I think that everyone goes through a warm and cold relationship with certain brands throughout the lifetime of their cigar hobby.  Most of the times, it’s a bright hot relationship before fizzling out into something cool, stale, and unsatisfying. 

For me, this is the cigar that sparked life into my Padron relationship, giving me newfound appreciation for the brand.  Until then, Padron was an enigma to my palate – it just wasn’t me.  At heart, I’m a medium-bodied cigar smoker that shies away from the full throttled stuff at any price range. 

Then I smoked The Hammer a few years ago and all bets were off.  For the first time, venturing outside my comfort zone was rewarding. There was an abundance of flavors wrapped inside a wide depth of body.  It wasn’t full for full sake; it was all about the flavor. 

I’ve just lit this cigar now, and I’m thoroughly enjoying what always reminds me of Guinness in the first few puffs.  Before the pepper settles in on my palate, there’s a deeply satisfying sensation of cocoa, espresso, and cream.  The sort of creamy texture that a pint of Guinness exemplifies is one and the same with The Hammer, coating the palate in a very long finish. 

Peppercorn and a combination of woods hit about half an inch later, with the mocha and pepper components doing battle in interesting ways.  On the one hand, there’s a delicate sweetness; on the other, there’s a bullying spice that continues to linger between puffs.  While I don’t expect serious transitions throughout the length of this cigar from previous experience, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Right now, at this moment, today’s cigar is perfect. 

View the previous Cigar of the Week

A touch of earth develops as the cigar progresses, but it’s mostly background noise compared to the peppery Chocolate Stout flavors.  Not the Liga Privada type of earth that consumes the experience, but an accompanying sort of earth that layers into the flavor profile.  And if I close my eyes, I swear that I can taste vanilla malt as ash approaches the band. 

Right now, there’s not another cigar on the planet that I wish I had lit tonight or featured as this week’s pick.

Note: what I smoked today was not the original Padron 50^thAnniversary Maduro.  These were originally released in numbered humidors with 50 cigars inside, and have been re-released as part of a refill system. Whereas the originals featured red numbers, the refills are labeled with black numbers on the bottom of the band. 

Recommendations: 

While I’d normally recommend picking this cigar up as part of a sampler if you’ve never tried it, the two-pack from Small Batch makes a lot of sense here.  If you don’t enjoy it, it will be very easy to offload the remaining cigar.  And if you are going to buy these, it’s best to have more than one.  Just one of these in a humidor has a tendency to remain unsmoked, while two virtually guarantees that at least one will be sampled and hopefully enjoyed.  

I’d highly recommend this cigar to anyone that enjoys a good Stout and two hours of Champion-level cigar smoking.   If you enjoy the first few minutes, you’ll enjoy the entire ride.  What this cigar lacks in distinct transitions it makes up for in mouthwatering flavors from start to finish.  

And if you’re just curious what a $40 cigar should taste like, I invite you to try this one before others.  The construction, flavor profile, and experience have always lived up to the price tag and I don’t say that lightly.  There are expectations that a cigar of this caliber should be breathing rare air, and I believe Padron found the right ingredients to command their cost of admission. 

View Padron 50th Anniversary Cigars