Rating: 90 (A-)

Vitola:  Long Corona

Wrapper: 5-year old Nicaraguan Maduro (?)

Origin: Nicaragua

Age: a few months

This is an exclusive from Holt’s to celebrate their 110th Anniversary (really?).  Here’s a blurb from their site:

To celebrate Holt’s 110th year of business our good friends the Padrons decided to blend a brand new, extra-special cigar exclusively for our customers: The Padron Legacy. Not only is this a momentous release due to the fact the Padron’s rarely produce anything new, but also because the cigar itself is spectacular. An incredibly well-aged blend of all Nicaraguan tobaccos in this gem, providing it with a complex, but balanced, full-bodied flavor boasting layers of earth and leather interwoven with nuts and spices, culminating in a smooth, chocolaty finish.

Now normally I buy local, but this LE I could not resist!

So this is still from the Serie 1926 blend, so the only thing really new about this is the size.  It features a 5-year aged Nicaraguan Maduro wrapper that is dark, luscious and inviting.

I punched this cigar because most Padrons have a single cap and often unravel with clipping.  The draw is nice and easy as expected.

I am enjoying this cigar with a home made B-52 cocktail (Kahlua Especial & Starbucks Irish Cream) that should pair perfectly with the maduro wrapper.

The first few inches are surprisingly strong and peppery.  This cigar packs more of a punch than most of the 26s I remember.

As expected I get loads of chocolate and coffee with a hint of hazelnut.  As I get to the halfway point the cigar begins to unravel at the head, which is quite annoying as I tried to avoid this with a punch cut.

Padron Legacy Maduro

There is a touch of wood on the finish which is nice and long and I get plumes of smoke from every puff.

The strength comes and goes which is fun, and as I get to the halfway point I get a little licorice in the finish.

The burn is dead even throughout the entire smoke, which kind of makes up for the unraveling of the wrapper.  Yes the wrapper is a pain, but I enjoy this to the nub!

Rating: 89 (B+)

Size:  6 3/4″ x 54

Vitola: Perfecto

Wrapper:  5-Year Old Nicaraguan

Origin: Nicaragua

This is one cigar that’s really tough to get your hands on, especially at the price point too!

This is the only cigar that Padron makes that is a perfecto (other than the Maduro version of this cigar of course).  The cigar was made to celebrate the birthday of Padron’s founder Jose Orlando Padron.

From the first puff, I knew I was in for a treat.  The smoke was smooth and mellow and just rolled out of my mouth in lazy plumes.

I felt this was milder than any other of Padron cigar, and at first I was a little disappointed that it did not have as much oomph, but then I quickly realized that was the intent of the blend.  Some cigars have aged wrappers or aged fillers, but what made this cigar unique was that it tasted like the whole thing was rolled and then aged for five years!

There’s tons of wood and cocoa with a long finish peppered with anise and coffee.  Each puff gave me a varying degree of each of the flavors, so it seemed like every puff was from a different cigar.

This is one of the must have smokes of 2008!  I think this will have ot be added to the Top Zen (10) List…

Rating: 91 (A)