Ernesto Padilla honors his father with this Padilla Series '68 cigar line. His father was arrested and imprisoned in Cuba in 1968 after publishing a collection of poetry that criticized the communist Castro regime. I bought this cigar when I was at the Padilla factory & lounge on Calle Ocho in may 2009, so this cigar has been resting for over a year in my humidor. There is a text on the band 'Corojo 05 0775' and I wonder what those numbers mean.
This cigar has a nice dark wrapper with some thick veins. The cigar has a unpleasant hay smell with a hint of fish, something I never smelled in a cigar before. The construction of this 6.1x52 cigar feels good and the predraw is just fine. It tastes mild spicy. Even though this cigar is rolled in Honduras, it is made from Nicaraguan tobacco, Havana seed tobacco from Esteli and Condega for the filler and a corojo wrapper.
At first I taste a nice and quite spicy coffee. The feeling in my mouth is quite dry. I also taste some herbs. After half an inch I also taste some wood. The coffee has disappeared and there is some pepper in the aftertaste. There's also a little sweetness on the background.
Halfway the cigar tastes like sweet but dry wood with some herbs. After two thirds the cigar becomes spicy again.
I enjoyed this cigar for exactly an hour. The draw was fine and so was the burn. The smoke was thick and there was plenty of it. The ash is light colored with some black spots and it was quite firm. I got a huge flame when purging this full flavored and full bodied cigar.
Would I buy this cigar again? I think so.
Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Aroma first part: 8 / 10
Aroma second part: 8 / 10
Aroma third part: 8 / 10