The Padre Elegido by LACC

BRAND/CO:  Quesada

CIGAR:  Padre Elegido

VITOLA:  Toro - 6" x 56

STRENGTH:  Medium

WRAPPER:  Ecuadorian Habano 2000, Natural

BINDER:  Indonesia

FILLER:  Dominican Republic

ORIGIN:  Dominican Republic, TABADEX    (Tabacos de Exportación)

APPEARANCE & CONSTRUCTION:   Average

A nice medium milk chocolate brown with light sheen but not much mottling.  It's a little bit on the drier side, but has a ton of fine tooth giving it a velvety texture.  Only a few veins, and they are on the thin and light side.  It does have a number of light lumps coming from the binder layer that create the occasional edge lift on the seams, but otherwise they're all tight with a clean cap.  The head of the cigar is flatter and less dome shaped so be careful with a guillotine as you could remove the entire head.  I like the reserved simplicity of the single foot band as well.

DRAW & BURN:   Good / Good

The draw is spot on and the burn starts nicely but a little unevenly.  We'll give it time to see if it starts going at different paces to different places or self corrects. I give it a quick touch-up wondering if I didn't get the foot completely toasted properly and now we have good smoke production and the burn quickly evens out.  It jas just the slightest ripples in an otherwise dead even burn line by the end of the first third.  The ash is a light gray, but it's feathering a lot, which is the biggest issue I have with the burn through the shiny smoke.

FLAVOR PROFILE:   Excellent

Immediate flavors are cedar, cocoa, and earth.  Then a nice citrus sweetness creeps in.  It's a little grassy, a little musty, but a drier, very toasty set of flavors in the profile to start. Nuttiness, a lot of peanut shell flavor that gives a powdery mouth feel.   So peanut shells and powered baking chocolate with a toasty bread and light woody base with a sweet and creamy finish.  There's a really nice zest going on with that citrus sweetness.  There's spice, but it's mild.  Hints of cinnamon and pepper.

Into the second third, this very enjoyable blend is carrying on.  Grassy, woody, peanut shells, powdered cocoa, citrusy sweet, and a mild but strengthening pepper, all with a creamy finish are just in harmony powering on.  There's really nice complexity to the blend and it's very well balanced.  No real changes into the final third either.   There's absolutely no harshness or bitterness at all here, just smooth sailing the entire way as the flavors swirl and slightly grow in intensity.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:   Great

A truly well done blend that is a great homage with a meaningful story and mission behind it.  And TBH, this is a fantastic Louisiana, hot weather, high humidity cigar that doesn't rely on a Connecticut Shade wrapper to keep it light, while still bringing a ton of flavor.   In closing, I say mission accomplished for bringing Old World inspiration to a New World blend.