The Making Of Padrón’s Perfecto And A Mountaintop Tobacco Tour
Want to see how the Cigar of the Year is made? We walk you through some of the process, and also take a tour of Padrón’s mountaintop tobacco farm in this photo essay.
A tray of freshly-banded Padrón 60th Anniversary Perfectos, Cigar Aficionado’s 2025 Cigar of the Year.
The Puro Sabor cigar festival in Nicaragua has commenced, and Cigar Aficionado is here in Estelí, joining the international celebration of the country’s finest product. Our first stop: the industrious Padrón factory. We walk you through some of the steps required to make the Padrón 60th Anniversary Perfecto, Cigar Aficionado’s 2025 Cigar of the Year. The double-tapered Salomon is a difficult size to produce properly, but this cigar also required some imagination. “The process in creating this cigar was a long one,” says owner Jorge Padrón. “I bought a 3-D printer to create prototypes of the shape. We wanted it to be something we’ve never made before. It was always going to be a figurado, but we experimented with different dimensions.”
The day continued beyond the factory to Padrón’s newest tobacco farm, La Florinda, which is only a few years old. To get there, one must be equipped with a good four-wheel-drive vehicle and a sturdy stomach, as the climb to this high-elevation plot of land is not only steep, but bumpy and unpaved. Atop the mountain grows lush, green expanses of tobacco flourishing in the middle of Nicaragua’s growing season.
The focused factory. With its 90 pairs of rollers, this operation produces eight million cigars by hand per year, among them high-scoring brands such as the Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series, the Serie 1926 and the Family Reserve.
Padróns in the raw. These rough-looking Perfectos have yet to receive their wrappers. A buncher has placed them in a cigar mold where they will take shape.
Applying the wrapper. Only one team in the entire factory—a buncher and roller—makes these 60th Anniversary perfectos. This roller deftly applies its wrapper.
A thorough inspection. Jorge Padrón not only assesses the quality of these Perfectos, but shows the younger generation what to look for. Jorge Luís Padrón, Alfonso Vicente Martínez and Andrés Martínez listen and learn.
Fifty fine cigars. Now that these Perfectos have passed inspection, they’re ready to get banded and boxed.
Finishing touches. In the packaging department, an employee carefully adorns each cigar with two bands.
Up in the mountains of Estelí. La Florinda was purchased in 2023 and named after Jorge Padrón’s mother. It’s 3,000 feet above sea level. This year is only its third harvest.
A good crop. The thick leaves tell Padrón that this is quality tobacco. These plants are 60 days old. This year’s growing season has been ideal with its sunny days, cool nights and moderate amounts of rain.
In the greenhouse. Tobacco seedlings start out in nurseries like this before being planted in the fields, usually around 40 days.
Out of the coal-black soil. Like much of the land in Estelí, the dirt here is nearly black and the tobaccos are strong. Padrón has planted 68 acres so far and will plant another 68 by the end of the season. We might be seeing tobacco from this farm in Padrón’s cigars by the end of the year.
