What a difference a shade makes! About a year ago I wrote a negative review of the Padron 1964 Imperial (natural) which drew several comments along the lines of "are you out of your frigging mind -- this is a great cigar!" Well, that was a natural, and I stand by my word.
Now for the maduro. This is, simply put, one of the finest cigars you will ever smoke. If you like maduro flavor and medium-to-strong intensity, you will not find a smoother, finer burning, more perfect drawing, cloud-of-smoke-producing pleasure stick. The flavor is rich and, although not especially tantalizing at first, soon develops very pleasing characters of nuttiness, wood, chocolate and spice which peak in the middle and continue to the very last inch.
This cigar is extremely expensive ($14 per stick online, last time I checked -- assuming you can actually find it in stock anywhere) but in this case you are actually getting the perfection that the extra dollars imply. Very few expensive cigars live up to their hype.
Padron, I'm a believer. Maduro, that is. Black gold. Superstar.
