Padron Damaso No. 8

Damaso is the curveball from a house that rarely throws one. Named for Damaso Padron — the first of the family to grow tobacco, who left the Canary Islands for Cuba in the 1890s — it takes Padron’s signature aged Nicaraguan binder and long filler and swaps the sun-grown wrapper for a silky Ecuadorian Connecticut leaf. The result is unlike anything else in the portfolio: round rather than box-pressed, mild-to-medium, and built on sweet cream, almond, sugar cookie and cedar with a lift of white pepper and citrus late. The construction is pure Padron — flawless draw, razor burn, no touch-ups.

A 5½” x 46 corona gorda — the original Damaso size and the most delicate of the four.