Cigar Reviews

FlatBed Cigar Company

 

Flatbed Cigar Company has grown up in a area of the country renowned for not only cigar family legacy and tobacco farming tradition but cigar history itself.  The tobacco industry in Pennsylvania set ablaze a name that defines one of the most famous terms in the annals of cigar history…. The “stogie”.  Even though the region no longer produces the 400 million cigars a year that defined the territory, the Panacea cigar brand from Flatbed Cigar Company is keeping part of the heritage alive.

In this Cigar Chat Radio Show cigar review, we take a look at the Panacea Red 560 (Habano) medium. This is a big cigar with  lots of smoke and big taste.  First up, construction aesthetics….I was very impressed with the construction, no soft spots, no hard spots, the wrapper is rustic/sweet/earthy Brazilian maduro with minimal veins.  The cap was nice with a perfect cut on the foot.

The filler is a blend of Dominican/ Nicaraguan with a Dominican Habano binder.  If a pre-draw is worth a thousand puffs then, this one is right on the money, what you taste is what you get..and then some! Molasses, semi sweet, spice, caramel and coffee.

Boy , I was really excited about these cigars!  I had seen a post on social networking regarding Flat Bed Cigar Company where someone had asked if their Panacea brand cigars were any good.  I saw the post and was intrigued by a cigar brand from where the landscape was once a checkerboard of  tobacco plantation history.  The next step was easy, I decided to make the call for some smokes.  Having a boutique brand in today’s world that can hold it’s own against the big brands is not an easy task, but Flatbed Cigar Company is knocking it out of the cigar-box!

Be prepared to use words and phrases like…omg and wow.  Soon as you put the heat to the foot of the Red 560 Habano, the scent of black coffee, toast & molasses oozes into the atmosphere.  Taking the first draw through through this nice 5×60 stick was pure heaven.  One of the nicest draws I have experienced on any cigar!  Then it happens….Bam! Beautiful smoke starts bellowing from the foot through the cap like a chimney in one of those Pennsylvania winters!

This is a great medium to full bodied cigar, with a medium finish and just on the edge between medium and strong in strength. This cigar smokes Big, its a big ring gauge, delivers big smoke, big flavors and will stand up to just about anything you pair with it.  You can bask in the bellows of smokey aroma with your upper lip covered in silky foam from a nice Stout/Porter brew. If you choose to, you can marry it with a big full bodied Ruby Port or enhance it with a nice molasses based Kahula & Cream.   Construction: 8 (minus a few point for uneven burn)   Draw:10   Complexity: 10