Now today we have a new blend from La Aurora called the Fernando Leon Family Reserva. Fernando León Asensio was the “Father” of La Aurora and passed away in 2009. This particular blend was actually made for personal consumption and reserved for friends and family only. To commemorate his father, Guillermo Leon decided to push out this special blend for the masses to enjoy.

The cigar comes wrapped in a very similar band to what the Guillermo Leon Signature had, only with a different color scheme. The lion logo still adorns the top middle of the band and instead of Guillermo’s signature, we have Fernando’s signature in gold print across the middle of the band.

The Fernando Leon Family Reserve comes in the same classic sizes as the Guillermo Leon. A Corona, Corona Gorda, Robusto, Belicoso and Gran Toro. For today’s review I’m picking up the Corona Gorda vitola, which is also becoming one of my favorites of all the vitolas lately. It turned out to be a warm(warm to me at least, it’s still only like 35F) afternoon with only a little bit of wind. So let’s get to it and see how this new cigar stands up!

Cigar: Fernando Leon Family Reserve
Drink: Wellington Breweries Imperial Russian Stout
Vitola: Corona Gorda (6 x 47)
Wrapper: Dominican Corojo
Binder: Dominican Corojo
Filler: Peruvian, Brazilian, Dominican
Price: About $8
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Fernando Leon Family Reserve has a rough, but soft, wrapper with a touch of toothiness to it
• There is a definite softness when squeezed from head to foot, pretty consistent the whole way through
• Looks to be a triple cap that is finished extremely smooth and well, blends right into the wrapper
• The foot has some small gaps, so it’s not too tightly packed
• Golden brown is the color of the wrapper, with some shiny hints of oil
• The cut was very easy and smooth leaving me with a perfectly sliced cap
• Draw was just perfect with enough resistance but not with too much

Yes, that is a big pile of snow! lol

Burn:
• Toasting was nice, even and slow with only the foot catching and leaving me with a nice amber to start off with
• No burn issues through the first third, razor sharp and thin burnline, just the way I like it!
• It’s also burning at a nice slow pace, allowing me to enjoy it slowly without burning out
• At about the half-way mark I hit a tunnel that ended up requiring a touch-up, now we’re off to the races again
• After that touch-up, we had smooth sailing right to the end, a very well constructed cigar!

Smoke & Ash:
• Right from the start I’m getting a nice mouthful of billowy smoke with very little effort
• The ash is nothing spectacular here, it’s a light grey and dark grey mix, it is nice and clean and string though
• The first ash made it to about an inch before I tapped it off
• The next couple of ashes both fell off at about a half-inch even though there were looking strong
• Smoke continues to be very full with very little effort on the draw
• The ashes continued looking strong but always seemed to fall unexpectedly or really shatter in the ashtray

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper is giving off a sweet woodsy sort of aroma
• A little more boldness on the foot where the aroma is adding a bunch of spices like nutmeg
• Pre-light draw was a big kick of cedar with some touches of spice
• First few draws started with a small spice kick but that quickly disappeared
• I’m now left with a smooth and creamy cedar flavor backed by some light coffee notes
• Through the first third, the body seems to be in the medium range and I’m also getting some accents of nutty notes
• The retro-hale is giving me a nice little bite with a smooth creamy finish, nice touch
• Through the first half, the cedar and coffee notes are prime with a smooth creaminess to round it all out
• As I get into the last third, the coffee is ramping up a bit but sadly the nice creaminess has toned down a notch
• I’m also getting a little more of the early spices as we sneak into the last bit here
• The last inch or so turned into a bit of charred wood type of flavors, not off putting, but not as exciting as it was before
• The Fernando Leon finished with lots of wood and spice flavors and I was able to nub it happily

Final Thoughts:
I was a huge fan of the Guillermo Leon Signature so I was pretty excited when there was another cigar added to Guillermo’s lines. Now I can’t help but compare the Fernando Leon Family Reserve to the Signature and I feel it fell a little short. That’s not to say this was a bad cigar, it was actually quite tasty(minus the last part which got boring). I just felt that the Signature brought all the flavors together a little better and made it enjoyable from start to finish. I would probably pick up more of these up again in the future but if the Fernando Leon Family Reserve was right beside the Guillermo Leon Signature, I’d go with the signature every time. Maybe I’ll pick out some different vitolas as well to see if that changes the profile much. Either way I’m happy to see more additions the La Aurora line-up and I hope to see more coming up as well

Pairings:
Today’s beer is actually a pretty rare find for me up here. Most of the local breweries tend to stick to typical stouts and dark ales and rarely venture outside of that territory. Welling Breweries took a step outside the comfort zone and came out with an Imperial Russian Stout. This brew clocks in at 8% alc./vol. and has a dark and thick consistency with a very thick head as well. The flavors bring lots of coffee and cocoa notes, but one interesting thing was that I was actually picking up some citrus notes. That made for a very interesting brew and paired quite well with the spice that the Fernando Leon had to offer. I’d like to try this cigar with a nice strong coffee as well, maybe with a little cinnamon sprinkled in there!

The post Fernando Leon Family Reserve appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now this is a very special line made by Padron Cigars to honor their many great years of quality cigar production. It remains a family owned business so you can see where the name comes from. This line is amongst the best cigars ever to come from the Padron factory. Only the top quality tobacco leaves are used here and as with most of their cigars, all the tobacco leaves are exclusively Nicaraguan. On top of that, each leaf is aged a full 10 years before being rolled into one of the limited edition cigars.

Similar to some other limited cigars on the market, these blends are released annually, usually landing in September, and each year brings a new vitola and some different names. The name here, No. 44, commemorates the 44 years of successful cigar manufacturing by the Padron Family. This particular blend/vitola was released in 2008.

I fully plan on taking my time and enjoying this one, as you can see below, the price isn’t exactly cheap. The price, along with Padron name on the band, sets some pretty high expectations as I head outside to light this cigar up. I’m hoping it can live up to my expectations now. Let’s get to it!

Cigar: Padron Family Reserve No. 44 Years
Drink: St. Ambroise 2011 Special Reserve Extra Strong Imperial Stout
Vitola: Box Pressed Torpedo (6 x 52)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $30
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• First thing I noticed when I picked up this cigar was the subtle toothiness on the wrapper, there’s tons of little spots on it and it’s super oily to boot, damn tasty from an outsiders perspective
• The oily wrapper also has a super dark chocolate tone to it that just adds to its appeal
• Now the springiness on this cigar is almost non-existent, it’s a pretty solid box-pressed stick from end to end with no soft spots
• The cigar is a little bumpy but there are almost no veins above a “small” size here and it’s got a very silky feel to it
• The cap actually looks pretty poorly applied considering the special edition here, it’s kind of a crescent shaped tapered cap
• The foot is understandably well packed but despite being such a solid stick it actually feels pretty light in your hands
• After an easy cut, the draw was a little bit tight but not too bad. I didn’t want to cut much of this pricey stick so I’ll work with this

Burn:
• This cigar lit up with ease, within a few seconds the whole foot was glowing evenly with minimal effort
• Through the first inch I’m getting a super tight, razor sharp burn that is going very well so far
• This section is gonna be pretty short, the Padron 44 years is smoking wonderfully without any needs for touch ups at all
• It’s also letting me smoke it slowly and enjoy it without having to take a bunch of extra draws to get it going again

Smoke & Ash:
• The smoke from each draw isn’t overly thick but it’s not thin either, I’d say its a nice balance right now
• The first bit of ash is coming along nicely, keeping tight together and fairly clean with only one kind of split on the side
• The resting smoke was fairly light and gave off a sweet cedar type of aroma, very pleasant
• The ash held on strong to an inch before I gently tapped it off into the ashtray
• The ash has a nice light grey color to it with thin black lines creating a nice zebra stripe effect
• The second ash stayed nice and strong and clean up until I tapped it off at about the one inch mark

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper is pretty much aroma-less, can’t pick up anything except for the slight cedar smell of my humidor
• The foot brings some more interesting aromas including cinnamon, a touch of sweetness and bit of coffee too
• Pre-light draw brings just a touch of cedar flavors to my tongue, not much else here though
• Right off the initial draw you get a super flavorful mouthful of cocoa, coffee, baking spices and a wonderful sweetness, what an awesome start!
• Within the first inch the cigar quickly ramps up from an initial mild body to getting near the high end of medium
• The retrohale started off with a light cedar finish and now I’m getting nice spicy bite to go along with it
• As the body builds at this early point, so does the spice. It has changed from being baking spices to more cooking spices in the range of white pepper and even paprika while still keeping the cedar, cocoa and coffee
• As quickly as the body and spicy flavors came, they are now gone and I’m back to the sweet and tasty cocoa, coffee and cedar. So much action in just the first third!
• The coffee and cocoa are dominating right now and it’s so damn tasty, there’s just enough spice and cedar in the background to make it interesting
• I should also note the body came down a bit towards the low end of medium after towing the line of becoming a full bodied stick before
• As I get into the last third, the cedar and spice started taking charge, leaving the sweet cocoa and coffee notes aside
• I also started picking up some tasty almond flavors and an interesting flavor I can only characterize as “red wine”. I’ve never got this before and I’m pairing it with beer so that really caught me off guard!
• Flavor and body picked up a little intensity towards the end but it never got harsh and I enjoyed it right to the nub!

Final Thoughts:
These are obviously super limited cigars and I’m very glad I had a chance to try one. The first thing everyone will look at is the price. It is way up there for sure and I don’t think I could justify a whole box but it was definitely worth having a couple to try. The flavors, construction and burn were all top notch and worthy of the price it carries, especially considering the rare tobacco that goes into it. The Padron family has a huge reputation to live up to so chances are, when you pick up a special edition cigar by them that it’s going to be a good one. Having said that, the Padron Family Reserve 44 years lived up to that legacy for me.

Pairings:
I picked up this brew while on a trip to Ottawa. We crossed over into Quebec where the selection of beers far outweighs what we have here in Ontario, and they are cheaper to boot. At the local stores here I can only find the oatmeal stout by St. Ambroise and I really enjoy it so I figured I’d give this special edition a try. It is a 2011 Special Reserve Extra Strong Imperial Stout. Now what a wonderful brew this turned out to be. It’s got a smooth creamy texture that is so darn tasty. The amount of malt in here is damn near staggering and it’s paired with some awesome coffee flavors and a touch of cocoa. To round out the mix, it is aged in Bourbon barrels and the bourbon flavor definitely shines through, but it’s not overpowering, just a nice hint. It is a strong brew coming in at 9.5% alc./vol. but it paired perfectly with the Padron Family Reserve 44 Years. Other good pairings here would be my port of course or maybe a good strong coffee.

The post Padron Family Reserve No. 44 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

These cigars came in a recent order that I made with the absolutely awesome team over at Bonita Smoke Shop. There you can find the Padron Family Reserve 46 Years in both singles and by the box. Padron isn’t a brand that I smoke too often. It’s not that I do not enjoy them (cause god knows I do), I just find them slightly out of my price range. To me, Padron signifies the perfect “special day” or celebratory cigar. What am I celebrating? Being alive I guess. I just really wanted to see just how great of a chance this years 46 Year release has for Cigar of the Year vs. last years 45 year release.

The Good Stuff: The Padron Family Reserve 46 Years Maduro is said to be amongst the most finest cigars that have ever been produced by the Padron Family. The 46 year Family Reserve is made to commemorate Padron’s 46 years of successful operation. The blend is composed of all Nicaraguan tobacco grown at Padron’s Tabacos Cubanica factory in Esteli that is aged for at least 10 years (some of the companies oldest tobacco). The 46 Years only comes in a maduro wrap unlike the previous 45 Year blend which came in both Maduro and Natural. There have been rumors going around that Padron plans on releasing the blend in a natural wrap but again, these are only rumors. The Padron Family Reserve 46 Years comes in boxes of ten and there will only be between 40 to 50 thousand of these cigars made.

Size: 5.5 x 56  –  Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Maduro  –  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan  –  Body: Medium

Prelight: The Padron Family Reserve 46 Years Maduro is a very meat, beefy, boxed pressed maduro. The wrapper is a very consistent, toothy, dark chocolatey brown wrap that leads up to a single, tiny, flawless cap.  This cigar is very heavy, and extremely firm to the touch. There no soft spots, and just one small section on the side of the cigar towards the middle of the body that bumps out. The wrapper on this cigar seems really tough and durable. It’s real tough and I am only hoping that is isn’t a branch and I burn right through it. The band is exactly what you would expect from the Padron Family Reserve line. Dark maroon with the words “Padron – Family Reserve – 1964” embossed in gold metallic ink. The underband simply states the number of authenticity, No. 263835 in this case. The finally band is small color reversed band with the words “46 Years” repeated across it. The wrapper gives off but a faint chocolate and coffee aroma while the boasts of a very smooth and creamy espresso with subtle hints of natural tobacco.  The 46 Years cut off very lean and easy using my double bladed cutter.  The cold draw produces a very flavorful tobacco and cocoa mixture with a bit of coffee.

First Smoke: The Padron 46 Years starts off by pumping out just a massive and effortless draw. This cigar pumps out a very thick cedar rich draw with hints of espresso, spice, sweetness, and chocolate. After the first couple of puffs a very strong spice (nutmeg and cinnamon maybe?) just takes over this experience. Leaving behind a completely massive cloud of thick, lingering smoke. This cigar gives off a very impressive amount of spicy scented stationary smoke.  The burnline is extremely sharp and dead even all the way around the body of the cigar.  The ash left behind is a brilliant grey, almost white, and held on literally for two inches before falling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: I really live this size of this cigar. Not to big, not too small, and the box press fits perfectly and comfortably between your fingers. The spice into the second third simmered down a bit and the cedar flavor made it’s triumphant return. There is still quite a bit of espresso mixed in there as well. So far the experience has been flavorful, creamy, and incredibly smooth. I can’t feel any nicotine despite how slow this cigar is burning. The retro hale is straight up woodsy and I get almost the same prime just being around the cigar due the amount of stationary smoke the 46 year gives off. On a side note, The “bump” mentioned in the Prelight did nothing to hinder the experience. I just burned right through it.

Finish: I have to say, the Padron 46 years is a perfectly balanced yet complex cigar. The final third while flavorful, finished incredibly smooth. The spice has been completely removed from the flavor make-up with only the cedar and lingering espresso and chocolate flavors. I still haven’t felt much nicotine from this cigar. It fits perfectly in the medium range finishing smooth and creamy with no harshness built up what so ever. The cigar didn’t even burn hotter than warm going well within the final inch.  The burn was perfect from start to finish with no touch ups or relights needed. On another side notes the small band peeled right off while the larger two connected bands slight off with ease.

Overview: After all was said and done the Padron Family Reserve 46 years took about an hours and forty five minutes to finish. And I have to say I enjoyed every single minute of it. Super flavorful, complex, creamy, mild and smooth. Everything you would expect from the Padron Family. Will it top last year’s Cigar Aficionado’s best cigar of the year performance? No idea, but I can say it stands a few good chance. The price obviously plays a big role in me saying that I don’t find these cigars in my regular rotation too often. At around $26 a pop this cigar is a bit pricey. It is however the perfect special day or celebratory cigar.

Pairing: I hit the booze hard last night so I didn’t do my normal beer/wine pairing with this cigar. Instead, pure hydration. H2O was my weapon of choice. Needless to say I ‘m not posting a picture of this. You all should know what water looks like. Instead, I am posting a picture of my dog Sonny in his Halloween costume. Cause he’s a badass and keeps me company while I write these reviews.

The post Padron Family Reserve 46 Years Maduro appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.