Name: Padilla Hybrid
Vitola: Torpedo (6.2 x 52)
Body: Medium
Filler: Nicaraguan
Wrapper: Habano/Connecticut Hybrid
Price: $3.33 per single, $40 for mazo of 20
Rating: 89/100 or 
(4.5/5)
With a name like the Padilla Hybrid, one might think that Padilla started selling environment-friendly cars. However, what gives this cigar its name (unless everything I’ve read was wrong) is the fact that the Habano wrapper leaf is a product of a strange mix of Conneticut and Cuban tobacco seeds. This should be interesting.
Pre-light and Construction (14/15):
While the band on the Hybrid isn’t anything impressive, the cigar itself is a soft, velvety looking stick with a slight barnyard and spice aroma to it. Construction was full and firm, with some weight to it. After clipping it, I took a pre-light draw from the Hybrid. While the flavor was almost too subtle, I got soft, gentle spice with a little bit of cedar. Things look quite promising.
Draw and Burn (18/20):
The draw is slightly firm, but nowhere near a problem. Even with the draw, it gave a generous volume of white-gray smoke. The burn was quick during the first inch, but slowed down thereafter. No burn issues nor tunneling at any point during the smoke.
Flavor (36/40):
First third: The cigar opens up with light pepper on the draw with gentle spices on the finish. Definitely not a huge pepper or spice bomb like the more powerful cigars, which is very nice for a change (especially if you have grown tired of the continuous pepper blast that some sticks have). At this point, it’s a very good change-of-pace cigar that can also be a good bridge for those milder smokers that are slowly graduating to medium or full cigars.
Second third: The flavor and aroma changes a little bit here as it gets to the sweet spot. On the draw, there’s light pepper still, but with a pinch of leather as well. As I exhale through the mouth and nose, there’s a very long finish with gentle spices, cinnamon, and cedar. These are very pleasant flavors indeed, especially for those mild smokers that are entering the medium strength level as most mild cigars I smoked were more about cream, nuts, butter, and a tiny bit of spice.
Final third: The strength slowly starts to build finally as I enter the last part of the cigar. The cinnamon gradually steps down as the spice ramps up and takes the spotlight along with cedar on the unusually long finish. As I keep going down to the nub, there is a spicy zing at the back of the throat.
Impression (21/25): While this is not an overly complex nor strong cigar, it fulfills its role very well as a change of pace or intermediate cigar for those looking to go into stronger stuff. The finish has a very pleasant flavor of spice, cinnamon, and cedar which is unusually long. In fact, I finished the cigar, left to watch a movie, got back to this review, and it’s still in my mouth. I’m actually surprised this cigar is so cheap, considering it’s very well constructed and has very good flavor. It’s a very good and cheap everyday smoke. I love it.
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I love this cigar as well! Great value for the money and a great everyday smoke. Thanks for the review!
Nice review bro… I think I have to check the humidors to see if I have one of these.