David Burney (@jdburney1)

Theme Week 39 Part 2 GRAND FINALE: Two Great Families and the Cuban Tragedy For part 1 of this post, click here = https://gab.com/jdburney1/posts/114517491571962096 FOURTH: The Fuente y Padron Legends cigars are rare or, in some cases, totally impossible to find. The joint collaboration between Fuente and Padron to honor their fathers, the Fuente y Padron Legends, is a unique occurrence and obtaining this particular pair of cigars is now extremely difficult, and soon to be impossible to find, thus making them a truly unique treasure in one's humidor in the coming years. Here are my comments upon tasting both = https://gab.com/jdburney1/posts/114557747293532301 FIFTH: Padron Black #97 (a.k.a. PB97) is expected to be a "one-and-done" production, making them something that will likely be impossible to find, even immediately after release. I was able to get my hands on two, so I will enjoy one and save the other one for posterity. My post while smoking this cigar = https://gab.com/jdburney1/posts/114558512180016091 and you can read more about this unique product at Halfwheel = https://halfwheel.com/padron-black-pb97-begins-arriving-at-retail/435890/ SIXTH: Padron 1926 Series 90 (Natural and Maduro) are a specialty item, a bit rare yet presently available if one seeks to find them. These are 'tubos' and produced to honor the ninetieth birthday of brand founder and legendary cigar-maker José Orlando Padrón. As of Saturday, 5/24/2025, these are still available with many large retailers (such as https://www.cigarsinternational.com/p/padron-1926-series-no-90-cigars/1514803/ ), but whether this cigar continues to be readily purchase is unclear, since many Padron "special releases" end up being extremely rare or sometimes "a limited run" that quickly becomes impossible to find. Here is my post while enjoying these two cigars = https://gab.com/jdburney1/posts/114563905565333744 BONUS TRIVIA: History Of Padron's Serial-Numbered Underband The following is an archived news story buried in the Padron website's "xml archive" folder (http://www.padron.com/xml/newsarchived.xml) explaining what happened after the 1999 massive counterfeiting bust: The new bands, which began appearing on February 1, 2001, will sport numbers to guarantee the cigar's authenticity. Jorge L. Padrón, president of the Miami-based company, said that Padrón had been working on the anti-counterfeiting measure for a year. "We've been working on new ways to make the band more difficult to counterfeit," he said, "and to make consumers feel more secure that they are getting a genuine Padrón." Numbered bands are fairly rare in the cigar industry, but Padrón already uses a numbering system for its Padrón 1964 Series Millennium cigars. The Millenniums have one number for each cigar -- if, say, cigar No. 1,100 has been smoked, it's gone for good. The numbers on the Anniversary bands may repeat, but never in the same box. The company said there was a system to the numbering to help track possible fakes, but it won't be revealed to the public. For Padrón, the move is a logical one, as counterfeiting has been a growing problem over the last year and a half. In June 1999, the first fake Padrón Anniversary cigars surfaced in Nicaragua. In January 2000, police seized more than 3,000 counterfeit Anniversary cigars and 5,000 fake bands from a Los Angeles warehouse. Two months later, a seizure in Miami forced the Padróns to send a letter to retailers warning about the surge in counterfeiting. Most recently, undercover agents seized more than $60,000 of fake cigars in a September raid that took place in New York City. Along with adding the additional band, Padrón has modified its Anniversary boxes: all of the box hinges will now be engraved. Other measures to hinder counterfeiters will be added. In the future, changes to the regular Padrón brand and the Millennium brand could also take place if necessary. "We have to make it as hard as possible for someone to counterfeit our cigars," says Padrón. NOTE: Padron will likely be changing this again to include a new larger serial-numbered single band in the near future = https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/padron-modifies-cigar-bands. I hope you have found the themes and history of these various cigars, as well as the BONUS TRIVIA, to be as interesting as I have.