CigarCraig's Blog

by Craig Vanderslice | April 21, 2024 · 10:00 am

More Panacea Cigars and a New Los Statos Deluxe

I smoked a few more Panacea cigars from Flatbed Cigar Co. this week. I had bought a sampler when they signed up to advertise with me. I subsequently bought a Green Label sampler and that transaction went as smoothly as the first. Since Paul Bush, the owner of the company, wrote a note on the packing slip asking me to tell my friends, I’m doing just that. This week I started with the Panacea White Label in a toro. They call the toro in this line the “Hitch Pin”, and list it as 6½” x 54, I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention, because it seemed like a 6″ x 52 to me. This has a Corojo wrapper, a “Cuban Seed” binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan Ligero, Dominican Seco fillers. To me, this started out with some tannins, and worked itself into a citrus tang. I found it to be a well made cigar, perfect burn and draw. It had some earthiness and nuts perhaps. Nice smoke.

Next up was the Panacea Red Label, which was a really pretty looking cigar. The red band and the Habano wrapper work very well together visually. This was the company’s third cigar, released in 2009. In addition to the Habano wrapper, this has Seco Cubano, Piloto Cubano, Olor Dominicano, and Nicaraguan Ligeros. The website description may have a copy/past error. This is a really nice, medium bodied cigar, with a sweetness that I generally get from Habano wrappers. The blend description makes it sound like a heavy cigar, but it’s solidly medium for some reason. I’ll get to the Black and Blue labels next week. I think it’s funny that the Connecticut is the Black Label, I imagine in 2007 when this came out all of the Connecticut wrapped cigars had white bands and this made it stand out.

Yesterday I gave the new Los Statos Deluxe Limited Edition from Forged Cigar Co. a shot. This cigar is packaged like Matt Booth’s Johnny Tabacconaut, Uncle Lee, Chief Cool Arrow cigars, with tissue paper and a full length sleeve. Matt had a hand in the blend, along with Justin Andrews and William Ventura. It’s made in William Ventura’s factory in the DR. The cigar is a rather rustic looking 5½” x 50 figurado. Full disclosure, I don’t have a track record of really liking cigars from this factory for some reason. I should love the cigar, it has a San Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder, and Connecticut Broadleaf and Nicaraguan Corojo fillers. On paper, it sounds delicious. I found the profile to be leathery and earthy, seems to me there should have been some sweetness in there, but I didn’t get it. I will certainly give this another try after some humidor time, although I don’t know that I was a big fan of the last Los Statos iteration either. Everyone can’t like everything! I imagine some people with love this, maybe I will too, although they only made 3000 boxes, so I hope I don’t fall in love with it sometime next year when they will be impossible to find!

Yesterday I should have taken a drive up to Bethlehem, apparently CI was having an event at their Superstore (newly renovated, I believe). I came across references to it around 2PM, which was too late to do anything about it. OK, I could have gotten there by 3:30, and I think it was over at 6, that’s a lot of driving, gas and tolls. I’ll see most of the people that were there at the Smokeonos event in a couple weeks, which I’m really looking forward to attending. Also, don’t forget to check out the 2024 Smokin Tabacco x CFCF Fundraiser. which goes live tomorrow, Monday, April 22.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Flatbed Cigar Co., Forged, Los Statos Deluxe, Panacea, Red Label, STG, White Label

by Craig Vanderslice | April 18, 2024 · 8:52 pm

News: 2024 Smokin Tabacco x CFCF Fundraiser

Here’s some news from my friends at SmokinTabacco.com, it’s time for their annual Cigar Family Charitable Foundation raffle. Please read on , follow the links, and make a donation. The raffle goes live on Monday, April 24, 2024. This is a great charity and the Tabaccos and their team have helped to raise a lot of money over the past couple years.

It is time once again for the fundraiser many of you have gotten so excited for, the 2024 Smokin Tabacco x CFCF Fundraiser. We are starting a littler later this year due to the timing of the PCA trade show. We felt it would be best to wait until the show was over to promote and run this event. As always, there are amazing prizes up for grabs from Arturo Fuente, J.C. Newman, Tatuaje, Rabbit Air, La Flor Dominicana, S.T. Dupont, Drew Estate and more. The raffle site can be visited here. You can also text ‘SMKTAB’ to 33100 to get the link on your phone.

In 2021, Matthew and Nicole decided they wanted to do something ‘different’ to celebrate their first full year of the Smokin Tabacco Show podcast. Instead of more traditional methods of marking an anniversary, they decided to use their media platform to host a raffle that would benefit a cause they both felt strongly about. While going through many different foundations and causes, they ultimately decided upon hosting a raffle that would benefit The Cigar Family Charitable Foundation. What better way to celebrate being involved in the cigar community than fundraising for a cause that benefits the families and communities of cigar rollers and workers in the Dominican Republic?

In year one in 2021, Smokin Tabacco raised $7,000. In year two, Smokin Tabacco raised $25,500 before Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr. called to say he would match the final total bringing it to $51,000. Last year, Smokin Tabacco exceed the total from 2022 and set a new bar for how far the community can go to raise money for such an amazing cause with a total of $52,840. To date, the Smokin Tabacco CFCF Fundraiser has helped raised over $110,000 for the children who call Bonao home.

In November 2022, Matt and Nicole traveled to the Dominican Republic to visit the Cigar Family campus and met all of the amazing kids, teachers, personnel and even some former students who return to the school to give back. It was a life changing experience and gives you a new sense of how important this organization is once you see how far this money goes.

Over the last three years, all of you have helped us raise over $110,000 overall for the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation. For 2024, the show must go on. The raffle begins Monday April 22nd, 2024 at 9AM EST and will conclude Friday May 24th, 2024 at 3PM EST. Click here to preview the raffle site. Thank you

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A Couple Nestor Miranda Cigars and a Couple Panacea Cigars

For the last three weeks I’ve been smoking the Boneshaker cigars, this week I smoked a few Nestor Miranda Special Selection cigars from Miami Cigar & Co. These have been around for along time, and it’s been quite a while since I smoked one. I don’t think I’ve written about these here at all over the last 14+ years. I’ve smoked a bunch of the Nestor Miranda Collection cigars, but haven’t had that many of the Special Selection. In a break from my normal routine, I started with the Connecticut version. The “Toro” is a 5½” x 54, with a Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. I’m pretty sure it’s made in the My Father factory. Shade cigars aren’t my go-to, but this one was a surprise. It started with some spice, and eventually got to some sweet cream in the second half. I recall wishing this was longer, as I did with the Habano blend. I feel like 5½” is a robusto extra rather than a toro, for some reason that half inch makes a big difference.

I moved to the Habano to wrap up the work week. I had taken Monday and Tuesday off as we had planned to travel to view the eclipse, but the weather wasn’t favorable, so we stayed home and watched it on our deck. I smoked a really nice Rocky Patel Sungrown maduro. Now there’s a company that knows how to make a toro, theirs are 6½”! Anyway, the Nestor Miranda Special Selection has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, Criollo 98 Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Esteli, Jalapa, Condega. I don’t quite know how or why this cigar has eluded my notice for this long, I guess I just don’t see them around anyplace. I think maybe a local broker has recently taken on Miami Cigar & Co, so maybe I’ll see them more around. This cigar, again, was too short! It had that nice sugar cane sweetness that I enjoy so much, along with a little bit of spice. Burn and draw were great on both examples. I might dig into some old Nestor Miranda Collection cigars that have been in the humidor for several years.

Last week I mentioned welcoming the Flatbed Cigar Co. to the CigarCraig family. This company is based right here in Pennsylvania, a county or two east of where I live. Panacea has been on the market since 2007, and is in a couple stores here and there, but mostly sells direct. It’s been a while since I smoked a Panacea, so I ordered a sampler of the Classic Line from their site. I would say that the process was simple, and I received the cigars the next day. I just placed another order today, I expect it will get here Tuesday. I started with the Panacea Brown Label in the 6″ x 52 torpedo size. This has a Brazilian maduro wrapper, a Dominican binder, and Cuban seed Seco, Ligero, Olor Dominicano, and Nicaraguan fillers. The cigars are made in the DR. This cigar had a dry cocoa flavor. It’s the same blend as the Connecticut, with just the wrapper changed, so I’m going to be really interested to smoke the Connecticut. There was some creaminess and spice too, it was a very nice smoke.

While watching some hockey on the porch last night, I lit up the Panacea Green Label Robusto. This one has a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, Dominican Habano wrapper and Piloto Cubano, Olor Dominicano, and Nicaragua ligeros in the filler. Yes, that’s triple ligeros, should be strong, right? It’s a full bodied cigar, there’s no doubt, but it’s not in any way overpowering. The purchase I just made was a sampler of the Green Label in all the sizes, by the way. The Robusto is 5″ x 50, and got me from the start of the second period, about half way through the third. I expect a Toro would be good for two periods of hockey. I liked this a lot. It had some spicy cocoa flavors, and some earthiness. This one was a winner for me (which is probably why I bought more). So far I’m digging the Panacea line. It’s been practically a decade since I sampled any of their cigars, too long, I think.

That’s all for today, more Panacea cigars next week, among others. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Flatbed Cigar Co., Nestor Miranda, Panacea, Special Selection

by Craig Vanderslice | April 7, 2024 · 9:40 am

Some Boneshaker Boneyard Cigars from JR Cigars

This is the third and final instalment of the Boneshaker series. JR Cigars sent these three 4-packs to me without prior warning, and it seemed like an interesting idea do a bit of a vertical tasting, I guess. It was fun to try the same blends in different sizes, in some cases it made a big difference. This week I smoked the Boneshaker Boneyard series. The base Boneshaker line and the Boneshaker Full Body Cast lines came in the same sizes. The Boneyard has the same names, but the sizes are different, with the exception of the War Hammer, which is the cigar I started with in all three lines. The War Hammer is the 6″ x 60. When I looked at the Bonyard “flight”, I noticed that the wrapper on this one was darker and oilier. It was very attractive, to me at least. This line is a Nicaraguan puro, made in the NACSA factory. This one started with some heat, spicy pepper. It had a heavy molasses sweetness and was unique and enjoyable. My only complaint with this one was that the ash fell off unexpectedly about a half in in and made a mess.

I’m not sure if it was the wrapper or not, but the other three cigars in this line were different, and not just the sizes. Next up was the toro, the Maul. In the other lines it was a 6″ x 54, this one it was a 6″ x 50. The Nicaraguan wrapper was lighter than the War Hammer, and while it still stated spicy, it never fully developed that dark molasses sweetness. It was good, burned well, and I kept an eye on the ash. I think it was more woody tasting, with the molasses sneaking in during the second half. It’s funny how thin a 50 ring gauge cigar feels nowadays.

The Mace in this line is 5″ x 52, as opposed to the 4½” x 60 0f the other two lines. This one was oddly drying to my palate, and had a sourness throughout. It also had a bit of a tight draw, which could have led to the flavor differences. This was my least favorite of the bunch. One wonders why the sizes for these were different when they came from the same factory. I think the other two lines were more consistent in flavor across the sizes. One would think that maybe this blend didn’t work in the other sizes? I wish the secondary band actually had the name of the line on it, it took me a while to get the stylized headstones and make the connection.

The Morning Star had the biggest difference in size, with the Boneyard version being a 6½” x 52 torpedo as opposed to the 5″ x 56 belicoso. I like a longer cigar, so this was OK with me, and I hoped that it would be as good as the gordo was. This one reminded me of dark bread. When I was a kid my mom would buy this date nut bread in a can, which we would slice up and eat with cream cheese. Imagine bread in the shape of canned cranberry sauce. I wonder if this is still around? I’ll have to look. Anyway, there was a dark molasses component to this one as well, and the burn and draw were spot on. JR’s sells this line with the largest size coming in around $4 a cigar by the box, with is a great bargain. If it were me, I’d go big in this line. I think the original Boneshaker line was my favorite of the bunch, but all of them were interesting, not your run of the mill bargain cigar by any stretch. You can get an even better price if you go through this affiliate link! Thanks to JR Cigars for allowing my to sample through the range of these three lines.

We were going to head to the north-western part of the state today to catch tomorrow’s eclipse, but decided to stay home because the weather didn’t look favorable. I’ll have to stop at a few local shops to see if any of them have any of the Ashton VSG Eclipse size, if not I have other VSGs on hand, as well as other sungrown cigars. Hopefully the weather holds out here. I’d also like to welcome Flatbed Cigar Co. to the CigarCraig family. They make the Panacea brand and are based here in PA. Look for some Panacea cigars featured in the near future as I bought a sampler (and the purchase experience was exceptional!). That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Boneshaker, Boneyard, cigar, cigars, JR Cigars, Mace, MAul, Morning Star, WAr HAmmer

by Craig Vanderslice | March 31, 2024 · 10:05 am

Some Boneshaker Full Body Cast Cigars from JR Cigars

This is the second of a three part series on the Boneshaker line of cigars from JR Cigars. This time I went through the Boneshaker Full Body Cast range, which is offerent in the same sizes as the regular Boneshaker line, a 6″ x 60 War Hammer, a 6″ x 54 Maul, a 4½ x 60 Mace and the 5″ x 56 Morning Star. This line has an Ecuadorian wrapper, a Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua. I smoked them in the same order as I did last week, starting with the War Hammer. This is a 6″ x 60 Gordo. The sizes are all named after medieval weapons, perhaps because the cigars are powerful, which I suppose they are. The cigar starts with a strong pepper and some sweetness, which continues throughout. Good burn and draw, nice cigar.

Next was the Boneshaker Full Body Cast Maul. This is the 6″ x 54 toro, me favorite size cigar. I have a Maul I use to split wood, although I don’t have a fireplace any more, and don’t cut down any trees. Mainly I use it in place of a sledge hammer these days. This cigar might have been a little more straight forward than the gordo, but not much. I didn’t really note any difference, starts with a strong pepper and the Habano wrapper over the broadleaf binder gives it some sweetness. Good smoke. These all come out of the NACSA factory in Esteli.

Saturday afternoon we had my daughter and her family visiting, so I did something I normally wouldn’t do, and smoked the Mace and the Morning Star back to back after they had left. I wouldn’t ever do this if I were evaluating different cigars, but I figured it would be OK with the same blend in different sizes. I started with the Mace, the 4½ x 60. One might call this a Nub, but that’s a brand, so is it a petitt gordo? Gordo minor? I have to say that it’s not a bad size for a cigar. Sometimes one needs a four or four and a half inch cigar, and 60 seems to be the new 50. Nothing overly different in the flavor profile. I was watching hockey on the porch, so I followed the Mace with the Morning Star. When I first looked at the size names I thought Morning Star seemed out of place, then I did a little research and see that it fits in with the rest. A Morning Star is a mace with a spiky ball, a pretty nasty looking weapon. This is a 5 x 56 torpedo. Same profile, slightly different experience because of the shape. One interesting thing, not sure if it’s coincidental or not, but the last few nights after having smoked this line, I had some really weird dreams. Maybe these have more nicotine than I think? I didn’t have trouble falling asleep, except for after waking from the dreams and lying awake thinking WTF? These are good smokes if you like them strong. Personally I liked the regular line more, and I look forward to trying the Boneyard line extension next.

As with last week, the links included in this are affiliate links. With the exception of one person making a large buy, I’m not getting much action from them. If you happen to buy from JR Cigars or Cigars.com, I could use a couple more dollars to buy cigars and you might get a discount! If you celebrate, Happy Easter. I hope all your dried out cigars can be rehumidified and come back to life. That’s all for today, until the next time.

CigarCraig

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