At the 2022 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show, the joint project between Arturo Fuente Cigars and Padrón debuted.
The principals of the project, Jorge Padrón and Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr. created cigars to honor their fathers, the late José Orlando Padrón and Carlos Fuente Sr. The twist is that each principal blended a cigar to honor the other principal’s father. In other words, Jorge Padrón created a cigar to honor Carlos Fuente Sr. and Carlito Fuente created a cigar to honor Jose Orlando Padrón.
There has been a lot of anticipation since the project was announced in October 2022. There had been some buzz that the cigar would launch at the 2022 PCA Trade Show, but it was only confirmed on July 6th.
The unveiling of the project took place on Sunday July 11 and Jorge Padrón, Carlito Fuente, and members of their respective families were in attendance. Even more amazing, there were hundreds of attendees present. Simply put this was something PCA/IPCPR/RTDA had never seen before. A special area between the Fuente and Padrón booths was set up for the unveiling.
There wasn’t much more disclosed about the project other than the actual unveiling of the cigars. Both cigars feature a common primary band highlighted by the Fuente clock and Padrón hammer. There are also secondary bands. The cigar made for Carlos Fuente Sr. by Jorge Padrón says “JORGE PADRÓN HONORING CARLOS A. FUENTE” while the cigar made fro José Orlando Padrón by Carlito Fuente says “CARLOS FUENTE JR. HONORING JOSÉ O. PADRÓN”
One notable difference is the cigar by Carlito Fuente for José O. Padrón features a cedar sleeve. The cigars are 7 x 50 in size, and will come in collectible 40-count boxes featuring two 20-count trays of each blend.
The unveiling still left plenty of questions. There are still unknowns such as the blends, price, production numbers, how to order, and pricing.
Photo Credits: By Erron Nielsen for Cigar Coop
