Ok, lemme try, lol... I'll lay it all out, even the stuff you already knew. Let me start by saying... I CAN'T BELIEVE PADRON SUCKS SO BADLY AT WEBSITE MAINTENANCE. Part of the problem is that Padron's website is really, really outdated and they don't bother with it. Which is inexcusable in this day and age, particularly for such a successful operation as Padron. Note the bottom says
Copyright 2002 Padron Cigars. And every review or piece of information is from 2002 or earlier. That is stupendously ridiculous. Anyway, enough ranting. But if they're not going to update it once every 6 years or so, why not take it down?
Standard, commonly produced Padrons:
Thousand Series / Standard -
The Padron Thousand Series (2000 through 7000) are the "standard" Padrons, in different vitolas. Good stuff. Most of us like them. Padron also makes other "standard" non-thousand cigars that more vitolas of the same wrapper/blends, but with non-numeric names. (Londres, delicias, churchill, and several others.) They are different vitolas of the same thing, though you'd think the thousand series might be different from the non-thousand series. They aren't. The thousand series and other standard (i.e. non-Anniversary) Padrons are the same line, and have identical labels.
1964 Anniversary Padron -
Regularly produced... started production in 1994 to commemmorate Padron's 30th Anniversary. So, this was actually a "30th Anniversary" Padron, but not commonly referred to as such. Still produced regularly. Loved by most botls here. Vitolas are all "named," (i.e., words) including the Corona, Diplomatico, Exclusivo, Principe, etc.
1926 Anniversary Padron ("Serie 1926")-
Not even listed on Padron's obnoxiously outdated website! Brilliant! (Oops! Ranting again.) The 1926 Anniversary Padron, correctly called the "Serie 1926" was created to commemmorate the 75th b-day of Jose Padron, and was released in 2002. This was a "75th Anniversary" Padron, not commonly referred to as such. Still produced regularly, and loved by most botls. Fuller bodied than the 1964. Vitolas are all numbered, including the #1, #2, #6, #9, and #35. Due to high costs of production leading to the initial release, Padron had to lay off several employees, including their webmaster. Or so I speculate.
Special/limited release Padrons:
The Millenium Series -
This is actually the "Millenium 1964 Series." This was a limited release... for the actual Millenium. The year 2000. We all called it "Y2K" back then. Cool. Not really. Anyway, Padron made 1000 cases of 100 cigars each... and they're all INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED with a serial number. The cigars. Not just the cases. So, there were 100,000 of these puppies, sold only in groups of 100. I think the boxes were $5000 each. So I passed. But I remember the Holt's catalog where they were selling a few. The boxes were pretty darned impressive. The label is a 1964 Anni that says "Millenium" on it. You can still see it on Padron's website, because, of course, they haven't updated it since 2002, when these cigars were still available (probably because they were $5000 per box):
http://www.padron.com/cigar_millennium.php
The "40th Anniversary" Padron - (A Serie 1926 cigar)
This is a 40th Anniversary Serie 1926. Issued in 2004 to commemmorate the 40th Anniversary of Padron (10 years after the "30th Anniversary" 1964 Padron, released in 1994. Coincidence? I think not.) A limited run, based on the 1926 series.
So, it is, umm... a 1926 Serie cigar issued to commemorate the 75th b-day of Jose Padron in 2002, issued in 2004 to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Padron company, which had nothing to do with 1926. Make sense? No? Agreed.
So, illogic notwithstanding, it is a special release of the 1926 Series. It would have made much more sense to issue a special release of the 1964 cigar for the 40th Anni, but I imagine they'll get around to being logical right after they update the website. TORPEDO only:
http://www.vitolas.net/displayimage.php?album=27&pos=5
The "80th Anniversary" Padron - (A Serie 1926 cigar)
This is an 80th Anniversary Serie 1926... issued in 2007 (approx November) to commemorate the 80th b-day of Jose Padron. At least this makes sense, because it's 5 years later than the 75th birthday of Jose, which was commemorated by the original Serie 1926 cigar. And the 80th Anniversary cigar is still a Serie 1926 cigar. Either way, he was born in 1926. Five years ago he was 75. Now he's 80. Glorious. Anyway, this is issued in a PERFECTO ONLY... so there's only one kind, shown here:
http://www.vitolas.net/displayimage.php?album=27&pos=40
There you have it. As a matter of fact, the 40th Anni Padrons are still available at Famous Smoke Shop... for $500 per box of 20 ($25 per cigar). The 80th are sold out, at $240 per box of 8 ($30 per cigar).
I "think" the 40th and 80th Anni cigars are regular production cigars, albeit extremely limited annually. (I'm not 100% certain on that.) The Millenium were a one time deal.
Have I mentioned that I'm annoyed with Padron's website?
