Padron 2000 maduro Review

[Eichen]

It's been about a day since I smoked this after work on Friday (see post "Tale o' Two Stogies"), so this will be somewhat impressionistic. Also since it was a single cigar please consider this review unscientific.

It's been awhile since anyone's done a review of these. I did a search and the last was around 2001, I think.

Age of sample: Approx 1 year.

Appearance: very light veining. Even color on this maduro wrapped cigar. Very slight sheen. All in all, pleasant to look at. As always with Padrons, the cap is tiny so there's little room for error in cutting with a guillotine. Nice box press.

Pre-light info: the tiny cap makes the cut a bit dicey. Aroma -- got that Padron smell to it. I have a hard time nailing it down but all the Padrons I've had smell similar. It seemed pretty herbal (or is it leather? -- ah subjective, subjective) with a touch of pepper. Draw was very open. Dry taste seemed to highlight the herbal aroma I was getting.

Construction: not exactly 100% straight -- there were a couple bumps. Again, I'm not going to get over that cap thing. What do you guys do? Punch cut them? The fill seemed very even at the foot and the cut end of the head. Burn was pretty good throughout. The more than ample draw produces huge amounts of smoke.

Taste: Where the rubber meets the road. After I got it lit I noticed that the extremely open draw could tend to make this cigar overheat if I wasn't carefull. I backed off to very short puffs and was rewarded with a cooler, more flavorful smoke. It started out a touch brash, harsh even. The wrapper seemed to have a surprizing bit of pop to it. This mellowed out after about 1/4 inch or so. I started to get some nice soft smoke, still with some edge though, that tended toward the herbal/leafy/grassy end to my taste. There were some hints of something rich and smooth, not quite deep enough to be nutty, not smooth enough to be creamy, not bright enough to be vanilla. Into the second third I picked up some really nice earthy or coffee like flavors with the peppery spice kicking in a bit more. The flavors seemed to "darken" as I smoked it to the nub.

Aroma: What I could smell I liked. At one point I was getting hints of that hard to pin down mellow near-vanilla like flavor. Nice.

Finish: Not going there.

Verdict: Thumbs up! It's a solid value smoke. Once the opening harshness subsided I really enjoyed the flavor of this cigar. Flavor and strength seemed in pretty good accord. At no point did I detect bitterness. At once a touch rough yet resonably complex and quite satisfying after a day of working outside. I've had some other Padrons that were younger (smaller sizes Delicias and Londres) that didn't quite ring my bell because they came off a bit too harsh for me and lacking in depth of flavor but they may simply have been sick. This 2000 was definitely a winner.

[Enyafan]

i agree with your review. as a matter of fact that harsh grassy taste is what drove me away from all domestics but PI and i am almost finished with those. i also remember those small caps and how many times i had to wet the edge of the wrapper just to keep it from unravelling. i did learn to use a punch sometimes 2 holes on the bigger ring gauges. you did a great job on this review. i remember when padrons had that raw cocoa taste almost like someone added it in, but the last few years they have gone to pot imo.

[Eichen]

I'm glad you liked my review.

Since you mentioned Padrons going on the slide in the last few years I remembered that a Padron churhill that I had about three years ago nearly got me to buy a box. One that I had later reversed this. I got totally scared off of Padrons for about a year when I notice that the wrappers near the caps on nearly every cigar in a couple of boxes of Padrons at my local guy were split as if there was a little too much box pressure going on. I chalked up most of my latest samples up to them being sick or too young but instead of just random bad luck or bad timing it may be more of a pattern of declining quality. You've got me thinking.

I've got current production large format Padron sitting in my humidor. I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

[TomN]

I love Padrons. In fact they're my favorite non-ISOM at the moment, however, their caps really suck. I got a box of 3000 maduros that have horrible caps. I think the guy rolled them on a Friday afternoon and was in a hurry to get home. The caps on the Anniversary and 1926s are better but still small. That's the only thing I don't care for on the Padrons. And yes, I straight cut em but don't have any problems with them coming apart.

And if you like the 2000s, try the 3k and 4k's. The 4k maduro is my favorite out of that line.

[robmcd]

thanks for the review... i still smoke 3k mads- a box lasts me a long time. i can still get a nice aroma from them, for me it's leather and wood. the caps are really bad, but i get them off by pinching them with my cutter... you know- rather than cutting all the way thru i just sort of squeeze it off. you can also use your teeth to squeeze off the cap.

[Eichen]

Yeah, I put the cutter right at the very end of the cigar and clip as little as possible. Still kinda wanted to unravel a bit but I kept it down with some slobber. No big deal.

robmcd: funny you should mention using teeth, I was kind of thinking about that. It looks like the kind of cap where if you let the cigar sit in your mouth for a little you could easily work the cap off with your teeth without tearing the wrapper.

I forgot my cutter one day and opened up a Fuente 858 using this method. Worked fine. I'll give it a try on a Padron when I get a few more on hand.

TomN: you know, I've never seen a Padron with what IMO is a good cap. In terms of the quality of the smoke, I've had good luck with some and apparently bad luck with others (The better luck seems to happen more often with the larger ring gage sticks). I need to pick up a few more samples... I usually try to stay away from cigars with a ring guage larger than 50 unless it's an exceptional cigar or an exceptional value. They're just too unwieldy for me. So the 2000 is a good size for me ... pretty traditional robusto dimensions.

Maybe I'll break form and look for a few samples of the 3 or 4K.

[Roger Miller"]

There are a number of reviews on this cigar -- but i have always liked Eichen's reviews so i am tagging my review onto his. Maybe some new members may find a reviewer they had not read before. Anyway ...

this is a very short review:

Clipped the end, and found a strand of orange baling twine looking back at me. Grabbed a pair of tweezers and tried to pull the piece of twine out. I got some of it but heard it snap. Pitched it, who wants to smoke baling twine?

Only regrets: should of had the presence of mind to leave the whole thing intact and send it to the Professor for a public vivisection.

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rm

[jgros001]

nice review - I would like to try these. I have had a couple of the 6000s and loved those.

[bigALemos]

nice review dude. sounds like a winner. how much did the stick run ya? i'd like to pick one up but i'm pretty brooke as a joke so let me know how much i should expect. thanks

[Roger Miller"]

Originally Posted by bigALemos

nice review dude. sounds like a winner. how much did the stick run ya? i'd like to pick one up but i'm pretty brooke as a joke so let me know how much i should expect. thanks

Off the net they run about $2.5 to $3 a cigar. But locally -- well depends on a number of things, largely tax structure for your state.

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rm