Padilla Habano Robusto

This is a cigar from the Padilla family manufacturers. They release a bunch of different blends of cigars, mostly available at http://www.cigarsinternational.com/ or other online cigar vendors, but you can find them at some tobacco shops. This was a good medium-bodied cigar you can get for a decent price.

Initial Impressions: The wrapper was very nice and fairly smooth with some bumps, no blemishes, and had a nice oily sheen to it. Gave off a very nice pre-light aroma of tobacco.

Smoking: As you can see from the pictures this stick was flawlessly constructed. The burn was even the whole way through, the wrapper was flawless, it never burned too hot, and the ash was firm and stayed on as long as possible, before I had to take the band off. The draw was superb on this cigar as well from start to finish. Perfectly constructed smoke this time around no complaints at all. Hands-down perfect.

Taste: This cigar was a medium-bodied gem that was smooth the whole way through. The taste started out very "woody" and the finish had a sweet tobacco taste that stayed on the palate for a short time. At around the sixth and seventh pictures the taste began to change to a sweet "cream" like taste and the finish retained that sweet tobacco flavor but became more full and stayed on the palate longer. The flavor was so good here that even a slug decided to come and see what was up. After the ash finally fell off and for the rest of the smoke the "cream"-like flavor continued, but the stick increased a little in complexity and I could detect some "coffee"-like and "nut"-like flavors here and there. The finish remained full and sweet and stayed on the palate for a long time for the rest of the smoke. This cigar retained good taste characteristics even down to the nub where it just became too hot to smoke, never turned harsh. The aroma from this cigar was nice and lite.

Conclusion: For a stick I never tried before I thought my trigger finger might have been to itchy and I was in for a dissapointment. This cigar, however, went far and above my expectations. I read that these received a 90 rating in either CA or CI and that rating was well deserved. One of the best constructed cigars that I have ever smoked. The medium-bodied taste here was also a nice change of pace from the more full-bodied smokes I've been enjoying recently. The tastse was also very pleasant and had some nice complexity to it that really surprised me. You can find these sticks at B&M's ranging from about $5-$6, online boxes of 20 I've seen can go anywhere from $85-$120. Even at this price that value if very good. At less than $3 a stick via joecigar the value is really amazing. Here's to hoping that the rest of the cigars are just as good.