A Panacea Farmers Blend Habano and Foundation Charter Oak Especiales

Thursday I felt like crap for some reason that I haven’t figured out yet.  I came home from work, went to bed until it was time for the Flyers Game, watched the game and went back to bed.  I usually start my blog post smoking Thursday evenings, so this put me behind a little.  I felt fine Friday, so when I got home I decided to tackle the formidable 6″ x 70 Panacea Farmers Blend from the “6 Shooter Sampler”.  I was sure I had smoked this before and liked it, although, looking back through my notes, I smoked a 7″ x 60 version.  I’m certain I can tell the difference, and noted in the blog post that the website listed the 6″ x 70 and not the 7″ x 60.  Perhaps Paul at Flatbed Cigar Co. can weigh in.  Anyway, I’m not a huge 70 ring gauge fan, I think I’ve smoked a handful of them in the 30 years I’ve been smoking premium cigars. The blend is the Sumatra wrapper, Cuban Seed (?) binder, Dominican Ligero x 2, Nicaraguan Ligero, Dominican Seco, and PA in the filler. This is a really good tasting cigar, I enjoy the blend. It has the cane sugar sweetness I like in a Sumatra.  Maybe the last one I had was the Habano.  It had an open draw, which beats a tight draw any day.  You can always draw more gently with a loose roll, you can’t compensate for a tight one.  I enjoyed the cigar, although when it got to the end I still felt like there was a lot of tobacco left!  Paul always has a great offer on Panacea cigars, there’s links on both of my sidebars, with a special CigarCraig discount code, CCFS25. Please buy some cigar from him so he knows people are reading my site! 🙂 

While I was feeling better Friday, but I felt like I was better off staying home Friday evening.  I missed the Foundation Cigars event at the Wooden Indian with Nick Melillo.  I have mentioned before that I have to talk myself into going out sometimes, this was one of the times I lost.  One of the factors is that I know it would be 6:00 by the time I got there with traffic, and they close at 7. So I decided to take a ride out to Havertown Saturday and see what I missed.  While I was there I picked up the two Charter Oak Especiales cigars that I’ve put off buying. Mark (right?) at the Wooden Indian recommended the Pegnatero, while my inclination would have been to buy the Pasquale.  Naturally, I bought both.  These two cigars honor Nick’s grand-fathers.  I like grandfathers, I’ve had a couple, and am one myself. So I went home and smoked the Charter Oak Especiales Pegnataro.  This has a Connecticut shade wrapper, Jalapa binder and Esteli & Jalapa fillers, rolled at A.J. Fernandez’ factory in Esteli.  This is only offered in a box pressed 5½” x 48 vitola with a pigtail cap. This has loads of flavor. It’s buttery with a distinct citrus tang.  It was a very nice cigar.  

One of the things that made me take so long to get to these two cigars was the fact that they are $13, which seemed like a lot for a cigar in a budget line.  I guess it’s akin to the Rocky Patel Edge anniversary cigar, or a Bricktoberfest being considerably more than the regular line. I got past it and realized that these cigars not only honor the grandfathers, but also honors state of Connecticut by using Connecticut wrappers on both cigars.  The Pasquale has the Broadleaf wrapper, something that Nick Melillo is rather known for. This one has Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Jalapa binder and Esteli & Jalapa fillers, also rolled at A.J. Fernandez’ factory in Esteli. This is the same size at the Pegnatero, 5½” x 48.  As much as I like a Toro, this sort of corona gorda extra is a nice size.  I wasn’t expecting the utter lack of sweetness in this blend. To me it was bakers chocolate and espresso flavors, not a grain of sugar anywhere to be found. Not that I don’t enjoy that sort of thing, I do, it just took me by surprise. I loved it, it had the slight edge on the Pegnatero only because my preference is the darker leaf.  

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

CigarCraig