Tag Archives: Foundation Cigar Co.

October 19, 2025 · 9:36 am

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

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Tagged as Charter Oak, cigar, cigars, Flatbed Cigar Co., Foundation Cigar Co., Panacea, Pasquale, Pegnatero

June 29, 2025 · 8:45 am

A Quick Connecticut Visit, Paper Crane and Outcast Cigars

Last Sunday my wife and I drove up to Connecticut for breakfast, an annual tradition to celebrate her best friend who passed away. While we were in the neighborhood, we paid a visit to Mark Twain’s house in Hartford. I honestly don’t think I even knew that he had lived there. It was an amazing home, and photography was forbidden, but I managed to sneak a pic in his third floor man room. Of course, he smoked 24-40 cigars a day, they must have been either tiny or he didn’t smoke much of them, because I can barely manage a couple. I spend a minimum of an hour smoking a cigar, usually closer to two. There aren’t that many hours in the day! I do recommend the tour. They have chocolate cigars in the gift shop.

On our way home we stopped in New Haven to visit the Owl Shop. I’ll be honest, I confused this with the Owl Shop in Massachusetts, but I certainly wasn’t disappointed. This is a full bar and cigar lounge in the downtown area, with a nice selection of cigars. I grabbed a couple of their 85th anniversary cigars, not surprisingly made by Foundation Cigar Co.. Nick Melillo’s from New Haven, and his family has patronized this shop for decades. If I read right, this came out in 2019, so the 90th anniversary has come and gone, and I assume this is regular limited production for the store and not 6 year old stock. It has the Havana Seed CT #142 wrapper found on the Tabernacle Havana Seed No. 142, Mexican binder, and Nicaraguan fillers from Estelí and Jalapa, offered in a 5½” x 54 Robusto Extra. We sat in the lounge and relaxed with this cigar before heading back to PA, and it was very good. It has some espresso and leather with some spice. I liked it a lot, and the lounge was comfortable, the staff attentive, and I imagine the place is packed at night! It was a long day, but a good one.

I took a few days off this week to get some estate stuff done, and managed to have my first morning cigar of the season on Thursday. The weather has been crazy this year, I’m not sitting on my porch in the cold in the morning! I had picked up a Black Works Studio Paper Crane Corona Gorda when I visited Smoke Inn a few months back, and this was the perfect time to smoke it. This cigar came out in 2024, and has an Ecuador Connecticut Desflorado wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It was rich and creamy, with a bit of spice. Not a mild cigar, it had some oomph to it, and it was a good kick start to the day. I haven’t really smoked many of Oveja Negra’s Connecticut offerings, but this one is good. James Brown knows how to blend cigars!

I had heard about the Outcast Cigars debut at the PCA show and had some curiosity. This is a new brand from Miami Cigar and Co., Gabriel Piñeres, PR guy to the stars, was kind enough to share a couple robustos with me. This is what the website has to say:

FOR THE BOLD AND UNCONVENTIONAL
Outcast Cigars is built for those who defy the norm and embrace the journey less traveled.

By blending rare and unconventional tobacco, we craft cigars that break tradition and redefine excellence. Like the trailblazers who inspire us, our cigars forge their own path—bold, unapologetic, and destined for greatness.

Outcast Cigars isn’t just a smoke; it’s a statement.

Be unique. Be yourself. Be an Outcast.

I smoked one and I enjoyed it. It has a Brazilian Cubra wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and Dominican fillers. It burned perfectly, had a sweet cap, and was aromatic, my wife said the aromas changed from pipe-like to weedy, which I get the pipe analogy but no weed. This is obviously a cigar made with cased tobaccos, and I couldn’t help drawing comparisons to another cigar that is super popular and uses tobaccos traditionally found in pipe tobaccos. I believe it’s made by La Aurora, but if it came out that it was made by a certain Esteli factory I wouldn’t be at all surprised. It’ll be a big hit if it gets the right exposure. It’s a great change of pace cigar for me.

That’s about all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Black Works Studio, cigar, cigars, Foundation, Foundation Cigar Co., Mark Twain, Miami Cigar and Co, Outcast, Oveja Negra, Owl Shop, Paper Crane, Samuel Clemens

May 25, 2025 · 2:40 pm

Foundation Aksum and Aging Room Cigars

Today’s post is a little later than usual. We’ve been having a garage sale at my mother’s house to try to get rid of some of the accumulated stuff that comes with living in the same house for 54 years and having the “someone might need this someday” attitude. Stuff, just stuff. I’m super-grateful for my family helping out, especially my wife! Anyway I’ve been trying to enjoy some cigars along the way, which is what I usually talk about on Sundays!

I started off smoking both the Foundation Cigar’s Aksum, in both claro and maduro. This used to be the Menelik, but I think there was some sort of trademark issue, or the descendants of Menelik complained, I’m not sure. So now it’s Aksum, which is the name of the place where Menelik I brought the Ark of the Covenant. Apparently it’s still there, not in a warehouse in Nevada. The blend is Sumatra Ecuador wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Estelle and Jalapa fillers. Best I can tell the only difference is the wrapper fermentation. I bought Toros, of course, 6” x 52 with a pigtail cap. These are beautiful cigars with a slight box press if I remember right. I started with the Claro, which burned beautifully. It started with a bit of an acidic hit. Skip Martin says that we shouldn’t describe flavors like food, but that’s like 90% of my flavor references. I would say this is on the leathery side, and that’s in my 10% non-food reference sample. It’s good if you like that flavor profile. I moved on to the Maduro the next evening. This had a dry cocoa profile. It’s not a sweet Maduro, more a dark chocolate kinda thing. Again, very good, I do not regret purchasing these, although I think the Olmec line is more my jam.

After a long day of garagesaling, and one very disappointing cigar along the way, I got home, took a nap, and then relaxed with an Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Concerto Vibrato. This is another toro, 6” x 56 box pressed. Aging Room is still Rafael Nodal’s brand, although it’s marketed by Altadis, which also employs him as a brand ambassador. He’s basically the face of Altadis now, and he’s very good in that role. I have been hit or miss with Aging Room cigars, this one wasn’t bad, but had a floral flavor, and a weird mouthfeel. It was almost cloying in a diet soda kind of way. I enjoyed it, just not really a cigar I’ll come back to. Even if I am not a big fan of a cigar, I’m rarely disappointed that I bought and smoked a cigar, it’s all part of the learning process. When I cigar doesn’t burn and or draw right is when I get upset, even if I received it gratis. By the way, this picture is what you get when I’m distracted!

That’s all for today, enjoy your Memorial Day celebrations, remember the reason the day exists. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aging Room, Aksum, cigar, cigars, Concerto, Foundation, Foundation Cigar Co., Nicaragua, Quattro, Vibrato

May 11, 2025 · 9:15 am

Some Olmec, Room 101 and La Gloria Cubana Cigars

Thank you again to Craig Gilpin, the Breadman, for pinch-hitting for me last week. It’s been another rough week (parents can accumulate a LOT of crap over the years!), and cigars have been very therapeutic. I thought Craig did a great job, and the door is always open to him. I have posted about the Foundation Cigar Co’s Olmec Claro before, but not the Maduro for some reason, so I recently picked up a couple of each and figured it would be fun to smoke them back to back. I local shop was having a buy two, get one sale o the entire stock for some reason, so I bought some cigars I generally wouldn’t spend the extra scratch on. The Foundation Cigar Co. Olmec were some I picked up. These are in the $15 range, not terrible, but not inexpensive. I picked up the Grande size, the 6″ x 60, because the box press makes it look smaller (and I don’t mind a 6″x60 cigar). I smoked the Claro first. The Claro starts out with a citric twinge, which doesn’t last long, and turns bready with some cafe con Leche flavors. I liked it, good cigar, but the ash is flaky, I needed to dust off after this one! I then (later that day), turned to the Maduro. Both of these cigars have a San Andrés wrapper, difference is very obvious. The website lists binder from Esteli/Jalapa and undisclosed fillers. As I noted the last time I wrote about this cigar, it’s either a dual binder, or a typo on the website. If I liked the Claro, I really liked the Maduro, which should surprise nobody. The Maduro had loads of sweet chocolate with some spices thrown in. It’s a cigar I would love to have in my humidor. If you enjoy many of the cigars I enjoy, this is up your alley.

Next up was the Room 101 15th Anniversary. Room 101 started in 2009, the same year that I started this site. I’ve always wanted to sync up smoking one of their anniversary series, which comes out every year, just never found them around when I was thinking about it. These fell into my lap (TY STG). This is made with A.J. Fernandez, and it’s a Nicaraguan puro, and that’s about all I can find about the blend. This cigar has a lot going on. There’s some fruitiness, some spice, some wood, and cocoa. One of the best Room 101 cigars I’ve smoked. This cigar was almost a year late, but worth the wait, I can’t wait for the 16th! CigarCraig.com turns sixteen at the end of August, by the way!

My appreciation of the La Gloria Cubana brand goes back 30 years, and there have been some winners over the years, but a lot of misses for me along the way. So when I received some of the newest offering, the La Gloria Cubana Los Gloriosos, I was interested immediately. Along the lines of the Colección Reserva (back in 2017), this is blended by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr., who launched the brand in the US in the’70s. La Gloria Cubana in Cuba goes back to the late 1800s. The cigar is a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican tobaccos, the press information doesn’t give any more information than that. This is the best cigar with the La Gloria name in a long time, at least for me. I really liked the Colección Reserva, and the La Gloria Esteli, and this tops the list for me. There’s a really interesting spice I can’t put my finger on, but is distinctive. I will smoke more, maybe I’ll smoke a Colección Reserva too and see how they compare! I’ll always be a fan of the brand, there’s just some I avoid and some I enjoy!

Happy Mother’s Day to all. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 15th Anniversary, cigar, cigars, Claro, Foundation Cigar Co., La Gloria Cubana, Los Gloriosos, Olmec, Room 101

June 9, 2024 · 10:21 am

Some Wise Man Cigars, a Conspiracy and a Panacea

Last week I dropped by the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA and picked up a couple of new cigars. I was actually looking for something else, which they had sold out of, so I had to pivot. I got some of the new Foundation Cigar Co. Wise Man cigars. The original El Güegüense and Wise Man Maduro cigars have been retired, and replaced by two new ones, both carrying the Wise Man name. These are being made by My Father Cigars. I started with the Wise Man Corojo in Toro size. This is a 6″ x 52 cigar with a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, Estelí & Jalapa binders and fillers from Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa. I really liked this cigar! It had what seems to me was a confectioners sugar sweetness. It had bright flavors, some light spices and really appealed to me. I was surprised and looked forward to the Maduro.

The following night I smoked the Wise Man Maduro, also in the 6″ x 52 Toro. This is the same blend as the Corojo: Estelí & Jalapa binders and fillers from Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa, but with a San Andrés Maduro wrapper. I expected to like this more than the Corojo, oddly, I was mistaken. This started out spicy and remained so through the cigar. I wanted some earthy, chocolaty coffee, but it was more like spicy burnt dark roast. It wasn’t completely off-putting, but I have to say that I liked the old blend better. Heck, I loved the Corojo, probably more than the original El Güegüense. Perhaps some aga will help the Maduro, but it didn’t appeal to me, I’m afraid. It’s very unusual that I don’t like a Maduro over something else, but it seems to be happening more and more lately. Is this a reflection of the maduro cigars or of my palate?

When I was at the Smoke-onos event, I talked to my old friend Michael Giannini, who was manning the Quality Importers booth with Alex Goldman. He showed off some of their newest accessories, and some of the things they can customize in their “Swag Bunker”. He also handed me a cigar with a plain white band (pre-production, I assume) that said Conspiracy (with a backwards N that I can’t manage to pull off with a standard keyboard). This cigar was shown at the PCA show, and was a collaboration between Alex Goldman (House of Oxford, Royal Gold Cigars), Michael (La Gloria Cubana, Foundry Cigars, Ventura) and Ernesto Carrillo (EPC, La Gloria, Etc.), made at the Casa Carrillo factory. I had the Ecuador Connecticut in the 6″ x 60 size because that’s what Michael handed me. I’d love to try the San Andrés version. Both of these have undisclosed binder and fillers, except that the tobaccos are from Ernesto’s factory. This was a decent cigar, with a darker shade wrapper. I enjoyed it while watching the Phillies play in London. If I’m honest, like it was hard to differentiate the baseball game being played in another country from one played here, the cigar was good, but not remarkably so. Both were a good product. Bring on the Maduro.

I pre-gamed game one of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals with a Flatbed Tobacco Co. Panacea Green 560 from the Grande line. Speaking of Panacea, please take note of their Daily Deal on my left sidebar. You can get some great deals on some great cigars. I’ve taken a shine to the Green Label, it has a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, Dominican Habano binder and Piloto Cubano, Olor Dominicano, and Nicaragua ligeros in the filler. This is a reasonably strong cigar, but not overwhelming. It has the flavors I look for in a cigar like this, some cocoa and coffee, with some spice. I rather enjoyed the 5″ x 60 format, it fit well into the time I had for a cigar, a little over an hour. It looks like today’s (Sunday, June 9), deal of the day is a 560 sampler, which would be a great way to try the Panacea offerings. I just might bite. Great line of cigars from a small, family company righ