This cigar is a humbler offering from Padrón: the Padrón Damaso. And it’s quite fitting – the Padrón family reports that Damaso himself was a humble man. He was the first Padrón in Cuba, having emigrated in the late 1800s from the Canary Islands (a territory of Spain found off the western coast of Morocco). Like most new arrivals, he found work in farming, ultimately renting some land on which to grow tobacco. His values of honesty, decency, hard work, and humility have been passed along from generation to generation as the family has carried on the traditions of tobacco farming and cigar making.
Suffice to say, it’s working out quite well for them (although we have to imagine that it becomes hard to stay humble when you’ve got two Cigar Aficionado Cigar of the Year winners under your belt, along with a healthy pile of highly-ranked cigars that grows literally every single year).
Ironically, the Padrón Damaso takes things in a different direction than the traditional blends favored by the company. Instead of intense flavor, this cigar features a mellow Connecticut wrapper that keeps things fairly light. A touch of sweetness and cream is followed by a dash of pepper and the aroma of cedar. The smoke is medium body, and the draws are somewhat changed from the other Padróns, due in part to the Parejo shape instead of the usual smoke-concentrating Figurado. The result is an enjoyable stick that keeps things simple and doesn’t get ahead of itself.
