Padron Cigars

officially the republic of nicaragua is the largest country in Central America largest but most sparsely populated of the Central American nations Nicaragua borders Honduras to the north and custom Rico to the South the country is mountainous in the West with fertile valleys the Pacific coast is volcanic and very fertile the swampy Caribbean coast is aptly called the Mosquito Coast but we are here for puttering cigars they are one of the most complex luxurious and consistent taste in cigars on the market today my name is Nicola and I love cigars with over 46 years to create a perfect cigar and more than hundred years to create a perfect legacy puddle cigars have decided to grow the tobacco here with flavors out of Cuban Heritage out of which the name patron was born ten years ago they lacked far behind Honduras and markedly the Dominican Republic but if the current trends hope Nicaragua will end the year as the number one producer of premium cigars by the volume for the US market shipping more than double the cigars it did on the six years ago Nicaragua today is like Costa Rica was 30 years ago a pristine Central American country that's easy to reach and virtually empty we landed in Managua the capital of the country the city of 1 million people which was devastated by earthquake in the early 70s we met our contact in Managua and were driven to Esteli which is in the highlands to the north of the country and that's where the padang cigars have their farm and factory Padron cigars have been around for a long time and have a great following all across the globe I met with Jose Ilan the padrone the man behind the name and asked him about the padrone cigar story window I arrived in Miami in 1962 when I arrived I could not find a cigar that would fulfill my expectations so I thought to myself I need to fix this properly I've been smoking all my life and now I can't find a cigar that will satisfy me so what did you do to resolve that issue the hey boy a tornado when a flower together I decided to start a factory but not one to mass-produce it arms ok but one that makes quality cigars again moment oh yeah at the time there were no Cuban cigars in the US market due to the embargo yes Mike will know her times from the other who said that I go to Puerto so I used different tobacco from Puerto Rico Brazil and Connecticut in hopes of finding a blend it would satisfy my craving Empress in March 29th 1964 I rented a space to start a factory in Miami it cost me 62 dollars in order to start his cigar business how they needed to renovate his rental property he got a small Hana to do odd jobs to support himself while the authorities considered his application for the factory he used that little hammer as his logo to remind him of his early years and vente on August 20th I received my manufacturing Hermann and on September 8th I released my first cigars a pre-med tobacco case before the first cigar was made there was a man who kept asking me when I was going to open because he wanted those large cigars like the ones he smoked in Cuba I told him I'm gonna make those for you I started with one milk that would roll 200 cigars a day I see at doorway my kept doing this for about two or three months but I soon realized that this was not working the sales were not going as he had hoped and expected he had to come up with a plan to save his company saga una noche one evening I went to one of those stores that I sold a bundle to and found out that only one cigar had been sold I bought the bundle back and took them home with me all through that night at early morning I was trying to find a solution when I realized that Fernando must have bought at one cigar I remembered that Fernando wanted a cigar with the curly tip on the end like the ones back in Cuba I spent all nights thinking about how to produce those cigars with the curly tips next morning I asked the roller to continue to make the same cigars but with the curly tip on the end once the cigars were ready I called Fernando and told him I had a surprise for him as soon as Fernando walked in I showed him the bundle and he shouted that's what I've been looking for I am present you know those curly tips out on the market and with that cigar I was able to conquer the Miami market I maintained my business in the Miami market up to 1967 with that one blend in 1967 a chance visit from an unusual source reminded him of the tobacco that he worked with as a child and was familiar llaman a Miami who say you're a Nicaraguan gentleman called me in Miami and said he would like me to come and see some Nicaraguan tobacco that he was going to take to Europe to sell why we're open every day together as soon as I saw the tobacco I said this is Cuba I told him this is Cuba I asked him to meet me when he gets back from Europe how did I get issue yeah when he got back from I told him what they needed to do in the USA because there were certain foreign companies that did not want Nicaraguan tobacco to succeed back to Nicaragua and told his partner everything I had mentioned but I didn't know at the time was that Somoza the Nicaraguan president was his partner on the second meet he received an invitation from Somoza who was the Nicaraguan president at the time and the achiara my you on the 18th of May I arrived at nicaragua by samosas invitation where there was an airplane waiting to take me to her lapa in the north Vania narky whom are they meet they had more than a thousand bales of tobacco all finished cure it was good tobacco he let him eat it I suggested to samosa let's do something new I don't have the funds to purchase that amount of tobacco but if he could send me 20 bales I would start a company in Miami I promote the new and improved Nicaraguan tobacco so when did you move your cigar operations to Nicaragua see a video coming up on Tolo with the help of publicity around the world the doors opened up in 1970 I no longer had enough rollers to meet the demand and that is when I decided to open a factory Nicaragua oppa daddy we started with four rollers and two of them are still with us today Jose had to persevere through wars revolutions and ball girls and kidnapping attempts to continue his cigar factory in Nicaragua when we come back we visit one of his farms to see that famous tobacco that brought him to Nicaragua now that I knew some of the history about the drones I wanted to see how this operation worked we started a tour on the farm with Jorge patron when the young tobacco plants were so green and lush I asked him about this particular farm first of all this farm is called via vieja young it's a farm here in estelí it's about 30 man saunas which is just about 50 acres of tobacco we actually grow in different stages this lot here was planted eight weeks ago okay so you can see there's already been some priming - that's right made - tobacco which is already in the barns and you know estelí is an area that have you can tell by the soil it's very thin you know heavy volcanic soil yeah types of tobacco that you get here are very heavy much heavier than what you will get in let's say Halawa do you have any wrappers in this form or this just mainly felis in all of the areas that we grow and specifically in this area we get filler most of the wrapper will come from areas north of here inhale up from here we can get some wrapper but you know all the tobacco that we grow is Sun grown Sun grown tobacco yields less wrapper than say a shade grown to our coast we've decided to use only Sun grown tobacco for many reasons but the number one reason is the taste of the Sun grown tobacco in our opinion is a type of taste that we go after the most important thing for us is all has always been the quality and consistency of our products we don't very much from year to year in terms of where we grow and what we grow nicely we're assured a consistent to supply of raw material from year to year and that doesn't vary much and when you speak to people about Photon I think the number one thing that they'll tell you is that our cigars are quality and consistent what makes padrone so special them it's a lot of things but the attention to detail at every stage of the process you know we control every part of our production from beginning to end like in this particular farm we're controlling when it gets harvested how it gets fermented how it gets dried how how much fertilizer we put in the soil we don't cut back on anything that can help us improve our crop I asked George if tobacco is like fine wine does it have a good year and a bad year tobacco doesn't change much from year to year and I say the quality that's what I was gonna ask I mean the good year would be a good yield not exceptionally a good quality - exactly I mean you know you have less of the good quality tobacco that's a bad year I would say that the soil is the most important thing you know and having the conditions you need to have the proper conditions and attending the crop in the way that it has to be attended when you are growing tobacco during the harvest there's no vacation time this is 7 days 10 24 hours a day you have to be monitoring the tobacco every single day and how long is that period from germination to fully harvest 3 months 3 months when do you start germinating the seedlings go into the seabeds October November and then it depends like right now we still have seedlings that were growing cuz in Halawa we still have areas that we haven't planted already scattered it all depends on when you're gonna plant and the condition of the farm you know do you have enough barns having the right amount of barns for drying is essential otherwise staggering the planting of seeds is very important in order to house and dry all tobacco that is harvested in some cases you don't have enough barn space to hold all the tobacco you can harvest at one time if you were to grow the entire farm so in that case you have to stagger the ISEE so if you have space for you to plant one area first and then as that is drying in the barn and coming out you got the next to go in it's really a precise operation oh absolutely how long would they go at the bomb generally it takes between thirty and forty days for the drying process of course you know you those you have other factors you have how much rain is coming how much heat you know all those the humidity plays that how that you know we have to be constantly playing with that inside the barns to make sure that the tobacco dries properly and at the right color once that dried up in the drying bonds you move them to the factory to kill once the tobacco is dry here in the barns and we move it into the warehouses where we start the fermentation process the Lots that we feel will give wrapper or go one way the ones that we feel will not give wrapper go another way and then that's where the prepare the curing process stops it seems that having control over different stages of growth and curing makes the tobacco brand stand out once the tobacco is cured is moved to the factory to ferment which could take up to two years I asked George about the yield of this particular farm there may be the same types of tobacco's in the different series of cigars that we make now the difference is what priming we use it could be from this same farm in two different series but we use in one we'll use a lower priming than the other so it's like cooking you know you have to mix it you're just mixing it up and you're you know obviously you know for a certain series like the 1926 series we have tobacco at our age for five years which is what we use for that and those cigar tobacco's are tobacco's that are put away and we know that eventually they will be that's what they will you in six or in the same with a 64 which is aged for four years after the break we go to the factory to see how the tobacco is killed like when you smell this you put your nose in there that's priceless this for us is the most important part of everything that we have in this in this Factory we looked at those beautiful tobacco plants and so how they were tried in the bonds it was time to move to the factory to follow the trade the next stage is the process to cure the dried tobacco and I believe this is the place that sweet taste of Ponton tobacco comes to his own this is the the area where we keep all of our wrappers and our binary this is the most important part of our more operation actually you know for us the fermentation process is the key to making great cigars you need to have large inventories of tobacco properly fermented and aged in order to be able to maintain a consistent blend what's the difference between the taste of a fermented tobacco to unfermented today well the first thing you want to try and do is smell it okay so like when you smell this you put your nose in there that's the smell that's definitely one of the things that we do here on a regular basis is that we we are checking that's about what to see how the fermentation is progressing okay okay like here for example you have a wrapper leaf okay so what we do is that we'll get this leaf and we'll remove half of it and get a wrapper out of it okay okay then we'll proceed to wrap it around our cigar okay to see how the taste is oh so you can taste the wrapper on a little you taste the wrapper and you see how the fermentation is is progressing in the in the cigar and it doesn't it doesn't leave a bit to taste in your mouth either it doesn't leave a bitter taste so if a cigar tastes bitter it's because the tobacco hasn't been fermented for long enough for properly that's correct this you cannot rush this part of the process this is this is the process where you know the the good companies invested in time money you know raw materials you can see how much tobacco we have in this room this is all Tabac wrapper tobacco this this is priceless this for us is the most important part of everything that we have in this in this factory once the tobacco is fermented and bailed they are moved to a storage to be used at a later date we left the Cure a rule to see how the tobacco was prepared for that day's production once the curing or fermentation is done is taken to where the fillers are graded assorted and selected in this room here we do two different types of functions right now we're actually deveining all the tobacco we also sort tobacco the sorting usually occurs at the beginning of the crop when the tobacco comes in it's sorted from that point on it goes into fermentation whatever is not used is that we know it's not going to be used for wrapper we destined it as for filler and that's what we do vein and that's actually what's being performed here today how many people you have in charge controlling all of this well right now we have one person in charge we have about 90 employees in here in this area you know this isn't a very important part and the person that we have is leave yeah yeah Lydia is in charge of all these are the padrone chickens here we call them yellow pollito have our own so Nathan she's in charge of making sure that everything here gets done how it's supposed to be done how long has she been working for you 40 years 40 years the original employee of one of the original ones there is happiness and loyalty in this company which goes to reinforce my view of Padron cigars next we go to the rolling section this is where we make all our cigars there's basically two different functions that are being performed here one is over here you have all the rolling of the cigars what we have 110 people working and they work in teams of two so you have 55 teams of two actually which are the ones that are producing the cigars so you mean enroller in the front and a bunch here in the back book to get as a pair absolutely but you actually know the ista god that comes out which two people work on yes yes yes always the the cigars from one roller and buncher always stayed together basically she works with another person who is the buncher uh-huh she gets the cigars in these molds which are you know plastic molds that come from the person who who she works with she gets the individual bunch and then she'll put the final wrapper which is the leaf the final leaf that goes on the outer which show it which is what you see on a cigar when you the split the leaf into two section you get two rappers one left side up in one life Raisa do you like get left-handed and right-handed rolls here - no no there they have to know how to roll from both sides they're both the ambidextrous in that oh yes yes they have to roll from both sides that's really to be in your heart I've tried you good right and I couldn't they work in teams so between two between two employees they make 450 cigars that's quite amazing that's very efficient after seeing the roller put the wrapper on we went to see the buncher who works with her in a team of two what he does he's making the bunch he is making the actual cigar the the inner of us the inner part of the cigar and that inner part of the cigar is made up of many different types of leaves you have you know binder you know you have all the different tests but the blend comes exactly and then he's he puts it all together into the cigar we proceeded to the section that solves the wrappers for all the different variety of cigars for the next day they're responsible for assuring that we have enough wrapper for the production that's planned every day I see but basically what they're doing here is that they're sorting by size and by a grade of rapper and by color okay so obviously there are certain groups that are responsible for the rappers that are gonna be used on the family reserve there's another group that does the 26 there's another group 2064 and then there's another group that does the padrone series so they all have a specialized area that they focus on we proceeded to the packaging room but the cigars have been made that day get packaged banded and sorted for shipping there's three different activities that are being performed here in this room the first thing is when the cigars are made and they come in and they have to be sorted by color and that's being done over here by a Suzanna and all the group of women on that table basically what they do is they get the the bunches of 50 cigars each or the entire production of one roller and they sorted by color when she sorted by color how did how do you put them in a box well first of all they're selected into a group of 25 cigars and then that tray of 25 should always go from lightest to darkest so you have a gradient looks pleasing today that's correct and when you put them in the box you see that same gradual transition so what other thing happens yeah once you saw that you've got a sorting then once it's sorted then it comes here for banding and as you can see this is a tray this is a tray of cigars that have already been that I've already been sorted by color and then this lady will put the bands on them and these are 1926 series cigars these cigars carry two bands so this is like the final stage once they're packaged they go to storage from here once they're packaged and then go into boxes for shipment to the US we freeze all of the cigars before we export them the reason why we freeze is not to preserve the cigar it's just to there's a certain larvae that comes from the tobacco itself and you need to firm against against yes how many containers goes out there yet every month you know you know more than one and sometimes it feels like it's too many but you know fortunately we we're not afraid to cut a bag if we don't if we feel we have to so so what happens after this room after this room they're shipped and we smoke them excellent let's go and smoke what okay when we come back I sit down with George for my favorite part of this talk this is really nice oh I love scotch after looking at all those cigars being rolled I was dying to smoke one so we found a quiet corner that was filled with that intoxicating tobacco smell to find the best pairing for our cigar of choice why don't we go ahead and try out the dimple first let's try get both it we'll see how we'll see how this goes I think we should try the number six natural I am at your disposal sir oh I love scotch I think it's a great Scotch to go with the number six or number six is uh is a full bodied cigar but it's not too heavy of a taste what's that special about this well the 1926 was cigar the tobacco stayed for five years so it's it's a cigar that's full-body but complex and balanced okay now what you got for us next next one we're gonna try here is a Macallan single malt okay with the Macallan 18 we've got the 1926 number to my guru this cigar is aged like the number six or five years but it has a different wrapper it's a higher priming so it's a little bit more full-bodied of us a little bit more mature a little bit heavier oh yeah this is you this is very smooth you can taste the difference even though they're both from the same 1926 series you can taste the difference with everything the natural profile it's amazing the difference between a natural normal how the Maduro brings out the flavors of the McCown why is that that was gonna ask you because of the fact that it ages longer it ferments longer and then the natural does it develops a flavor palate that's more full-body the Macallan is aged to its 18 year old 19 year old so I suppose aged is good I should feel bad about myself I must say famous grass is one of my most favorite scotches well I can't argue with you this is a 30 year old Famous Grouse okay with this one we're gonna have the 80th anniversary cigar it's a few a towel it's perfecto sized this cigar we came out with to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday so it's part of the 1926 series but it's a special release of the 1926 so the tobacco is still aged for five years but the construction the types of tobacco's are always hand selected even more you know more so than they are on these cigars it's only one cigar roller that makes a super and I chose this cigar because while all three of these cigars are all very complex and balanced this cigar has special flavor profile that those two do not have I don't know if it's I mean I feel it's because of the fact that the shape of the cigar it has very concentrated flavor at the beginning because of the shape the the the tightness of the tobacco it produces flavor profiles that you don't get in 1926 this is superb I mean the the the the combination of flavors the complexity in both the Scott the Single Malt and in this 80th it's I think in my opinion one of the best combination of the thigh thing so I was going to say if I was going to be stronger than Island I want the box to this and a couple of bottles of famous ground they're all three very good but this is the best it's best amongst the best so Cheers like Cheers cheers to you thank you thank you very reasoning me in Nicaragua my family my total flesh on behalf of my father we love visiting it was absolutely amazing thank you it was hard to peel myself off from tasting and smoking but I wanted the opportunity to talk to Jose again so back at the factory I asked Jose how does he know what cigar to create to please his clientele we make cigars for smokers I'm proud to say the most knowledgeable cigar smokers in the world smoke the drugs I asked Jose if lifting off the Cuban embargo worries him Cuba will not affect padrone not in the US the market that will be affected is the Europe for companies that aren't making cigars similar to Cubans they will be affected but it won't affect us how does your cigar fare against any cigar coming out of Cuba no padrone smoker in the US will give up a drones for Cubans my time with Jose Orlando was coming to an end so I asked him if he had any message for millions that enjoys his cigars I want every smoker to take pleasure in my labor and if there is anyone out there that is not happy with any of my cigars please let me know so I can fix it it is necessary to fix it I suppose it's that kind of promise to his beloved clients that make sputtering cigars what they are today it was time for me to leave this tropical paradise and reflecting on my time in Nicaragua I came to the conclusion that cigar is a passion that's shared by people who grow the tobacco make the cigars and smoke and when Jose Orlando padrone designs on a blend for a cigar he knows that that cigar would be appreciated by the people who share the same passion for a well-constructed cigar I have smoked many many cigars from different parts of the world and honestly the best cigar could be from anywhere even that has been constructed and blended well with patience and passion the only other criteria is whether you enjoy that smoke or not and if you do that's the best cigar for you but as Jose along the padrone says cigars are for enjoyment and not torture I'm Michael AVI and it's been my pleasure to bring you one of the finest cigar manufacturers in the world today you

Channel: The Insmoke Project

Views: 492,244

Rating: 4.9224119 out of 5

Keywords: Padron Cigars, Сигары Padron, никарагуанские сигары, nicaraguan cigars, сигарный форум, Cigarlife, cigarlife.ru

Id: RHUj2rHd-GA

Length: 28min 39sec (1719 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 11 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

That was a good video, thanks

[u/JustSomeAudioGuy]

Fantastic video... thank you for posting. I have a ‘26 and a ‘64 in the humidor waiting to be enjoyed.

[u/Tri-Saigheadan]

The fine history of an even finer cigar. Very well done.

[u/justgivemeanyname]

This reminds me of the Mr Rogers factory tours.