Video review HERE.
(Description taken from Halfwheel.com website)
Throughout his cigar-making career, Ernesto Padilla has had a couple of consistent influences, most notably the city of Miami and his father, Heberto.
Born in 1932, Heberto Padilla was a noted Cuban poet and critic of the Castro regime, and it was that criticism led to his imprisonment in 1971. While he initially supported the Revolution, he changed his opinion of it as the place of the writer in Cuban society changed, going from being heralded for their cultural and creative contributions to being criticized and even banned by the government. Many were seen as being divisive to society while not adhering to the true principles of communism and socialism.
Padilla’s imprisonment was criticized by numerous well-known writers, including Susan Sontag and Jean-Paul Sartre, and even became known as “the Padilla affair.” While he was eventually released from prison after 37 days, he was forced to remain in the country until 1980. He eventually left Cuba, spending time in New York, Washington, D.C., and Madrid before settling in Princeton, N.J. He then moved to the Columbus, Ga. area as he was teaching at Columbus State University. Sadly, he died on Sept. 25, 2000.
The year 2020 would have marked the 88th birthday of Heberto Padilla, and what gives this cigar its name. Ernesto Padilla said that while it does not use the 1932 name, it is considered to be part of the Padilla 1932 series.
The blend uses a high priming Ecuadorian habano wrapper over a double binder of Nicaraguan criollo and corojo leaves, and Nicaraguan fillers grown by AJ Fernandez that includes corojo, criollo and pelo de oro, according to Padilla. The line is being made at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A. in Estelí.
Blend and Origin:
Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A.
Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano)
Binder: Nicaragua (Criollo and Corojo)
Filler: Nicaragua (Corojo, Criollo and Pelo de Oro)
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Vitolas:
Robusto: 5 x 50
Toro: 6 x 52 (REVIEWED TODAY)
Figurado: 6 x 60
The cigar has a nice, clean looking band and has an average feel in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up were a citrus/cedar, brown sugar, nutmeg, hints of toffee, and a leathery, earthy black coffee. There was black pepper rated at 7 1/2 to 8. A pretty good start.
At the first third (22 minutes) the cigar has settled down. The toffee notes are more pronounced. There is both leather and earthy black coffee. There is still a citrus/cedar note with brown sugar. And there is nutmeg in the mix. The black pepper is intertwined in all the flavors. The finish is toffee and very light leather with good lingering black pepper. The cigar is medium bodied. The cigar is very tasty at this point. I rated the first third 93.
Moving through the second third (47 minutes) the earthiness made a big move up. The same notes are there but the earthiness and black coffee have really risen. The earthiness is quite peppery also. The cigar is still medium bodied. The finish is actually unchanged; nice toffee notes with a hint of leather and good lingering black pepper. I rated the second third 90.
The cigar lasted 1 hour 9 minutes. The earthiness continued to rise. The sweeter notes are only hints at this point. There is plenty of earthy black coffee, light leather, and hints of anything sweet. There is still a lot of black pepper mixed in with the earthiness. The cigar is still medium bodied. The finish is unchanged, which is a big surprise since the front end made such a dramatic change. I rated the final third 88. The cigar sort of ran away. It started very nice but it did not hold.
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