Padron No. 6000 Maduro

Ok, so before I get into the review, let me give full disclosure: In my opinion, Padron is the best cigar company in the world. Their cigars are all amazing and consistent. There isn’t a whole lot of variety in the Padron lines, but there is a ton of amazing quality tobacco and construction. The 6000 is generally considered to be standout best of the “traditional” Padron line, which is Padron’s simplest and least expensive of their 4 lines of cigars. Supposedly, they use a more highly-skilled level of rollers to roll these torpedoes than the other cigars in the line. To be honest though, all Padrons, even the nicest ones, look rather rustic, and I’ve never had any construction problems with any of them, so I’m not sure what difference that really makes. I generally prefer smaller ring gauges when it comes to the core line Padrons, with my favorite being the (ridiculously affordable) cortico, which is a short panatela that comes in at a scant 35 ring gauge.

Statistics

CotM: April 2014



April 2014





Shape: Torpedo







Chosen by: tobaccowhacko







Size: 5 1/2″ x 52







Country of Origin: Nicaragua







Wrapper: Nicaraguan







Binder: Nicaraguan







Filler: Nicaraguan







Color: Maduro

Maduro





Strength: Medium-full







Price Paid: $7.25

$7.25





Smoke Date: April 9, 2014

April 9, 2014





Age: 1 week

Accessories Used

Xikar Xi3 STK Titanium Black cutter, Silver & Chrome Vector Stratos single-flame torch lighter, Handmade English walnut ashtray made by wedgewoodrings.

Pairing

I decided to pair this guy with something fierce–the 125.9 proof Booker’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (batch no. 2013-6, 7 yrs. 6 mo.) served in a Glencairn glass. This has been a fantastic bottle, part of the “roundtable” batch from 2013. Booker’s is bottled straight from the barrel and is not diluted, hence the rather high proofing. The bourbon is big on fire, sweetness, oak, and an amazing caramel smooth finish. It’s quite a complex beverage. The dry oakiness washed the palate clean of chocolate before I was greeted with a blast of strong honey sweetness that erased any memory of the cigar being sweet. Then the cigar sweetness built up again until the next sip. What a ride!

Appearance/Nose

You want tooth? This cigar has tooth! The dark brown wrapper was quite toothy. This short torpedo was rather rustic looking, with a sharply-pointed torpedo head that was in no way symmetrical or smooth.

I’m going to rant about the band for a moment: Let me just say that I’m not a big fan of the main line Padron brown band. I absolutely adore the bands on the 1964 line, and rather like the 1926 and Family Reserve bands too. I even dig the little gold bands on the Corticos (which are technically part of the brown-banded “traditional” line). But this band just strikes me the wrong way. At first glance, it might be mistaken for a Cuban Montecristo band, though it has two branches and a mountain instead of a fleur de lis. However, it lacks any embossing and has an unappealing glossy finish. The brown tends to clash a bit with the cigar wrapper too. This is Padron’s main-line brand and it should have a stronger identity of its own, without riffing so hard on the classic Montecristo band. The only thing I would change about the entire Padron brand is to alter the bands on the main line to something a bit more unique and charming. Sorry for ranting so much about the damn label. As my favorite cigar company, I have strong feelings about all things Padron.

The nose has an unusual minty characteristic that I get off of many of the main-line Padrons. The mint was surrounded by chocolate and black pepper.

Construction

The construction was not beautiful or elegant, but quite solid. There were no major defects that could be spotted in the look or feel of this cigar prelight (aside from the afore-mentioned lopsided torpedo head). There was a moderately-pronounced box press to the stick, giving it a rounded-square type shape along the barrel. The burn was slow, and wobbled a bit, but maintained a mostly straight edge. The ash was almost white, with little bumps of tooth from the wrapper leaf still showing. It held for well over an inch and a half before I dropped it.

Cold Draw

The cold draw off a short snip was rather tight, so I lopped off a bit more. I left an opening that was about 40 RG. The draw was medium with a bit of resistance. The flavor was chocolate cake. No doubt about it. Perhaps there was a bit of coffee in there too.

Smoking

First third

Just like the cold draw, the first puffs were immensely chocolatey. It wasn’t until about the fifth puff that a smoky, herbal flavor began to emerge.

There was a campfire flavor that was reminiscent of fire-cured tobacco. I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that Padron fire-cures some of their leaf, but I have no idea if they do.

There was little or no pepper on the retrohale. Chocolate surrounded everything. The chocolate, herbal, and campfire notes continued without much change. Though the flavor was rich, the strength sat at about medium, lacking the kick that you might expect.

A bit of red pepper began to emerge on the retrohale toward the end of the first third, which was welcome. Still, cocoa flavor dominated the profile.

Second third

There was little change coming into the second third. The burn moved along quite smoothly and most of the wobble from the first third disappeared. The rich sweetness of chocolate had faded a touch, being replaced by a hint of earth.

This cigar does have some complexity, but it is overshadowed by the immense strength and complexity of the bourbon pairing.

The band slipped off easily, revealing a nice touch that I had forgotten: the inside of the band has José O. Padron’s signature printed on it.

Final third

This cigar had almost no change the whole way through. The burn and draw were still excellent, and the flavors of chocolate and campfire were still the primary notes.

Though the flavor didn’t change much, it was still quite tasty, and the construction held perfectly until the end of the cigar.

Notes

Draw: Medium

Medium





Body: Medium

Medium





Primary Flavors: Chocolate, campfire, coffee

Chocolate, campfire, coffee





Smoke Output: Medium

Medium





Smoke Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Overall

Padron is my favorite company, but this is nowhere near their best stick. Is it good? Hell yes. But it’s extremely one note, and the large rings gauge makes it a bit too mild for my taste. The smooth chocolate overshadows the spicy campfire taste that I come to Padron for. For anyone looking to try Padron maduros, I would recommend the smaller ring gauges, as they has quite a bit more flavor and strength, as well as a better price point, and some of that mintiness I noted in the cold draw comes through in the smoke as well. Even if you prefer the profile of this gauge, the 3000 is pretty much the same thing with a flat cap rather than torpedo, and at a considerably lower price. Still, this was an excellent cigar, as all Padrons are in my opinion, and I think my experience was a bit tarnished by being so intimately familiar with the brand already, and knowing how much better it could have been.

Rating