Best Value Cigars: Padron Londres Maduro

Vitola: Londres (Corona)
Size: 5.5” x 42 ring gauge
Price $5.49
Purchased from Burns Tobacconist

Last year when we were still hanging out hat at the Tiki Bar Online, I started a series I titled “The Best Cigar in the Shop.” I talked to my fellow tobacconists at Burns and was able to get at least a couple of them to commit to say, “This cigar is the best thing we have in the shop.” A regular reader recently told me he missed this series…and so do I. The problem is not being able to get anyone else to choose a different stick as “the best thing going.” But I found another angle to look at this from…what cigar is the “best value” in the shop? I had one candidate already lined up…I had been telling people for weeks, “Hey, this cigar just might be the best value here!” Then I realized…it had been 2 or 3 years since I had smoked one…maybe more! How could I keep saying that? I had to smoke it! I did and this continuation of the “Best Cigar” series is the result.

Padón Cigars founded the “Padrón Series” in 1964 and it has evolved throughout their 50 year history. Today the series is made of 15 vitolas. According to their website, all tobacco used for this series is sun-grown and aged an minimum of 2.5 years. Each size is also available in either natural or Maduro wrapper. This is the series a lot of folks know as “the 1000’s series” because of sizes like the 3000 and 5000. While the larger vitolas push the $10 a stick mark, the prices start out at a much more reasonable $5.50 for the Corona…named “Londres” in this instance.

Padrón grows their own tobacco and I have no reason to doubt that the filler, binder and wrapper of all the Padrón Series are Nicaraguan (it’s widely believed that the Maduro wrappers of the 1964 and 1926 lines are Mexican in origin). If there’s a criticism to be made of the Padrón Series it’s the overall construction and general appearance of the sticks. I’m used to seeing seams that don’t lie perfectly flat, caps that aren’t completely adhering or are crookedly applied, and the occasional draw that just doesn’t. For those reasons, if this were a scored review, the cigar would get dinged a point on the construction section and would never be eligible to score a Perfect 10…but this is a great tasting cigar, especially when you factor in the price.

Prelight, the wrapper gave off a potent mix of earth and chocolate aromas; the foot had the same, along with some cedar. Once lit I got strong earthiness, dark coffee, bittersweet chocolate, cedar and red pepper. Quite the complex smoke for such a low priced cigar. And that’s the key to the value: while you can spend a couple bucks a stick less and get some bundle cigar, the Padrón Londres is a phenomenal value once you factor in the level of smoking experience it delivers. If you have the money, buy the 1964s or 1926s…but for those times when money is tighter, it’s hard to beat this cigar.