Cigar Review: Pedro Martin 2013 Limited Edition

• Vitola: Toro
• 6” x 52 ring gauge
• Price $14.99
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

It’s been a long time since I smoked anything from the Pedro Martin lines, much less reviewed something. The story of Pedro Martin Cigars is a short and somewhat sad one, really. The namesake of the company, Pedro Martin, worked with Camacho for many years but died in the early 2000s. His daughter, Maria Martin, founded a new company in his honor and set about making some very fine cigars in a variety of blends: Ruby, Gold, and Corojo to begin with, then later M, Fiera, and Royal. Then there was news of a limited edition that was mind-blowing. But before it could be released, the company faltered and it appeared that the cigar might never see the light of day.

Until Gurkha stepped in. Late in 2012, Gurkha bought the rights to the Martin Family of Cigars product line and Maria went to work for the bigger company. The first release of the Pedro Martin line under Gurkha was the already-finished LE.

The 2013 Limited Edition is 100% Nicaraguan leaf with a Corojo wrapper (that is reportedly 9 years old), comes in a single toro vitola and only 500 boxes of 15 were made.

Gurkha did make an effort to integrate a couple more of the old Pedro Martin cigars into their catalog (M (now called Maduro) and Ruby), but more recently Maria Martin left the company, which throws the future of the brand into doubt.

At any rate, when the new ownership of Burns Tobacconist took possession of the Downtown shop, several boxes of Pedro Martin 2013 Limited Editions were found in the inventory. I scooped up one of the sticks with the intention of finally giving this cigar I had heard so much about a try. I also decided to write about it…and that’s what I’m doing here.

Prelight

There really was little, if any, influence of Gurkha on the Pedro Martin branding for this 2013 Limited Edition. I know the cigars were rolled before Gurkha took over; I guess it’s possible the bands and boxes were made and in place as well. Whatever the case, the black and silver banding is a thing of beauty…elegant and ornate without being over the top.

The wrapper leaf of the cigar was around a milk chocolate brown with a touch of darker mottling and a hint of red to it. Veins were small and flat and the aroma from the wrapper leaf was cedary with a touch of earth. The foot had a rich mixture of earth and chocolate aromas.

The cold draw was excellent and the flavor took me back to the some of the early Pedro Martin releases I had…notes of cedar and earth, along with plenty of dried fruit sweetness and a hint of pepper.

Flavor

The pepper and wood from the Corojo wrapper were evident from first light-up, but not in the pronounced way I remember from some other PM blends. Here they were refined and more subtle, possibly as a result of the extra aging on the wrapper (and on the total blend as it sat in a factory for a year or two extra, then spent another year or two aging in the Burns Downtown humidor before I saw them. The result is a very nice mix of cedar and earth, pepper and cocoa powder, roasted nuts and dried fruit. None of the flavors dominated and even the pepper on the nose wasn’t overpower at the beginning, like so many Corojo and/or Nicaraguan blends can be. After about 10 minutes, I did notice the pepper starting to build a bit on my lips and tongue, but it still wasn’t all that sharp on the nose.

The pepper did get muted a bit in the second third, allowing more chocolatey notes to come through. Usually, I wouldn’t call cedar and chocolate a good mix, but here it worked very well.

The last third saw the sweeter notes dying a little and spice and cedar zooming in to take their place.

Construction

I made several touch-ups to the wrapper as it burned unevenly throughout, but there was no serious canoeing or tunneling, so there’s nothing to subtract points for. The ash was solid enough and the draw was perfect.

Value

It’s a pricey cigar, no doubt. But it is great so I call it worth it.

Conclusions

The Pedro Martin 2013 Limited Edition was truly a great blend that was well worth the extra wait. Hopefully what I heard about the brand going away isn’t true, because I’d love to see more stellar blends like this come out. This was one of the best of the PM cigars I’ve had (the Ruby Lancero still holding its first place ranking) and certainly the best cigar I’ve had from the Gurkha catalog (although they really had nothing to do with the blend). With only a limited number of these made, fans of full-bodied Nicaraguan Corojo should jump on these while they have the chance. I know Burns Downtown had 2 or 3 unopened boxes left, so there’s one place you can still get them.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10