spice with a very earthy undertone. There is also a creaminess to the flavors that reminded me a bit of some of the Tatuaje Reserva cigars I’ve smoked, also made by Pepin Garcia. I smoked this cigar outside on a beautiful sunny day and I noticed something about this cigar that I didn’t see until I stepped out into the sunlight. When the sun hit the cigar it began to shimmer and sparkle. A closer look revealed a light dusting of crystals all over the wrapper. Plume! It served as a testament to me of the care that CigarsDirect.com takes in properly caring for and storing their cigars and to the quality of materials and construction that Padilla put into making it. It was a pleasant surprise. As I passed the halfway mark it mellowed out a little. It was very woodsy/cedary and not as full bodied as it was at the start, but still a full flavored robust smoke. The construction was superb and the burn was great. The only negative thing I can say about it is that you can’t put it down. I don’t mean that in the sense that “it’s so good I can’t put it down” although that statement would apply to this cigar. Rather I mean you can’t put it down because it will go out. I had to relight it a few times because it wouldn’t stay lit if I stopped smoking it. The ash was mostly white peppered with black spots and it was a little papery on the edges.

The Signature 1932 is an excellent smoke and a wonderful tribute to a great poet and father. I know Ernesto must be awfully proud of this cigar. I rate it as a must try for anyone who enjoys a robust, complex smoke.

Get yours at CigarsDirect.com: Padilla Signature 1932

Rating - A

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Padilla Cedro 6.0×52 Saturday, Jan 14 2006

Country: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Connecticut Shade
Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Peruvian long-fillers
Size: Toro Grande 6″x52 ring
(for a detailed description of the points system I use please click here.)

Broke out one of my Cedros earlier then I planned to. Couldn’t wait to try one. I’m still trying to get a hang of describing the flavors of a cigar, but here’s my best shot…

Appearance - 6/10
The wrapper is a very nice Caramel Brown with small veins throughout. There were a few minor blemishes/color variations. The cigar was nice and firm except for one very small soft spot that happened to be in the same spot a light spot in the wrapper. It had a very nice cap that was a little longer than I am used to seeing, meaning it went a little further down the head than normal. This had a cool effect. After I cut the tip of the cap, the remaining portion created a pronounced and very cool looking ring around the head of the cigar. The cut was perfect, the filler tobacco bunched nicely with no rib veins visible in the head. The pre-light draw tasted of cedar. It was a medium draw, maybe just a little on the firm side of medium. Some one who likes a firmer draw may bum this section to an 8. I like my draw a little lighter.

Flavor - 16/20
The flavor was very consistent throughout. I thought this cigar was very much like a 5 Vegas Gold. It was smooth and mellow. It had a strong cedar flavor with a creamy…… toasted cereal/nut flavor. i don’t think that’s quite right but it is the best I can come up with to describe what I was tasting. About half way through I thought I detected a very subtle hint of licorice but it only lasted for a few puffs. Towards the end of the cigar I thought the flavors and the strength of the cigar increased. The whole time I was smoking this I was thinking this would be a great breakfast cigar, perfect with a good cup of coffee.

Smoking Characteristics - 7/10
The cigar lit nicely. The ash was firm and held it’s shape, and was a very nice light grey in color. Almost white. The burn wasn’t razor sharp but it stayed even enough. I just kept rotating the cigar as I smoked and I never had a problem, and never needed to make any manual corrections. The cigar produced plenty of nice white smoke and it had a short woody finish. No real buzz factor to speak of since this was a very mild cigar. Mild but very flavorful.

Price - 3/5.
I fell victim to my own impatience here. I jumped on this right away and paid $6 a cigar for these. A couple days later, CI comes out with a 15 for $35 deal that would have put them at just over $3 a stick. So for five bucks more I could have had 15 of these instead of 5. Sucks for me. Well the review system says to rate it on what you paid so I gotta go with the $6 price point here. If I only paid $3 a stick the cigar would have scored a 5 here. At $6 I can only rate it a 3. Slightly better than average deal.

The Math
6+16+7+3=32\4.5=7.11*10=71.1

SCORE = 71.1

This seems a little low to me, but like I said, at a better price this cigar would score a little higher. It’s also possible the blemishes in the wrapper on this stick were an aberration. I’d like to check the other four I have to compare, but the cedar wrap covers almost the whole cigar. If the blemishes I saw were an aberration the score on this would bump up into the upper 70’s. I really like this cigar. It reminds me a lot of the 5 Vegas Gold (another one of my favorites). I would not call it complex but it is definitely not boring. I thought it was a very nice, very flavorful mild cigar. I wish I was smart enough to wait and see if CI put them on special (like they did) so that I’d have more of them.

Very nice cigar Ernesto. I really enjoyed it.

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