Tag Archives: Panacea

by Craig Vanderslice | April 28, 2024 · 10:16 am

Two More Panacea Cigars, a Room 101 and a Diesel Vintage

I finished off the sampler of Panacea Classic line cigars I bought from them a couple weeks back. I’m to understand there are a few shops that carry the Flatbed Cigar Co. line, but they mostly are selling direct via the website. I’ve placed a couple orders and both were easy transactions and the cigars came well packaged, presented well and in a timely manner. Of course, the company is located barely an hour from me, which helps with the shipping. I’m going ot have to arange a visit one of these days! I had the Blue Label and Black Label left, and smoked the Panacea Blue Label on Thursday. This was the Toro size, a 6″ x 52, with a Cameroon wrapper. I had thought that the Green Label was my favorite, bt I might have to amend that after smoking this Blue Label. This was a delicious cigar, it had a nice white sugar sweetness, along with the nuttiness I get from Cameroon. This was a fine, medium bodied cigar that I really enjoyed. I might have to see if they offer a sampler of these like the Green Label sampler I got!

The Panacea Black Label, which I keep wanting to call the White, I guess because I associate Connecticut wrapped cigars with white. Probably something Davidoff and Montecristo put into my head. The Black Label was their first line launched in 2007, If I’m not mistaken. Like I mentioned, it has an Ecuador Connecticut shade wrapper, and the rest is Dominican and Nicaraguan. I had the Perfecto shape, which is 6″ x 51. I was impressed with the flavor, it had a hint of that white sugar I got with the Blue Label, along with some of the classic shade grass and nuts. I wish this had a better draw, I thought it would open up after the tapered foot burned down, but it really didn’t. This would have been an outstanding cigar otherwise, certainly a Connecticut I’d smoke again. After smoking thought the line, I think I’m most looking forward to sampling the Green and Blue Labels again, or maybe I’ll explore their Panacea Grande line. Good stuff.

Yesterday I got some yard work and errands done, and spent a little time i the afternoon with a Room 101 Hit & Run Redux Robusto. This 5″ x 50 has aSan Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder, and Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania fillers. This is made at the William Ventura factory in Tamboril, DR. I have to start out saying two things: Is it weird that a 5″ x 50 seems like a small cigar now days? It used to be y go to size, now I avoid them because they seem to smoke too quickly. I suppose an hour isn’t that quick, but I guess I like to spend a little more time smoking now than I used to. Second, I have not historically cared for a lot of cigars from William Ventura. I’m not entirely sure why that is, they seem to smoke well and have a large following, I just can’t seem to get into them. Given the blend, I should have really liked this cigar, and I did like it, just found it a little underwhelming. It had a nice toasty cocoa, almost a dark chocolate flavor. The presentation is nice, and I’ll give another one a try after a while.

Finally, I smoked the Diesel Vintage Series Natural in the Robusto Gordo size. This is 5″ x 56, made by A.J. Fernandez in Nicaragua, with an Ecuador wrapper, Nicaraguan Habano binder and five to seven year old Nicaraguan Jalapa fillers. I’ve smoked a lot of Diesel cigars over the years, And I really liked the original Diesel Vintage, which had a San Andrés wrapper. I have a rather basic palate, I got some saltiness, along with some citrus and nuts. Burn and draw were exceptional, it was a pleasurable smoke. I would suggest you read my buddy Kaplowitz’ review of this if you would like a more colorful description. I hit the basics, Kap digs deep into the flavors. This probably falls near the bottom of my list of favorite Diesel cigars through no fault of the cigar, it is a more refined Diesel, which misses the point of the brand in my eye. I think there’s some 13 year old Unholy Cocktails in the humidor, I might have to smoke one later.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Black Label, Blue Label, cigar, cigars, diesel, Diesel Vintage, Flatbed Cigar Co., Hit & Run, Panacea, Redux, Room 101

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 14, 2024 · 9:54 am

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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by CigarCraig | May 29, 2016 · 9:51 am

A Couple of Epic Cigars, a Pennsyltucky and a Ratzilla

Last week I alluded to some big personal news, and that is that I am changing day jobs after thirteen years. I was presented with a new opportunity closer to home and have been ready to make a change for some time. I’ve been patiently waiting for the right thing to come along and I think it did. So I’ve been celebrating all week, pretty much smoking for pleasure and not paying too much attention! There were a few standouts though, gives me something to talk about today. Back in January I met up with Dean Parsons of Epic Cigars at an event in Philadelphia, on the eve of the big snowstorm of the year. Dean and his local sales rep and right hand man, Mick, gave me a pre-release sample of the new Connecticut cigar they were releasing. I had been waiting for the right time to smoke this cigar, and now that the La Rubia, which this cigar is now called, is out, I figured I may have missed the time. Like all the cigars in the Epic line, this Connecticut is pretty awesome. It’s got a lot of flavor and is in the medium bodied range. It’s got the signature nutty kind of Connecticut shade twang that one would expect, but there’s some depth there too. This cigar was a toro size and smoked perfectly. I now have a La Rubia from regular production in a 4½ x 60 size, which is an interesting story. From what I understand, Alec Bradley, who distributes Epic in Canada, told Dean this was a size that goes over big in the Great White North. I never imagined this, and if any of our Canadian readers could elaborate, I’d appreciate it. The only think I can think of is that, like in the US, the 60 ring gauge represents a greater value, but in the frozen tundra, a 6″ x 60 takes too long to smoke. Of course, I kid, I know they have at least one reasonably warm month in Canada. I am a fan of the 4½ x 60 size.

I’m going out-of-order today for some reason, but it’s the Memorial Day holiday weekend, so I don’t feel like going back and fixing things. I smoked a Ratzilla from Drew Estate’s Liga Privada Serie Unico line last Sunday Evening. I’m not sure what I was expecting with this cigar. Is it a longer Dirty Rat? Is it a bolder Dirty Rat? Is it a Dirty Rat that was exposed to nuclear bomb testing fallout and mutated to ridiculous proportions and terrorizes Tokyo? It’s different from the Dirty Rat. For one thing, it’s 6¼” x 46, it has the same Connecticut Stalk Cut & Cured Sun Grown Habano Wrapper, a Plantation Grown Brazilian Mata Fina Binder, and Nicaraguan and Honduran Fillers, which is the same as the Dirty Rat. I think is was stronger, and perhaps more one-dimensional. It was a great cigar in its own right, perhaps trying to compare it to the Dirty Rat is the mistake. They recently made these kind of regular release to the Drew Diplomat Retailers, so they might be easier to find than the unicorn Ratzillas of a few years ago. Overall, I liked it, it was full of flavor and a little on the strong side.

Friday evening, we took a ride down to the Wooden Indian where they were having an Epic Event, with Dean and Mick. As I mentioned, I really like the Epic line, the Maduro is one of the cigars that I would grab when I want a great cigar, and there are really no cigars in the line that I don’t enjoy, not a normal occurrence. Dean’s a great guy to talk to. He can talk cigars, of course, but he can also talk hockey (he’s Canadian and played professionally) and motorcycles. I picked up some more Epic cigars while there, including some more of the Maduro Lanceros. Interestingly, The Wooden Indian sells more Epic Lanceros than anyone else. Did I mention that I really like the Epic Maduro? The size doesn’t really matter to me, although the lancero is quite different from the gordo in the ways you’d expect. The gordo has more rounded flavor and the lancero is more sharp and focused. They have a nice cocoa/coffee flavor. Why am I comparing these? I smoked the lancero at the event, and I’ll quite likely, smoke the gordo or a toro today sometime. Obviously, the lancero vs. gordo comparison is a generality and not specific to Epic. In talking to Dean, I found it pretty amazing that his brand is getting traction in Europe, but he has trouble getting into shops in the US. I would suggest that if your local shop doesn’t have then, request them! These are a must try and very high on my list. One more interesting note on the cigar pictured. The secondary band was supposed to be a much smaller size, so these are a bit of a collectors item! I think I have about three different band configurations on the maduro lanceros I have. The Wooden Indian continues to be the best shop in the area and my favorite. Dave and his staff are numero uno in my book and they always have great events.

Yesterday, after pressure washing the smoking porch in preparation for some new paint and carpet, and general running around through the day, I came across a cigar I picked up lat year at a cigar event. I had finally met Paul Bush from Flatbed Cigar Co., which is located right here in south-eastern, PA, and bought some of his cigars. I’ve seen the Panacea brand for years and never got around to smoking any, and the few I smoked that I bought at the event at Goose’s shop last year didn’t really do anything for me, but I still had one left, one interestingly named “Pennsyltucky”. This is a term I’ve used for years, it describes the area in Pennsylvania between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, which is largely rural. I guess it’s not very flattering to Kentucky, but the rural areas in PA are very different from the urban and suburban areas. Back to the cigar. This is a 5″ x 60 with a mottled PA Broadleaf wrapper. It has a Dominican Habano binder and three ligeros in the filler, Piloto Cubano, Olor Dominicano, and Kentucky Fire Cured. In this case, I think the name refers to the inclusion of the Pennsylvania and Kentucky tobaccos used in the blend. The fire cured tobacco is very subtle, it’s not the overwhelming smoking flavor that some cigar using this leaf have. It’s got some strength to it, and good tobacco flavor throughout. I would keep some of these on hand just because of the name, I think, and it’s a good smoke.

Don’t forget to go enter the IPCPR’s contest to win a trip to the show in Vegas. As I was registering for my badges for the show this morning, I noticed that they still have a strong warning on the site about consumers at the show, however they have this contest, and changed the number of attendees per member from two to three. I’d still be happy to meet one of my readers there and hang out. Also, stay tuned for another contest this week from me. I have something a little special in mind that I think people will like, and I am working on a Father’s Day contest soon too. Lots going on with contests, new jobs, holidays (happy Memorial Day, thanks to all who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice so that I can do something as stupid as writing about cigars, isn’t it crazy that a government agency is taking away the very rights that American soldiers died to protect? Think about that for a minute!). That’s all for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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