Buy the Padron 1926 No. 2 Belicoso at Famous Smoke Shop
- Size: 5.5″ x 52 (Robusto)
- MSRP: $432.00 (box of 24); $18.00 for a single
- Country of Origin: Nicaragua
- Wrapper: Nicaraguan Maduro
- Binder: Nicaraguan
- Filler: Nicaraguan
- Body: Medium Full to Full
- Strength: Medium
- Humidor Time Prior to Review: 3 months
- Cigars Smoked Prior to Review: 2
- Source: Purchased with Personal Funds
- Date Smoked: February 24, 2019
After a disappointing experience with my last review of the Macanudo Cafe, I decided that this weekend I wasn’t going to screw around. Today it’s a review of the Padron 1926 No. 2 Belicoso. I was fortunate to snag a couple 4 count samplers on sale at Serious Cigars for Black Friday, and I paid about $12.75 a stick. Here’s a shot of one of the boxes:
Very nice.
I’ve smoked a few of them. Enjoyed the Curchills with a good friend on New Years, and I’ve had some in the other vitolas. I don’t want to smoke them all up without penning at least one review, so today I’ve got the No. 2 for your consideration.
This is a special blend developed to commemorate Jose O. Padron’s 75th birthday. Without further delay, lets get into the meat of this review.
Appearance and Pre-Light Aroma
This is a rustic looking cigar. The wrapper is dark and toothy with some visible oil. Fine veins are shot through it. The seams are visible yet tight, and there is a small patch on the first third of my particular stick. This is a box pressed cigar, and appears to have been scrunched in the middle. A “rustica” indeed. For $13 I hope it smokes a little better then it looks.
The nipple cap looks to be a double cap of some sort. I could make a joke about nipples, but I’m too much of a gentleman…
Smelling the wrapper delivers a deep earth and barnyard aroma. From the foot more earth, barnyard, and a little light chocolate. Rather unremarkable pre-light aromas.
I clip the cap and take a test draw. The pre-draw flavors are fruity and backed with a little earth. That’s more like it. I start toasting and light up. Start time is 1:05 P.M.
The First Third
On the first puff I get fruit and lots of sweetness with a spicy finish. It almost immediately settles into that classic black cherry profile this blend is known for. Sweet and spicy, with a pungent fruitiness through the nose and an earthy base. Super nice.
A few minutes in and the flavors are unfolding. The black cherry has pulled back, appearing more on the retrohale than anywhere else, and at the moment it’s more of a savory stick. There is a lot going on beneath the surface. Light cream is on the immediate draw, while notes of wood and light leather appear in the middle and towards the finish. The soft fermented taste of aged tobacco is omnipresent lending a certain smoothness to the cigar.
I’d say body is medium full. The aroma is laced with a fruity sweetness. It’s a rich cigar with a great deal of character.
At the 10 minute mark the burn qualities are excellent. Tons of smoke with each draw. A razor sharp burn line terminating in a half an inch or so of flaky gray ash.
The flavors continue to evolve. Right now I’m getting some cocoa and lightly roasted coffee. That black cherry sweetness is no where to be found at the moment, but this cigar appears to be changing with each puff. The coffee is growing bolder and is the dominant flavor in this very moment. Now the cherry sweetness remerges on the retrohale.
I could describe this cigar like a sports caster. The flavors come fast and furious. A flurry of light jabs and then every few puffs a big twisting uppercut smacks me right in the kisser as a different flavor takes center stage. Deep chocolately notes hijack my brainstem, drowning out the deafening silence in my life. For a moment I’m free, free to relax and enjoy this excellent cigar.
The cigar is smoking kind of fast. At the 20 minute mark the first chunk of ash falls without provocation into my ash tray. I love how you can let a box press cigar rest on a flat surface. Very handy.
Now woody notes weave through the blend flanked by coffee and chocolate. The pepper in the first few minutes has pulled back.
It has been a cloudy day in S.W. Florida but suddenly the sun breaks free and I’m blinded by a blast of direct sunglight. I usually forgo sunglasses to see my laptop screen when I write these reviews. I squint my eyes and mop my brow. The light makes for nicer pictures, but if it doesn’t retreat soon I’ll fry in my own oils like a greasy bag of 5 Guys french fries.
The Second Third
We are at the second third. Smoke time is 25 minutes on the nose. The burn is a little ragged, with a tiny peninsula of tobacco forming on one side of the ash. I think it will auto correct so I’ll leave the lighter on the table for now.
That rich cherry sweetness is fighting to come back. I can taste it on the retrohale. Ripe cherries are my favorite fresh fruit, so I’m on this cigar like white on rice. The cherry teases the edge of my tongue and I’m rooting for it to take command and dominate this blend.
The wavy burn is not auto-correcting so I kiss the high spot with my torch. That results in a cascade of different flavors and the cherry element picks up dramatically as the extra wrapper burns and twists under the flame.
The sun isn’t backing down, so I raise my umbrella in defeat. I was beginning to feel borderline manic in the heat. Maybe it was the 2 double espressos I had for breakfast, or maybe it’s the weight of anxiety that only Sunday afternoon can bring. The shade offers some relief. The 1926 continues to smoulder on unphased in a beautiful bouquet of earth, chocolate, coffee, and cherry. I stop for a minute and suddenly remember to breathe.
I’m still reading Ron Chernow’s biography of Mark Twain. It’s a long book, heavily detailed and a little slow. This is the first biography of an author I’ve ever read. It’s good, but Sam Clemens’ ascendancy is a slow and ponderous one.
The Final Third
Smoke time is a hair over 50 minutes.
Coffee and cherries are the flavors of the moment. Reviewers talk about coffee flavors in cigars, but coffee is so nuanced in its own right. As I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of espresso, I’ve begun to develop a greater appreciation for all the different flavors found in various blends and beans. Cigars and coffee go hand in hand, but for purposes of review I’ll always keep the two separate and distinct.
We are at the serialized double bands. I pick them away carefully. They come off clean. Here is your band shot:
The flavors now are a bright rich coffee and sweet milk chocolate. The finish is wood and earth with a light pepper tingle. A bright red cardinal hops around in the oak tree just a few fight above eye level.
Time to talk about the strength of this cigar. It has been steadily building. I feel slightly woozy, but I’ll be OK. Never noticed the strength too much in these cigars, but it is certainly palpable now.
I also read Warren Buffett’s 2018 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder’s letter. This year’s letter is a short easy read. Highly recommended for anyone interested in investing and the stock market.
The flavors on our 1926 have shifted again. Some nuttiness has entered the fold. It plays nicely with the coffee. This cigar continues to twist and turn. I gird my loins for the final inch or so of this stick. Cherries rebound along with a bright coffee bean flavor. Light leather and wood both nip at its heels on the finish. Smoke pours from the foot after each puff scenting the air with a heavenly aroma.
The cherry continues to build back up. Leather mixes and mingles offering depth and balance to the sweetness. We are nearing the end and my pulse slowly begins to subside.
In the final inch I notice that the chocolate grows darker, and the coffee even bolder. The nub grows warm, a sad sign that we are nearing the end. But the smoke is still smooth. I will burn this one down further until the flavors wash away like sea foam receding into the sand.
At an hour and a half the final wave washes. I’m mostly getting leather now. I’ll end the review here.
Padron 1926 No. 2 Belicoso Review – Final Thoughts
Can you tell I’m a fan of this cigar? I was a little nervous about reviewing the 1926 as it’s such a storied blend. I hope I did it justice. I know these are expensive smokes, and for that reason people will be turned off, or at least skeptical. Is it worth the money? I admit the prospect of paying $13, let alone full retail, for this cigar is always daunting. But personally at $13 this cigar is worth it. At this point in my cigar obsession I wouldn’t pay $20, but I can justify $13. I can’t think of a single sub $10 stick that matches it, and there is absolutely no comparison to the Thousand series. The standard issue Thousand series are good cigars, but this is a great cigar.
The 1964 in Maduro is also quite good, but I prefer this 1926 even more. It checks most of the boxes for me: impeccable construction and smoking characteristics, beautiful and unique flavors, with that black cherry stealing the show, decent complexity, and powerful transitions. It’s a medium full to full bodied smoke, and the strength is a manageable medium. I like it a lot.
Where the cigar falls a little short is the complexity. Not a super complicated cigar, with maybe 4 or 5 major flavors in the blend, but they twist and turn and work well together. Of course the price is an issue as well.
The Churchill size is my favorite. That cigar got so incredibly rich and sweet in its final third. It was incredible. This No. 2 in Belicoso is also good, but not quite as good as the Churchill version. Still, the No. 2 is an excellent cigar and well worth a premium. Perfect for special occasions or that occasional indulgence when you can focus on an excellent cigar.
Final Score: 4.4 / 5 or a “2” on my 0-2 scale. Box worthy if you can justify the price. Certainly another 4 count sampler is on my horizon.
Final Smoke Time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
I recommend purchasing the Padron 1926 at Famous Smoke Shop. Please consider that purchasing things through any of the links on this website, including Amazon.com, helps support the website and keeps it going. Any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
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