Cigar Review: Padron Family Reserve 50 Years Maduro

Vitola: No. 50 (Box Pressed Robusto)
Size: 5″ x 54 Ring Gauge
Price $25.00 MSRP
Obtained From Ammar as a review sample

Background

This year marks 50 years since the Padron family got into the business.  To celebrate this they have come out with two cigars.  The first one is being released in 50 count humidors and is slightly larger, and the second will come out in 10 count boxes.  The one in the humidor will be a different size than the Family Reserve.  From what I can gather the one in the humidor is made from tobaccos aged longer than the Family Reserve.  But I’m not exactly sure since I’ve heard different information.  This was the first one of these that I’ve tried.  And I would like to give a thank you to Ammar (the owner of Maxamar’s) for giving me this cigar to try.

Prelight

The wrapper on this cigar was a nice even dark brown in color, slightly darker that I’m used to seeing on their cigars.  The cigar was a little lumpy especially at the head, but this is something I’ve seen before even on the limited cigars from them.  The wrapper had a few veins and a good amount of tooth and oil to it.  The top bands were the same as the other Family Reserve with the cream, burgundy & gold second band letting you know which release it is.  When I gave it a squeeze there were no soft spots and a slight amount of give.  Putting my nose to the wrapper I got some barnyard with the same from the foot.  After clipping it and taking a cold draw on it I got notes of cinnamon and leather with a good draw.

Flavor

The cigar starts off with lots of chocolate, coffee, leather with a good amount of spice.  The spice was definitely stronger than the 1964s and 1926s I’ve had and reminded me a lot of the Family Reserve 45 when it was first released.  Taking a few more puffs I started to get some flavors of earth and cinnamon coming through.  Towards the end of this third I started to get a sugary sweetness on the finish.  The cigar started off at the upper end of medium-full.  The flavors changed slightly to coffee, earth, cocoa with a hint of cinnamon and sugar on the finish.  The spice did tone down in this third but the strength built a bit.  The sweetness really ramped up to chocolate, earth, coffee, leather and cinnamon in the final third.  The spice did start to come back and I did get a slight nicotine hit from it which is usual for a Padron cigar.

Construction

The draw was perfect throughout and it produced a large volume of smoke on every puff.  The burn got wavy for about 1/4″ but other than that it was razor sharp otherwise.

Value

Yeah, $25 for a cigar is a lot.  I however feel like this one is worth it, as a special occasion cigar mind you.

Conclusions

Overall my impression of this cigar is…well…wow.  It left me with the same feeling after smoking the 45 when it first came out, the urge to light another one up right away.  While my words in the flavor section don’t adequately describe the cigar I can tell you it was is no way boring or monotonous.  It was an excellent cigar.  I would recommending giving it a try if you can.  Heck after I finished it I texted Ammar and asked him to put me on the waiting list for a 10 count box of these cigars.  BTW I think this is only the second 10 I’ve given out.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 10/10