Take everything you’ve come to know about the Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series and double it. This is precisely the experience one gets when lighting up the Hermoso, a box-pressed, short robusto with twice the cocoa, coffee and earth character normally found in standard Padrón 1964 Anniversary cigars. There’s something about the Hermoso’s compact format that seems to have magnified the intensity of this already bold blend. It’s like a ’64 on steroids, but that doesn’t mean that the Hermoso is without elegance. To the contrary, this blend is able to deliver a smoke that envelops the palate like hot chocolate, showing luxurious layers of fudge, ganache, earthy cocoa bean and espresso, all coming together with the charm of a Viennese chocolate truffle. The coffee and earthy qualities remain constant and bold, carrying every fudgey puff to its refined finish. Padrón introduced the 1964 Anniversary Series in 1994 as a celebration of the company’s 30th anniversary. Composed of well-aged Nicaraguan tobacco, it was created by Jorge Padrón with his father, the late José Orlando Padrón, and turned Padrón into a serious producer of world-class cigars. The Hermoso is the newest size in the line, added in 2016, and continues to resonate even years after its release, making it one of the best cigars we smoked in 2020.