2005 Padron Anniversary 1964 Natural (PAN) Corona, 6 X 42

Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua

Construction: A heavy box-pressed beauty with a beautiful satiny medium brown wrapper and one minor vein. Solidly rolled with no soft spots. Clipped clean.

Prelight: Light nutty, cedar and tobacco flavor. Light sweet tobacco and ceder aroma. Medium draw.

Burn: Lit evenly, occasionally meandering burn that always evened itself out. Very solid silver-gray ash tinged with charcoal gray.

Drink: Dow's Boardroom Porto

Smoking Notes: While not as molasses sweet nor as deep earthy as it's maduro cousin, this vitola starts out with incredibly nutty and lightly sweet tobacco notes with just a hint of black pepper on the finish. While there is some earthiness, it is quite a bit lighter than the PAM. The sweet, nutty and cedar components quickly build with some hints of earth and cocoa as undertones. The major turning point, especially in the corona, is about the halfway point at which time the black pepper notes really come forward. Despite the peppery spice PANs remain smooth and wonderfully nutty to the end. This is one excellent smoke that doesn't get enuf press.

PAM smokers will note that it is quite a bit "lighter" in profile than it's maduro cousin. The predominant flavors are sweet nuts, cedar and lightly earthy tobacco as opposed to the heavy earth and cocoa of the PAM, leading some to call them less complex. That would be a mistake. PANs build throughout the smoke as opposed to the shifts and turns of the maduro. Each of these should be enjoyed for it's unique character. These were from a bunch I picked up last April and the aging has really brough out the sweet smooth nuttiness.