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Cigar Stats
Brand Owner: Padron Cigars, Inc. – Miami, FL (website)
(distributor operates under the name Piloto Cigars, Inc.)
Factory: Tabacos Cubanica, S.A. – Esteli, Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacos Centroamericanos, S.A. – Danli, Honduras
Model/Vitola: Padron Series Corticos (Natural and Maduro)
Size: 4.25 x 35 (short panetela)
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Filler & Binder: Nicaragua
Body: Medium to Full
Strength: Medium to Full
Average Retail: $2.11 USD
Cigar Insider/Aficionado Ratings: None listed
Fourteen other vitola sizes are available in the traditional Padron Series along with one which was recently discontinued.
|
Frontmark |
Length x Ring |
Shape |
|
2000 |
5.0 x 50 |
robusto |
|
3000 |
5.5 x 52 |
robusto |
|
4000 |
6.5 x 54 |
toro |
|
5000 |
5.5 x 56 |
robusto |
|
6000 |
5.5 x 52 |
torpedo |
|
7000 |
6.25 x 60 |
toro |
|
Ambassador |
6.875 x 42 |
lonsdale |
|
Chicos |
5.5 x 36 |
discontinued |
|
Churchill |
6.875 x 46 |
churchill |
|
Corticos |
4.25 x 35 |
short panetela |
|
Delicias |
4.875 x 46 |
corona extra |
|
Executive |
7.5 x 50 |
double corona |
|
Londres |
5.5 x 42 |
corona |
|
Magnum |
9.0 x 50 |
giant |
|
Palmas |
6.25 x 42 |
long corona |
|
Panetela |
6.875 x 36 |
panetela |
All sizes come in lacquered cedar boxes of 26, packaged with cellophane sleeves on individual cigars. Many vendors list a box size of 25. I am not entirely sure why that is. It may be that Padron changed the box count since the initial release. The Corticos are the exception packaged in boxes of 30 or tins of 6.
“We deliver only the finest, handmade, complex cigars with the flavor of the Cuban heritage out of which the Padron recipe was born. Our primary mission is the exceptional quality of our product, not the quantity produced. As a vertically integrated, family-owned company, we pay personal attention to every detail throughout all steps of our tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing process. Because we strive to give you, the smoker, the confidence that each cigar is the same ….. perfect.”
If you are interested in more KOTF info on the Padron Story, you can read it here.
The Keepers of the Flame Padron Series Roundup
This comparison review is one in a series on the original Padron line of cigars. When we have completed reviews on the entire line, a vertical tasting for each wrapper will be published. Each review will be an amalgam opinion of cigarfan and lucky7 along with that of the guest reviewer(s). Our guest reviewer for this vitola is:
Padron Series Corticos – Natural and Maduro
Corticos are the smallest cigars made in the classic Padron series. They are a bit too large to be called cigarillos, which usually have a ring gauge under 30, but by comparison with the rest of the cigars in this series they are certainly the babies of the family. I’ve asked some of my Spanish speaking compadres what “cortico” means and so far nobody has recognized the word. The best we can come up with is a definition for the Portuguese word cortiço, which translates as
an area of urban housing where many people live in conditions of poor hygiene and poverty. Some cortiços can be seen in big Brazilian cities such as São Paulo, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and Recife. Corticos differ from favelas in being large houses divided into small rooms, rather than autonomously-built neighborhoods. People who live in corticos are normally families in one very small room who have to share one bathroom and have no privacy.
Elvis, our guest reviewer from the Velvet Cigar, was initially concerned about the small size of this cigar, but he accepted the challenge with good humor:
My assignment was sweet, simple and to the point. “Elvis….” they said, “We want you to smoke the Padron Corticos in both the Natural and Maduro wrappers and let us know what you think.” Well, ok, I thought….hell, for a free cigar I’ll smoke just about anyhing, especially with the name Padron attached to it. But when I got the samples, I must admit I was a bit put off. I thought they wanted me to smoke a CIGAR, not a cigarette!
After all, the Corticos measures just a measely 4.5×35. Did they think I was a rookie here? Yes, I’ve only smoked for about the last 8 years or so, but damn, I think my tolerance and love of a good thick, manly strong cigar is up there with the best of them!
I thought about going back to Mission Control and telling them I wasn’t the best man for the job. I don’t ever smoke Cigarellos or even Lonsdales or really anything smaller than a Toro size. But then again, there might just be a time when I am in desperate need of a quick smoke and this could be just the one…after all, it is a Padron. OK, dammit, I’ll do it!
Natural
The natural Corticos is easily distinguished from the maduro — the wrapper is a much lighter shade, milk chocolate in color with a yellowish hue. The wrapper itself is fairly smooth and uniform in color; the only defect is the cap, which is applied a bit carelessly and leaves the head appearing wrinkled. The prelight scent is typical of the Padron series — earthy, sweet tobacco.
What Elvis writes about lighting up the maduro version is just as true of the natural:
Time to light up. Just used a simple guillotine cut on it…it was really too small I though to attempt a punch or V cut. I wetted down the freshly cut end and took a wooden match to it. It lit up perfectly…quickly and evenly. Ahhh…already a plus to smoking a small cigar…no time wasted trying to get the whole thing lit. Take that you 60-gauge monsters! (See my humidor for Edge Battalion and MX2 Gordo…now jealous of this little stick).
The flavor profile here is quite similar to other natural wrapped cigars in the series: it starts up with a little pepper and settles into base flavors of leather and toasted wood. There are some sweet notes that gradually dissipate.
In the mid-section we found a bit of cocoa along with the woody flavors and leathery aroma. The burn tends to tilt a little, but rotating the cigar seems to remedy this slight annoyance. For such a small cigar it pumps out a nice volume of smoke, but it has to be smoked rather slowly, “sipped” as lucky7 says, or else it grows hot and prematurely acrid. As hard as it may be to believe, the Corticos can last up to 50 minutes if smoked in this way (and they kinda have to be.)
The last section is a little rough. Cigarfan found it almost impossible to keep this little guy smoking cool in the last two inches, resulting in a bitter, hot taste. Lucky7 found coffee bean and cocoa flavors to the end, with a little char and pepper on the aftertaste.
Elvis found the same little kick that he found with the maduro,
…with a slightly longer finish that stays burning the back of your throat a bit. The Natural also seems to smoke a little more quickly and the wrapper doesn’t seem to be as thick. All in all this Natural wrappered Corticos is also a nice little taste of a larger cigar experience when you don’t quite have the time to suck down a more traditional, larger cigar.
Maduro
The wrapper on this maduro is surprisingly oily and has the same grain that you can sometimes find on the standard and large size maduros in this line. We agree with Elvis when he says,
I was immediately impressed by the Corticos wrapper. It was toothy, dark and really nice looking. I guess I always assumed that a tiny cigar would be made with less expensive tobaccos. But from the look of it, this wrapper could be the same darn thing they put on the Padron 1964’s! Next, I noticed a very strong, alluring aroma from the unlit cigar that was dead on to a Hershey’s Special Dark candy bar. It was chocolate up and down but with the complex bitterness thrown into the mix that really reminded me of this little treat of a candy bar I occasionally buy and keep in the fridge to nibble on.
The maduro is softer, sweeter, and perhaps simply more flavorful than the natural. It starts up a touch harsh, but then it evens out and presents all the sweet barbeque flavors that you’d expect from the larger class maduros. 
The core flavors are similar to the natural version: wood and leather (especially on the nose) but the maduro is accompanied by a wonderful sweet char.
The flavor intensifies in the mid-section and the flavor slides to the bitter side of bittersweet. The finish is fairly short and there isn’t much room for development here, but overall this is a nice little stogie up until the last third. If you try to smoke this cigar at a “normal” pace, it will heat up and get downright nasty. Once again, it’s sippin’ time in the final stretch.
Elvis’s impression of the maduro Corticos:
From the very first puff I was really blown away. There was no working my way into this cigar to find the true flavor. It was there from first fire. A very sharp taste of earthy espresso and the aforementioned bitter chocolate. Sharp is really the best word here even if you don’t agree with my flavor profiles…it’s got a sharp bite to it that you get when you take in a puff and then it’s gone. It’s a crisp and clean burst of flavor that nails your tastebuds and then just cuts out. There’s none of the lingering throat burning issues you might have from a similar larger cigar that can be annoying with flavors this big. What’s more is that I got nearly 45-minutes out of this little guy. I did smoke it slow making notes as I went along, but I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t a 15 minute cigar.
Conclusion
Overall we preferred the Corticos in the maduro wrapper over the natural. The natural is no slouch, but the maduro brings with it a little more richness and smokes a little bit smoother. They both resemble other cigars in the line, but you have to take care not to hotbox these little fellers. As lucky7 says,
If you are a manly-man, you can probably nub these guys but for the rest of us I think it is safe to say, 2/3 is enough. I like full bodied but not hot nasty char/pepper and bitterness.
Elvis believes that Padron’s Corticos is a good example of why the trend in cigar size is turning to narrow ring gauges:
I have blogged in the past (at www.velvetcigar.net) that I honestly think the next wave in cigars today will be smaller, skinnier sticks. With so much emphasis on the wrapper and all the major makers trying to invent the next new thing in creative wrappers, it only makes sense that having a cigar with less filler would intensify the flavor of that outer shell. This point is definitely proven with the Padron Corticos. Same overall flavors as the 4000, 5000 or 6000 but delivered much quicker in a little stronger setting.
And if you need one last reason to pick up a tin of Corticos on your next outing to the cigar shop, there’s the price: at around two bucks a pop, they’re hard to beat. Just remember, don’t underestimate these short panatelas because they’re small. Smoke them sloooowly, make them last, and they will reward you with all of the flavor you would expect from larger size Padrons.
Thanks to Elvis for his lively and entertaining take on the the modest but full-flavored Corticos. You can keep track of his adventures by checking into The Velvet Cigar, where he and Ironmeden always have something new and interesting up their sleeves.
… cigarfan & lucky7
The Padron 6000 is the sole figurado produced for the classic Padron Series. Upon its release in 2004 it was hailed as an outstanding addition, garnering scores of 90 for the natural and 91 for the maduro from Cigar Insider. Patrick notes that “some cigar enthusiasts consider the the 6000 to be the elite vitola of the main line Padrons.” So it was with some excitement that we readied our cutters and prepared to examine the 6000 for ourselves.
Like all torpedos this is a cigar that graduates in size from a point at the head to a sizable surface area at the foot — in this case a 52 ring gauge that takes some time to light properly. It opens up with the peppery spice we’ve come to expect from this series, but within a few minutes this calms and presents an easygoing, medium-bodied smoke with a woody foundation. Patrick reported some saltiness as well:
The beautifully-constructed head clips neatly to reveal a clear pre-light draw. I found plenty of sweet cocoa flavors off the foot — very similar to the aroma of Swiss Miss. There are a few veins, some noticeable seams, and a less-than-perfectly packed cross section at the foot, but this nonetheless has the feel of a finely-built cigar.
hoped for some positive developments. But at about the two-inch mark I gave up, my taste buds overwhelmed by the bitter taste and disappointment.
Padron’s “Thousands” series of cigars are all robusto or robusto-plus sized cigars. The 3000 is a slightly larger than average robusto; at 5 1/2 x 52 it has just a little more girth and half an inch in length on the standard 5 x 50 robusto.
Hurdling over these flaws, what we have is typical of the Padron Series Natural: a rough, somewhat veiny wrapper with a consistently textured milk chocolate color, a passable roll with a slight box press, and a good draw. The prelight scent is that familiar horsey Old McDonald smell — Jesse describes it as leather, while Matt notes hay and earth. Sounds like the barnyard all right.
In other ways the maduro is quite similar to the natural, including the rough wrapper and sloppy cap. As Matt says, it’s “just as ugly as the natural.” There are lumps and veins and wrinkles and the occasional soft spot — once again, this cigar will not elicit sighs of admiration based on its presentation.
The flavors turn to wood in the middle section, along with the sweet char typical of maduro wrapper leaf. At this point the body builds up to a solid medium and the cigar gathers a little strength. The finish is short but gets a little sharp if you’re puffing too vigorously. Jesse wondered at this point if his stick “might be a bit off or my taste is off. I remember past ones to be sweeter — more chocolate.” In agreement with this, George noted “burnt coffee.” There are definitely bittersweet overtones at this point.
The wrapper on this cigar is remarkably swarthy for a “natural.” The wrapper’s edges look more ripened than the rest of the leaf, giving it a foxed appearance. The head is nicely formed and finished with a flat cap. The roll of the cigar varied from firm to very spongy, but the draw was consistently free. Jon described it as ” bumpy, lumpy, a bit lopsided, and full of tooth,” an observation we all agreed with. Clearly this stick is not a natural beauty, but as Jon went on to say,
The Delicias opens up with the eye-opening blast of pepper well known by fans of Nicaraguan tobacco. It quickly settles down to a woody base with a sweet leathery aroma. It burns a bit recklessly, but doesn’t require correction, meanwhile producing a light gray ash with black accents.
The last section is marked by increasing intensity. The flavor becomes earthier, and the pepper returns with a vengeance. Lucky7 described this section as “very strong tobacco” while cigarfan experienced a strong peppery flavor bordering on harsh and noted a hot burn and a bitter aftertaste.
The maduro Delicias is just a couple shades darker than the natural version, but it’s just as rough hewn in appearance. The roll is firm with a slight square press. Once again, we can’t resist Jon’s description of this bad boy:
Also known as a gran corona, the “A” size has Cuban roots in cigars such as the Sancho Panza Sancho and most famously, the Montecristo A. Large format cigars like the double corona and the “A” require very large wrapper leaves of superior quality, a commodity which is in high demand depending on the success of the season’s harvest and the manufacturer’s back stock.
reserved four hours and still felt a bit rushed. His smoking time came in just over three hours; we all agreed that this cigar smokes more quickly than we expected. Lucky7’s smoking time came in at two hours; cigarfan’s about two and a half.
Those of us who have been around for a while know that the names manufacturers choose for their cigars do not always follow standard nomenclature. We all remember our first trips into the humidor, gazing starry-eyed at the assortment of cigars and wondering what all the different terms mean. Eventually our confusion is compounded when we find out that what one cigar maker calls a “toro” another one calls a “corona gorda” and another one calls a “robusto extra,” and so forth.
In addition to its slovenly appearance, the Palmas Natural features soft spots, a loose roll, and a draw that is a bit on the loose side. Maybe this one is best smoked in the dark.
Lisa noted a hint of “sun dried prunes” in her pre-light inspection. This is interesting in light of the prunes and raisins that Lucky7 and Brian found in the 7000 maduro.
cocoa or java aftertaste, and cigarfan experienced burnt coffee and char in the last third.
90 minutes on average. Our reviewers noted that despite the size of the cigar it still feels balanced, and two of us attributed the generous volume and coolness of the smoke to the large bore of the barrel.
The mid section of the cigar continues to provide plenty of rich sweet tobacco flavors, with notes of nuts and leather backing up the chocolate and coffee that continues from the first third. The body of this cigar is medium at this point, but it gradually approaches the full end of the spectrum. Lucky7 admired the way this stogie smoldered at this point with “blueish smoke from the foot mingling with the white smoke from the punched cap as together they waft up and out of sight.”
Brian’s sample even featured a dime-sized patch near the head of the cigar. On the other hand, Doc gave this stick a little latitude when he described the wrapper as leathery, with a brushed velvet appearance, and cigarfan noted the grainy texture of the leaf.
Conclusion
Cigarfan.net 