Top Ten “Made In The USA” Cigars To Light Up The Fourth of July and Beyond: Part III
The third installment in this series on the best cigars made in the USA brings us back to Florida. It also showcases two very different cigar lines.
One is very close to Cuba and has recently been called one of the best cigars made in the United States.
The second is closer to Cuba than the first, and it too has a claim on the title of best U.S.-made cigar.
If that makes sense to you, then you will have a good idea of where we are headed. If it doesn’t, just sit back and relax. It will all be explained in the cigar reviews below the fold.
The order in which cigars are presented in this series does not indicate relative quality or rating. It is not a top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top list. All cigars in this list are quite good, all are quite different, and each one is a #1 cigar in its own way.
5. Padilla Miami Robusto
Like the Tatuaje Cabinet Tainos reviewed in Part I of this series, Cigar Aficionado also chose the Padilla Miami 8&11 Robusto as a Top 25 Cigar of 2005.
The “8 & 11″ in the name — which Padilla Cigars seems to have dropped in favor of calling this gem simply the Padilla Miami — came from the location of the factory where the cigar is expertly rolled. It memorializes the corner of 8th Street and 11th Avenue in Miami’s Little Havana: the address of Jose “Pepin” Garcia’s El Rey de Los Habanos factory.
Yes, the Padilla Miami, like the Tatuaje cigar line, is made by Don Pepin. Pepin Garcia makes some very good cigars.
The Padilla Miami is a Nicaraguan tobacco puro. The wrapper is Cuban-seed Corojo. The binder is Cuban-seed Criollo. The filler is a blend of Cuban-seed Corojo and Criollo.
That is it. Corojo and Criollo tobacco grown in Nicaragua from Cuban seed stock.
Sound boring?
It isn’t. This is a full-flavored and full-bodied powerhouse of a cigar that is not recommended for anyone but seasoned smokers. “Cubaneque” does not really do it justice.
This one has a kick.
The Padilla Miami Robusto is a five inch, 50 ring beauty that has superb construction. Don Pepin only employs grade 8 or “master” grade rollers in his factory. They worked at some of the top Cuban factories before coming to the United States. The cigars are Cuban-style, down to the triple-seam caps.
They also have great draw, good burn and exceptional flavor and complexity. Cigar Aficionado, in awarding it a 92 rating, commented on the cigar’s caramel, chocolate and spice notes and it’s long finish.
If you have ever smoked a really good Cuban cigar of full body and full flavor, then you will find the Padilla Miami comparable to what you remember. If you have never smoked a really good Cuban…smoking one of these is very close to what you have missed from the old days.
There are a lot of powerful cigars around, from various makers and nations. There are also a lot of cigars that are refined and have sophistication. There are not many cigars from any nation that combine all of those characteristics in the same stick. The Padilla Miami is in rare company.
Ernesto Padilla, the man behind this cigar, has been in the cigar business for less than six years. You would never know that based on sampling his products. The Padilla line offers cigars rolled in Nicaraugua, the Dominican Republic, and in Miami, Florida. All are very good, but the consensus is that the best Padilla cigars to date are the ones rolled in Miami under the guidance of Don Pepin.
To quote Ernesto, “I think these are among the best cigars being made in the world today.”
That is not marketing hype. That is a simple statement of fact, and one that I agree with.
I’m going to repeat a warning here that I made about the Tatuaje line. Corojo tobacco (and Criollo, for that matter) absorbs a lot of moisture. These are cigars that are made with nothing but Corojo and Criollo, and they are like little cigar-shaped sponges in your humidor.
You will have burn problems with high-Corojo-content cigars if you keep them at a relative humidity that is “normal” for your other smokes. They simply absorb too much moisture at 70%, and wet cigars do not burn well or smoke well. They do much better below 65%. Personally, I prefer a humidity in the lower sixties for these kinds of cigars.
If you are investing the amount of money that a box of Padilla Miamis or Tatuajes cost (or even the price of singles, for that matter), then do yourself a favor and pick up a small humidor for storing just these cigar blends. You can usually get them for bargain prices on Cigarbid. You will be amazed at the difference a drier humidor makes in the way these corojo-heavy premiums smoke and taste.
Speaking of price, what exactly are you going to have to pay to sample the Padilla Miami line?
Again, these are small production, limited edition cigars with an extremely good reputation. Only 5,000 were made in 2005.
They are not cheap. Not many places have them. They are not often discounted. These are genuinely good cigars and not just a hyped brand.
The best price I know of on these at the moment is U.S. $199.95 per box 20 of at Abner’s World of Discount Cigars, which is $10.00 per cigar. Black Cat Cigars lists them at the same price. Famous Smoke Shop has them at $220.00 per box ($11.00 each) and that is the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of the cigars.
The sources I know that usually have samplers and packs are either sold out on these or do not carry Padilla Miami samplers. My best advice if you don’t want to invest in a box would be to either keep checking the major retailers and see if things change, or go in with two or three friends and buy a box together.
You can also check the Padilla Cigar Company website. They have a list there of local shops that carry their cigars. I can’t give you a direct link to the page since they have a Flash-intensive site, but go to “Store Locator” and click on your state. That may be your best way to sample this truly exceptional cigar.
If you like full flavored, full bodied cigars with power and punch, this is a cigar that you will really want to try.
Hurry before they are all gone.
6. Santiago Cabana Torpedo
As promised, our next “best of” USA-made cigar takes us even closer to Cuba. Just look at the map.
Florida and the Caribbean showing Key Largo
Island Smoke Shop of Key Largo, Florida, is once again making their Santiago Cabana cigars. The SC is not as well known as their El Original cigar, which is quite a shame since I think that the Santiago Cabana it is actually a better cigar.
That is quite a statement considering that the El Original, especially the maduro version, is a very good smoke.
In 1996, Cigar Aficionado magazine awarded the Santiago Cabana a 90 rating — the highest rating ever given to a USA-made premium cigar at that time. The SC has been on hiatus at various times during its life, but the company has had the original developer of the cigar, master Santiago Cabana, formerly of the the Partagas Factory in Cuba, re-create the original blend.
I never sampled the original back in the mid-90’s, so I cannot speak to how authentic the recreation is. I can tell you, however, that the current Santiago Cabana is a very good cigar and ranks with the best in the world.
The Santiago Cabana I personally prefer is the 6 1/4 inch, 54 ring torpedo.
It comes in Claro, Natural or Maduro. (The Maduro is Mexican; the other two are from Ecuador.) I prefer the Natural wrapper with this blend. The binder is Ecuadorian. The filler is Dominican ligero blended with Nicaraguan and Honduran tobaccos. The combination gives a very refined and balanced smoke with some complexity to it.
The Santiago Cabana Torpedo is a medium-bodied, full-flavored cigar that compares well with Cuban cigars of similar profiles. There is a pronounced nutty flavor, and a pleasant creaminess along with spicy notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. At times, stronger spicy tones come through, akin to clove.
That description really doesn’t do the flavor justice — it is unique, in a very good way — but it is hard to isolate and descirbe the flavors you taste while smoking this stick.
It is good.
Very good, in fact.
If you haven’t tried these cigars from Key Largo, you should.
Island Smoke Shop is possibly the smallest cigar factory in the world. They produce a limited number of cigars per year. You won’t find them at the major online retailers, nor probably in your local cigar shop. You will have to either head down to the Keys to pick them up, or order them by mail or internet.
The current price of the Santiago Cabana Torpedos direct from the factory is US $139.95 per box ($5.60 each), or $239.95 per bundle of 50 ($4/80 each.) You can also order singles for $5.95 each. A Santiago Cabana sampler pack is $19.95 and gives you one each of the Robusto Claro, Churchill Natural, Corona Gorda Maduro, and Torpedo Natural cigars. That’s a pretty good deal.
The El Original cigar may be more famous, but the Santiago Cabana is a hidden treasure. Don’t pass it by, or you will be missing out on a superb smoking experience.
Don’t forget that the creator and blender of both cigars put his name on this one.
6a. El Original Toro Maduro
Speaking of the Santiago Cabana’s more famous cousin, as I mentioned above, the El Original is also a very good cigar. It also conjures up images of Cuba, but in a very different way.
The El Original packs more raw power than the SC, and I think that the maduro wrapper harmonizes especially well with it, enhancing the cigar even more. The cigar includes tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. They set out to create a Cuban cigar experience without Cuban tobacco.
They succeeded.
Smoke Magazine, in 2000, rated and ranked 57 different Maduro Cigars from around the world. The El Original Toro Maduro came out as the top rated cigar in that test. It not only beat Maduro cigars from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras — it beat every Cuban cigar entered.
If you like Maduros, then you owe it to yourself to sample the El Original. The 6 inch, 52 ring Toro seems to work best with this particular blend. Pepper and spice predominate in the flavor profile, but you will taste rich coffee notes and caramel as well — and those increase in strength as the cigar ages.
It ages very well.
One of the reasons that the El Original Toro Maduro beat every other Maduro in Smoke’s sample is that it is not only powerful, it is also flavorful. In fact, it is unusual to find this much flavor in a cigar that is this strong.
Island Smoke Shop currently offers these cigars for US $119.95 per box of 25 ($4.80 each) or $199.95 per bundle of 50 ($4.00 each). They also sell singles at $5.49 each if you want to sample a couple.
Another option is to buy one of their El Original sampler packs for $19.95. They have an all-Maduro sampler that gives you one each of the Torpedo, Churchill, Corona, and Robustos, or for the same price you can get a Corona Claro, a Churchill Natural, a Toro Maduro, and a Torpedo Natural El Original.
Your other option, of course, is to take a trip down to Key Largo and sample them in person. That has some additional benefits, because Key Largo is a very nice place to visit.
Next: Two “sleeper” cigars that should be in your humidor.
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