Like any other agricultural product, tobacco crops aren’t completely identical from year to year. The cigar brands that we treasure and smoke are usually consistent from year to year, but that is a testament to the blender’s art and control, and often to huge stockpiles of tobacco as well. The fact of the matter is that small batches of great tobacco often become available on the market and will not be seen again due to the particular conditions and qualities of the crop. It’s fine tobacco, but very limited in quantity.

The idea behind Ernesto Padilla’s Special Edition cigars is to use this great small batch tobacco for limited edition runs of very unique cigars.

The Padilla en Cedro was released sometime in 2005 and is no longer available, to the best of my knowledge. To be honest, when I first purchased a ten pack of these I wasn’t too impressed. They were very tannic, almost bitter. I decided at that time to put them away and let time massage away their tannins in the humidor.

I’m going to guess that this is a Jose “Don Pepin” Garcia production, but I have no proof of this. The cuban-style triple-cap, flat head, and earthy flavor seem to me to point to Don Pepin, but to be honest I’m not sure.

Beneath the cedar sheath of this Cedro resides a Connecticut shade wrapper, a Dominican binder, and filler from Nicaragua, Peru, and the Dominican Republic. The wrapper is dry and very smooth. I found the construction of this cigar to be uniformly excellent, even on the very young ones that I did not care for too much.

The triple cap shears off nicely and the cigar is easily lit. The burn remains steady all the way, building a solid gray ash as it goes.

9 months in the humidor have really made a difference on these Padilla Cedros. From their bitter and tannic youth they have grown into much tastier, but still mellow cigars. These are indeed mild cigars, building to a medium, perhaps, at the end. They have a dusty, earthy flavor which still shows some of that tannin, but towards the middle some dry plain wood flavors appear and at the end they take on a nuttier profile.

Overall I’m pretty pleased with this very unique tasting robusto, and I’m looking forward to more of Padilla’s special editions. You just may see another one profiled here in the very near future…