REVIEW: Padrón Serie 1926 No. 35

Recently I've been smoking a lot of smaller sized cigars. I'm not sure if it's the smoking time I like, or if it's that little cigars put off more powerful flavors, but there is something about them that has caught my fancy. With that said, I am on the hunt for more smaller sized sticks that my fellow smokers enjoy, too. I posted a request for suggestions on a few message boards and got a resounding answer that the Padrón Serie 1926 No. 35 is one of the best little guys around. Luckily, I had one of these laying around that a person had sent me in random trade/bomb.

Some information on the 1926 taken from the Padron website:

Padrón 1926 Serie™ line premiered in 2002 to commemorate José O. Padrón’s 75th birthday. The 1926 Series consists of seven sizes available in sun-grown natural and maduro wrapper. All tobacco used in this line is aged for five full years. The refined tobacco is then blended to create an exceptionally smooth, complex, balanced and full-bodied flavor.

I've smoked a few Padrons, but not very many because of the high price tags and never a 1926. I was excited to smoke this stick, so let's see how it goes.

Specifics
Vitola: Petit Corona

Length: 4
Ring Gauge: 48
Wrapper: Nicaragua Maduro
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: $10.70 each at my local shop
Smoking Location: My back deck
Beverage: water

Pre-Light  

The first thing I noticed on my Padrón Serie 1926 was the amount of tooth on the wrapper. When I looked closely, it looked like it had the texture of a cat's tongue. Another characteristic of the dark brown wrapper that was striking was just how minimal the veins were. The leaf used for this wrapper must be very carefully selected to give this almost prefect appearance. When squeezed, this stick was hard as a rock. I had read that the Padrón Serie 1926 were almost all like this, so I was not worried about the draw. The pre-lit aroma was faint, which was a high contrast from the flavors I got from on the cold draw. This has to be one of the most interesting cold draws I have ever tasted. I was picking a very powerful nutmeg flavor mixed in with almost equally as powerful citrus and clove notes. Instantly, my taste buds were alive and excited for the smoke.

First Third

The first third of my Padrón Serie 1926 started off when a mix of different flavors. I was tasting lots of roasted nuts, mixed in with some black cherry and milk chocolate, with the milk chocolate being the most pronounced of the bunch. On the finish, I picked up just a slight hint of pepper that seemed to leave the palate as quickly as it came. The smoke itself was very dense and left a heavy texture in my mouth. This cigar was very interesting and not like a lot of sticks I've had recently. The burn and construction were perfect and the body was medium in strength.

Second Third

My Padrón Serie 1926 was smoking very nicely entering the second third. The flavor from the first third of milk chocolate was still there, but now I was picking up a lot of coffee notes. I would describe it as a black cup of joe using fresh ground beans flavor. The black cherry and roasted nut tastes from the first third had weakened but some of that pepper I was getting on the finish had picked up. The stick was not as exciting as the first third but was still very enjoyable. Something interesting to note was that the resting smoke from this cigar smelled exactly of warm peanuts. The body was still medium and the burn was razor sharp.

Final Third and Final Thoughts

After the first two thirds of my Padrón Serie 1926 I was shocked at what happened in the final third. The burn and construction was still perfect but the flavors took a sharp turn for the worse. All of the interesting and enjoyable flavors I had experienced so far were now completely dominated by a over the top strong pepper flavor. This was not the nice pepper that you get in so many Nicaraguan cigars but more of a bitter black pepper that was hot and harsh on my palate. I still smoked this cigar to the nub hoping to burn past maybe a bad spot in the filler, but it never went back to being the enjoyable experience I was having in the first two thirds. The body stayed a consistent medium from the first puff to the last.

My final thoughts on my Padrón Serie 1926 are mixed. This was a nice cigar that started very complex, slacked off in the middle and then turned sour. I have to assume from all the awards this cigar has one that I got a bad stick. That said, at the price I'm not sure when I will have another chance to smoke it and I'm not sure after this experience I would risk buying one when there are so many other cigars I know I like for less or around the same price.

Would I buy it again? If I came into some extra money in my cigar budget and the mood hit me right I might buy one more of these to see if I did in fact get a bad stick.

Would I buy a box? These are way out of my price range for box purchases.