This year we got started with our long time friend Ernesto Padilla. In recent years, Ernesto has had a fairly modest booth at the IPCPR trade show, with his latest cigars the main focus of the booth. This year he did a 540 with his booth design, a flashy overhead sign replacing the familiar backdrop, velvet ropes, and a replica of a classic Shelby Cobra taking center stage. (The car was being raffled off for a day of adventure to one lucky retailer that bought cigars at the show.)

Another change was the presence of luxury watches in the booth. Ernesto Padilla partnered up with Cuervo y Sobrinos luxury watches, an old Cuban brand he tells us was worn by such notables as Hemingway, Churchill and Einstein.

In terms of cigars, to quote Ernesto, everything old is new again. He shows us the redesigned packaging for the Padilla 1932 and Miami, which still use the same blends, and the Vintage Reserve box press. Then it was time to show us the cigar we heard people talking about even before the show started, the ultra premium Padilla 1932 Millisime. It comes in a custom made wine box which holds 100 cigars, and carries a hefty $47.50 price tag before applicable taxes. ($4750 per box if you don’t care to do the math.) It’s a project Ernesto worked on for a year, and is composed of tobaccos between 5 and 10 years old, that have been aged in royal palm bark. (You can see a picture of royal palm tercios here.) He tells us about the blend, and also hints that the Putin and the Russians were involved in rigging it so he could get the rare tobaccos he wanted.

After reminiscing about the old Padilla 1932 Oscuro a while and discussing the virtues of aging tobaccos in palm leaf tercios, Ernesto handed us off to Martin Manuel to talk about Cuervo y Sobrinos watches. He showed us the 1882 Collection of watches, named after the company’s founding year. What makes the watches interesting are the little details that tie them to the cigar industry. For example, the dial has the texture of a tobacco leaf and the watches come in functional Spanish cedar-lined humidor boxes. And of course they will be exclusively sold in cigar shops.

If watching this video has you jonesing to light up a Padilla cigar or two, you may be in luck. Leave a comment below by next Monday (July 24th), and you’ll be entered to win a four pack of Padilla cigars, including the 1932 and the Miami with the new bands. And as usual, my highly scientific winner selection algorithm is slightly biased in favor of interesting comments and people who share to places like Facebook and Twitter. But still 103% scientific.

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