The tradition continues. What would have been José Orlando Padrón’s 99th birthday — he was born September 8, 1926 — is marked by the Padrón family the only way they know how: with a cigar. The Black Series has honored every significant birthday milestone since 2016, and the No. 99 is the most recent and most ambitious chapter yet — a 6¾×60 Gordo Extra in both Natural and Maduro expressions, the largest vitola in the entire Padrón Black lineup to date, unveiled at the 2025 PCA Convention & Trade Show before shipping to stores in August 2025.

Everything about the No. 99 reflects the weight of the number. The 60 ring gauge makes it the most substantial Black Series release ever produced — more tobacco, more smoking time, and more opportunity for the aged Nicaraguan puro blend to build and evolve across a longer session than any previous Black release has offered. Positioned in the same territory as the No. 97 — between the 1926 Serie and the Family Reserve in fullness — the No. 99 carries the same individually-numbered anti-counterfeiting band, the same 10-count box presentation, and the same Padrón family standard of tobacco quality that has defined every Black Series release since José Orlando’s 89th birthday blend started the tradition. The largest tribute yet to the man who started it all.

Why You’ll Love It

The Biggest Black Yet: At 6¾×60, the No. 99 is the most substantial vitola in the entire Padrón Black lineup — more tobacco from the Padrón family’s estate-grown reserves, more time with the blend, and a smoking experience that builds in fullness and complexity across a longer session than any previous Black release.

99 Years of Legacy: Two years before the centennial — the No. 99 carries a particular gravity as the final milestone before 100. The Padrón family’s tribute to this birthday is the largest and most personal Black Series release they have ever produced.

The Tradition That Honors a Legend: From the No. 89 that started it all at Smoke Inn in 2016, through the No. 97 and now the No. 99 — every Padrón Black numbered release is the family’s most direct line to José Orlando Padrón’s memory, rolled with the same care and quality he demanded across six decades of cigar making.