Panacea Red 760 Peacemaker

[BlackIrish]

The cigar: Panacea Red 760 Peacemaker by Flatbed Cigar Company

Nutritional information:
Serving size: 7x60
Origin: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
Binder: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Brazilian maduro

The marketing:
PANACEA Red 760. We like to call this package "The Peace Maker". The 760 is the same blend as our classic Red label Habano, but BIGGER. Our biggest size to date...a 7 inch cigar, with a 60 ring. The Patriarch of the Grande line. A Brazilian maduro wrapper and Habano binder surround a blend of: Seco Cubano, Ligero Piloto Cubano, Ligero Olor Dominicano, and Ligero Nicaragua. Like our PANACEA Black Maduro -this cigar is smooth and balanced. The difference is in the taste and strength. PANACEA Red has all the nutty, spicy, and sweet flavors of the black, but in a bolder body and pallet. If you like a strong cigar but insist it be balanced, this cigar will become your favorite. Also, you'll need to budget some extra time for the 760. Why is it called the Peace Maker? Send one to a friend (or more appropriately; adversary) and see what happens. This is a cigar that will be written about (I hope) for years to come. We sure had a blast putting the whole thing together.


Pre-Light: This cigar is huge -- 7x60, with a chocolate colored wrapper, it looks like a police nightstick. The Brazilian maduro wrapper has some veins, slightly visible seams, and mottling, typical for a maduro. The wrapper leaf looks oily and it's soft to the touch, not hard and thick like other Brazilian maduro cigars I've smoked. Overall, it's a very nice looking cigar.

When I pinch it, there's some soft give. The roll looks good, not too tight. The aroma from the foot has a bit of spice. I wasn't sure that I could fit it in my Palio but it does and it slices cleanly; the cap is nice and sturdy. The cold draw is easy, with dark cocoa notes.


Construction and combustion: The Peacemaker lit up pretty easily, considering its girth, and it burned quite nicely through at least the first half. The ash, a medium dark gray, was very solid, and I let it grow to about 2.5" before I lost my nerve and tapped it. Until I ashed, the burn line was pretty straight, a little bit of scalloping but no correction needed. After I ashed, the burn was a bit more wobbly and I gave it a touch up or two. The smoke volume was excellent, which is hardly surprising given the size of this stick.


Flavor: The first puffs brought some pepper, notes of warm cayenne, but they faded quickly. The flavor leveled off into a smooth, dark maduro with a slightly dry finish. The body of the smoke was medium-full.

After the first inch, the flavors began to grow richer. I tasted a slight cocoa sweetness on the back of my palate, which grew into a fuller dark bittersweet chocolate flavor. There were occasionally notes of warm spice, more like cinnamon than pepper.

The flavors continued in this vein through the middle third, hitting slight variations on this basic theme of smooth, rich, dark cocoa, with a slightly dry finish. Sometimes a puff was creamier, sometimes more chocolate. The finish was moderately long, always clean, and very pleasant.

The flavors mellowed a bit in the last third, moving from bittersweet to semisweet, with fleeting notes of vanilla. Tasty marzipan/almond flavors started to build and I rode them to the nub.

Overall: I don't normally smoke cigars this big; I prefer smaller rings and don't often have two hours to devote to a cigar. I worry, too, that cigars this big will be boring.

But, despite its size, I liked this cigar. It offers smooth and tasty maduro flavors, not super complex but with enough variation to keep boredom away. It's a good choice for a long after-dinner smoke on a lazy summer night.

[Flounder]

Good review. I haven't smoked this cigar but might look into it. Trying to find another Brazilian Maduro as I didn't like my last, and want to see if ti was actually the wrapper that I didn't like.

A good book will make almost any cigar not boring.

On second thought, I wouldn't commit to a cigar this big when I'm just trying it out...

Thanks for the review, I have some red labels in my humidor resting. Cannot wait to try one.