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| Pedro Martin Limited Edition |
Back in late 2012, Maria Martin, owner of Martin Family of Cigars discussed a project on Kiss My Ash Radio that would be her Martin Family of Cigars company’s first limited edition cigar – the Pedro Martin Limited Edition. In 2013, a big change would happen as Gurkha Cigar Group would acquire Martin Family of Cigars’ Pedro Martin trademark. As a result of this acquisition the Pedro Martin line is currently undergoing integration into the Gurkha portfolio. Toward the end of 2013, the first Pedro Martin release under the Gurkha umbrella has made its way to retailers. It turns out that this cigar is that long awaited Pedro Martin Limited Edition. This would have been the seventh blend released by Martin Family of Cigars. In the case of the Pedro Martin Limited Edition, this cigar was well-worth the wait. This cigar is definitely the best release to date under the Pedro Martin brand to date.
Pedro Martin is named for Maria’s late father. Pedro Martin is best known for founding Tabacalera Tropical back in 1978. Martin sold the company to Eduardo Fernandez in 2002 – known for his Nicaraguan-base Aganorsa farms and Casa Fernandez brand. In coming full circle, Maria Martin has teamed back up with Casa Fernandez to make this cigar at TABASA factory in Esteli Nicaragua. The Pedro Martin Limited Edition was blended by Arsenio Ramos.
Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Pedro Martin Limited Edition and see what this cigar brings to the table.
Blend Profile
When Maria Martin was talking about this project, she mentioned the wrapper as being the special part of the Pedro Martin Limited Edition project. The wrapper is a nine year old Nicaraguan Corojo – that both Martin and Casa Fernandez are well-known for. The cigar itself is a Nicaraguan puro.
Wrapper: 9 Year Old Nicaraguan Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Vitolas Available
The Pedro Martin Limited Edition is available in one size – a 6 x 52 box-pressed toro. The cigars are packaged 15 per box. A total of 500 boxes were produced.
Appearance
From the appearance of this wrapper, it certainly lives up toe expectations. This is one of the sharpest looking corojo wrappers i have seen. The wrapper has a coffee bean color with a slight colorado red tint to it. Upon closer examination, some darker marbling can be seen on the wrapper. There also is a slight amount of oil on the wrapper. There are also some visible veins and visible wrapper seams. The box-press itself is quite firm. There also is a nice cinnamon aroma coming from the cigar itself.
There are two bands on the Pedro Martin Limited Edition cigar. Both bands are silver and black in color. On the primary band is a black oval with the text “PEDRO MARTIN” in silver font. There is a thick silver ring around the oval. Above the ring is a silver palm tree on a black shield. On the lower part of the shield is a thin silver ribbon with the text “MARTIN FAMILY” in short black font. Toward the lower part of the band is a black wedge with the text “2013” in silver font. Finally, at the bottom of the band is a thin black stripe with the text “LIMITED EDITION” in thin silver font. The remainder of the band is adorned with silver and black design.
The secondary band sits just below the primary band. That band also has a black oval with the text “PEDRO MARTIN” in silver font. The remainder of the band is also adorned in silver and black.
Preparation for the Cigar Experience
As I normally do, I started the the cigar experience with a straight cut. Once the cap was clipped, I proceeded with the pre-light draw. The dry draw yielded a mix of cedar and pepper spice, cinnamon, and coffee notes. Overall, I considered the pre-light draw to be outstanding on the Pedro Martin Limited Edition. At this point I was ready to light up the cigar and see what the overall smoking experience would deliver.
Flavor Profile
The Pedro Martin Limited Edition started out with a blast of black pepper. As the pepper subsided it gives way to a classic corojo sweetness with an underlying creaminess. As the cigar moved through the early stages, the corojo sweetness was joined by some notes of coffee. The pepper notes also remained primary while cream was a secondary note. The black pepper was also prominent on the retro-hale, but it wasn’t what I would term a sharp spice.
Later in the first third, there was a slight decrease in the pepper, but I still categorized it as a primary note. The other flavors remained the same, but the cream notes now took on more of a chocolate/cream quality.
By the midway point, the combination of pepper and corojo sweetness remained primary. The coffee notes had dissipated. The chocolate creaminess receded somewhat and some earth notes started to emerge in the background.
Later in the second third, the earth notes moved into the forefront with the black pepper. The corojo sweetness became a secondary note. There was a slight increase in the pepper toward the end, but the cigar never became overpowered with spice The closing nub was cool in temperature and slightly soft to the touch.
Burn and Draw
From a burn standpoint, the Pedro Martin Limited Edition performed quite well. While there was a slight jaggedness on the burn line, I still would categorize the burn as a straight burn that required little maintenance along the way. The resulting ash was firm. The ash had more of darker charcoal gray color with some dark streaks on it. The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.
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| Burn of the Pedro Martin Limited Edition |
As for the draw normally I like a little resistance on the draw. This is how the Pedro Martin Limited Edition started out. As the cigar progressed, the resistance increased and it became tighter than I normally like. Overall there was more effort required on the draw in the second half, but it was not what I call a poor draw. I also didn’t find this impacted to burn or flavor profile adversely.
Strength and Body
From a strength perspective, the Pedro Martin Limited Edition had nice kick to it. I assessed the cigar as falling in the medium to full range when it came to strength. As for the body, there was some nice depth to the flavors and they have some weight on the pallet. Overall I assessed this cigar as being a full-bodied smoke. Overall I gave the body a slight edge over the strength throughout the smoking experience of the cigar.
Final Thoughts
The reputation for Nicaraguan puro corojo wrapper blends from Casa Fernandez is as good as it gets. With the Pedro Martin Limited Edition, this cigar stands up with the best of them. As I mentioned at the beginning, this is definitely the best release by Maria Martin to date. This also has the potential to be one of the best blends under the Gurkha Cigar Group portfolio. The only shortcoming was the tighter draw in the second half, but still there are a lot more positives than negatives. Another point to note is that is a pricier cigar as I’ve seen it priced at $15.00. This is probably a cigar I would steer to a more seasoned cigar enthusiast. As for myself, this is still a cigar that I would get a box of and one I highly recommend.
Summary
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Good
Complexity: High
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: 4.0 – Box Worthy
Score: 92
References
Price: $15.00
Source: Purchased
Stogie Geeks Podcast: n/a
Stogie Feed: Pedro Martin Limited Edition
