First of all, this cigar is a wonder to behold. The look and feel create such an anticipation that I can hardly contain myself. The wrapper is a chocolate brown, smooth and velvety with the tiniest veins that are hardly noticeable. It has a beautiful box-pressed construction and seems “fluted” when viewed from the front and sides. Even the band, or bands to be more precise, speak of the care of construction and quality. There are three separate bands on this stogie. Taken together they make it next to impossible to counterfeit. Putting my nose up to the wrapper did not produce significant results, no hint from the wrapper nose of what might lie ahead. Time to light up.

Lighting this cigar is worthy of the right instrument. My double-burner Colibri seemed like overkill. No, I needed a lighter with a surgeon’s precision, so out came my ST Dupont, which has a clean bright flame with a pointed tip. I carefully toasted the foot without letting the flame touch the tobacco to get a nice even burn before putting the cigar in my mouth to puff.

The first third of this cigar is very smooth and sultry. Rich plumes of white smoke emit from the white ash. I usually try to get about an inch of ash before flicking into an ash tray (or carpet, as the case may be). The ash held together well and had a consistent appearance. A sign of good construction. When I did flick the ash into the ash tray, what was left was the familiar pyramid cone that indicates that the filler is burning slow compared with the wrapper and binder. Even though the wrapper displayed a thin black line at the burning end, it was jagged and a bit inconsistent.

The second third of the cigar started to show some deep and rich flavors. The complexity of the tobacco emerged and began to emulsify my taste buds. A rich earthiness was apparent that lingered on my palate. I kept some water around so I could cleanse my palate occasionally. Also, the burn inconsistency, evident in the first third of the cigar, evened out in the second third. This self-correction is a good sign that the cigar was well constructed and that a melding (marrying) of the tobacco had taken place.

As I got about half way through the smoke, I started to carefully peel off the bands. The first band, the 40th anniversary one, was the one closest to the foot. The second band is actually the upper most Padron label. The final band is the one that looks like it has some secret encoded message (“Paul is dead”(?) I didn’t have a black light or infrared light to confirm this), it also contains the serial number.

The final third of this cigar is intense. I noticed that its effect on my palate was to make my mouth salivate more, which not only dilutes but adds a complexity in much the same way as adding a bit of water to a single malt whiskey does. I couldn’t articulate any particular flavors outside of the obvious, tobacco, but the flavors were clearly more vivid and made for an excellent finish on the smoke. This was truly worthy of a Stogie Fresh Gold Star rating.

~Doc