Padrón Family Reserve No. 50 Maduro Review
Filed under: Box-Pressed · Fermentation & Aging · Limited Editions · Maduro Is a Process · Nicaragua · One Draw or Two · The Ash · Retrohale · The Nub · What Cigars Cost · Puro · Which Size, When
Appears in: The Box Buys
Verdict: The Padrón Family Reserve No. 50 Maduro is a Box Buy (4/4) at about $30 street... vanilla, cream, leather and coffee from the first puff to a nub I physically couldn't hold anymore, a burn that never needed a hand, and the only knock is that it's a robusto. The Family Reserve No. 45 earned a Box Buy here in September because it never dipped. This one never dipped either, and it did it with a sweetness I don't get out of other cigars.
- Brand
- Padrón
- Line
- Family Reserve No. 50 Maduro
- Vitola
- No. 50 (box-pressed robusto)
- Size
- 5 x 54
- Wrapper
- Nicaraguan Maduro
- Binder
- Nicaraguan
- Filler
- Nicaraguan
- Made in
- Nicaragua
- Factory
- Tabacos Cubanica (Estelí)
- Strength
- Medium to medium-plus
- Street price
- $30.40
Family Reserve is Padrón's top shelf... a Nicaraguan puro rolled from tobacco the family aged ten years, released one numbered vitola at a time to mark anniversaries. The No. 50 came out in 2014 for the company's 50th year, which is what the second band means. It's a 5 x 54 box-pressed robusto.
The Setup
- Cigar: Padrón Family Reserve No. 50 Maduro, No. 50 (box-pressed robusto, 5 x 54)
- Blend: Nicaraguan puro... Nicaraguan Maduro wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler, aged ten years
- Factory: Tabacos Cubanica (Padrón), Estelí, Nicaragua
- Street price: $30.40 a single, $304 for a box of ten, and that number is the same everywhere I looked. Padrón doesn't go on sale, so if you find one at your local shop expect that or a little more
- What I paid: I don't remember the number, and there's no receipt in my email, so it must have been a local B&M. Nobody discounts Padrón, so figure street or a little over. My own money
- Storage: my main humidor, the Herf-a-Dor, at 69% RH, where it's been since I got it
- When/where: Sunday evening, lit a little after 6 on the back deck... 57°, feels like 54, 65% humidity, no wind at all
- Food beforehand: nothing for several hours. The last thing I ate was a chocolate chip cookie my daughter made, then a San Pellegrino, then three water crackers right before lighting to clean the palate. No dinner, which I half expected to regret
- First cigar of the day, paired with water, and I say that tongue in cheek because I didn't take a sip until the second third. Cut with the Xikar XO straight cutter, toasted with the Guevara Lux single torch
Cold Draw and Light Up
Classic Padrón rustic look. The press is close to square, the wrapper is dark and rough, and it looks like a single cap. Nothing about it says $30 until you light it, which is the Padrón way.
The cold draw was great, with a nice sweetness and a slight tingle in the sinuses on a cold retrohale.
Toasting the foot and the first puffs were milk chocolate with a little spice. Once it was fully lit, a single draw gave me cedar, leather, some red pepper, and a little cream. A double draw was the same thing, just more intense. The retrohale was light red pepper, cream, leather, cedar, and a touch of coffee, and the finish was that red pepper again with a little coffee and a tiny bit of cream. The pepper didn't land on my tongue. It hit the roof of my mouth, around the top and the sides.
First Third
A few puffs later, a single draw was cream and leather and then this quick hit of cherry that was there and gone almost before I could name it. Over the next several draws it kept happening: cedar, leather and light cream were the constant on singles and doubles, and every few puffs a hit of either vanilla or cherry would show up on top of them. That's not normally there on the cigars I smoke, and it's what makes this one special.
About three quarters of an inch in, a single draw opened with vanilla and cream and then moved quickly to leather, red pepper, and a woodiness that had gone more generic than the clear cedar from the light, with a bit of coffee and just a touch of earth. A double draw skipped the sweet front end and went straight to a cedar-type woodiness, stronger leather and coffee, with the sweetness underneath but not out front. The retrohale was a little vanilla and a tiny bit of cream up front, then leather and coffee, and the coffee sat on the palate with a touch of cream coming back at the end. I expected heavier cream on the retro than I got. It was good, just not as heavy as I wanted.
By the end of the first third the cream had stepped back and the vanilla was doing the sweet work on its own. A single draw went vanilla, briefly, then right into leather, general woodiness, and coffee, with no earth. A double draw held onto the vanilla longer, with decent cedar, leather, and a little earthiness that wasn't biting at all. Smooth is the word for this whole cigar. The retrohale at that point was vanilla, a good amount of sweet cream, then cedar, leather and coffee, with no earth on the retro at all.
The ash was very tight and stacking well with basically no flyers. The burn line was slightly wavy, and at $30 you're allowed to nitpick, but that's what it was. Strength felt like a solid medium.
Second Third
I ashed it going into the second third, and if anything the vanilla got more prominent with the ash knocked off, followed by general woodiness, leather and coffee, no earth. A double draw was more of the same with a stronger vanilla hit, not much cream, cedar, leather, some coffee, and a touch of earth. The retrohale picked up a mild, very clean white pepper, and the red pepper from the first third was basically gone from the palate.
A little further along the retro was really good: strong vanilla, a light sweet cream sitting underneath everything, leather, coffee, only a touch of woodiness, no earth. Very, very pleasant. The cherry showed up again around here too.
The secondary band came off just about at the burn line, perfectly clean, lightly glued to itself only. The burn line was still slightly wavy, maybe an eighth of an inch from the slowest spot to the fastest, and I noticed the pattern: it only got wavy when I'd been doing single draws for a while, and a couple of double draws in a row straightened it right back out without a rotation.
That was also when I finally took a sip of water, and I picked up a hint of minerality and a tinge of bitterness so faint you wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking for it. It only ever showed up right after a sip, and it was gone a couple of puffs later, so I don't think that was the cigar. My water comes off the fridge filter, and that filter is probably due.
At the end of the second third there was a slight indent in the burn line and a bit of a crack in the ash, not the cigar, and the ash was otherwise still tight and stacking. The flavor was that nice sweet vanilla up front, then leather, coffee and general woodiness. A double draw held the vanilla, brought stronger leather, a touch of earth, coffee, and the tiniest amount of bitterness. The retrohale was very nice vanilla with the creamy sweetness climbing, then cedar, leather, coffee, no earth. Smoke production through here was about average, not a chimney but not thin.
Final Third
The main band came off perfectly clean right at the start of the final third. A single draw was the hit of vanilla, a little creamy sweetness, leather, general woodiness, coffee, no earth to speak of. A double draw had more intense vanilla cream sweetness on the front, leather, the earth coming up just a little, and coffee. The retrohale was exactly what it had been before I ashed it: vanilla and cream, leather and coffee. Really, really good, and super smooth.
About halfway through the final third I started to get a touch of warmth on my lips on a double draw. Single draws, none. Construction-wise this is where it got silly: I could hold the cigar an eighth of an inch behind the burn line all day. The narrow sides of the box press ran a touch cooler than the wide sides. Smoke production went well above average down here, and the ash stayed very tight and stacked well, with a couple of small cracks and zero flakiness. Beautiful to look at.
The flavor never dropped. I kept waiting for it to, and it just didn't. Vanilla, cream, leather, woodiness, coffee, touches of earth here and there, and even deep in the final third the earth never grew up and over everything the way a maduro usually goes at the end. Basically no bitterness. The retrohale down here was still that vanilla cream sweetness, leather, woodiness, some coffee, a touch of earth. Strength ended around medium-plus. It never ramped hard.
At the point where I'd normally lay a cigar down I ashed it one more time, only so I could spin it around in my hand and hold it right up near the head, which buys me at least another quarter inch. I don't remember who showed me that trick. I don't use a nubber tool, that feels like a Cruella de Vil thing, but spinning it around and holding it backwards works, and this one earned it. The smoke the entire way through was very creamy.
I laid it down at 7:21 because there was nothing left to hold, not because the cigar gave me a reason. About an hour and a quarter, lit to down.
Construction
- Wrapper: rustic, dark, almost square press, single cap by the look of it
- Draw: great from the cold draw on
- Burn: basically razor sharp start to finish. No touch-ups, no relights, never went out, no rotations needed. The one wave it ever showed was maybe a hair over an eighth of an inch, it only showed up after a run of single draws, and a couple of double draws fixed it on their own
- Ash: very tight, stacking well, no flyers to speak of. A bit of a crack at the end of the second third and a couple of small cracks in the final third, never flaky. Three ashes for the whole cigar
- Smoke output: about average through two thirds, well above average in the final third. Creamy smoke the entire way
- Band: both came off perfectly clean, the 50 Years band in the second third and the main band at the start of the final third
- Strength: medium for most of it, medium-plus by the end. Never ramped hard
Bottom Line
Here's the thing you should know: this cigar didn't transition much, and I don't care. It opened as cedar, leather, red pepper and cream, and by the second third the red pepper had left, the cedar had softened into a general woodiness, and the vanilla had moved to the front and stayed there. Same cast of characters from the first light to the last puff. Vanilla, cream, leather, woodiness, coffee, a touch of earth here and there, and that flash of cherry every so often that I never see coming. What changed over the hour was emphasis, not identity. It just stayed delicious.
There's a reason Padrón has the loyalty it has and can charge what it charges. Not all of them are worth it. I've said that here about the 2000 and the 80 Years. But when they hit, man, do they hit, and this one did not disappoint. Super smooth, no bitterness, nothing bad on the finish or the long finish, a burn I never thought about, and an ash I could have left on if I didn't want to spin the cigar around and keep going.
The one knock is that I wish it were longer. I tend to like toros for the time they give you, and this one was over before I wanted it to be. That's not a flaw in the cigar. That's a robusto.
Would I smoke it again? Box Buy. Everybody's got a different budget, and at $304 a box this isn't a casual click, but I'll be buying a box of these when the budget allows. I just bought a box of the No. 45s, so it'll be a little while. When I do, I'll save them for nights when I've got a shorter window and I'm going to sit and concentrate on the flavor the whole time. Not because you have to. Because it's that delicious. And I can't wait to hand a couple of these to friends.
Best for: an hour you want to spend paying attention. A short window, a clean palate, water, and nothing else. I smoked it on an empty stomach and it stayed at medium-plus, so you don't have to plan dinner around it.
My scale, one question only... would I spend my own money on this again? 4 Box Buy (box on hand, always) / 3 Five-Pack (yes, a few live in the humidor) / 2 Hand-Me-One (wouldn't buy it, wouldn't turn one down) / 1 Not Even Free (I'd rather smoke nothing).
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