Santa Damiana – Panatella

I am a fan of the Santa Damiana cigars, BUT i must confess i have never had one of the smaller Panatella. The Corona/Tubulares Extra is my standard, im going to give the Churchill a whirl one of these days. So many cigars & tobaccos not enough time. These “Panatellas” are more of a TPC yes the disinfectant or Tres Petit Corona if you wanna get technical :) I smoked this cigar on Friday last week (20/08/10), but have only just got round to writing it up.

Rolled in : Dominican Republic
Wrapper :  Connecticut
Binder : Dominican Republic
Filler : Dominican Republic
Size: 4 1/2″ x 36
Smoking Date : 20/08/10 @ 6:00pm with Water

This TPC looks beautiful, the almost seamless Connecticut wrapper has a little toothy-ness to it. A little spring to its feel and a rich almost chocolaty aroma to the cigar. The filler looks a little loosely packed for my liking. The cut showed more loose filler to me, the pre light draw was tasty but fat too easy. Lighting was a doddle, a few turns under a cedar match and i was away. The first thing i noticed was the smoke heat, had to double check i wasnt smoking a La Paz or Villiger. The smoke was hot but flavoursome, creamy smoke with lots of sweet cedar. The heat was an issue, i found my self taking small draws to keep my mouth a little cool. Water helped. The smoke became a little smoother through the first third but i found that fading towards the middle.

As i ventured into the middle third of this little cigar, the body grew producing a good helping of medium bodied smoke. The heat didnt subside and i still couldnt help feeling as though this was some dry Dutch blend. The same sweet cedars where there a little more beefed up from the beginning. The increase in body came a price, the smoke became a little harsh at points. The harshness had gone by the time i hit the final run, the smoke became very creamy again. The sweet woody core flavours had developed too into a less sweet but more complex woody tones. But again the heat was an issue, the fina third saw the cigar really heat up. SO much so i had to let her go with a good 5-6 puffs left.

The Santa Damiana Panatella is a nice cigar, if you like the Dutch style. Creamy, Sweet and Woody makes the SD a great smoke but the heat really let this cigar down. It hasnt been kept in bad conditions, the cigar looked, felt and smelt bang on. I think the loose filler let her down. I will have to try box pressing one of these my self see if i cant make it a little firmer, well maybe. I didnt have these problems with the Tubualres Extra so im putting it down to a bad cigar that made its way through quality control. If you like your cigars sweet and smooth then give one Santa Damianas a go. But check its not loosely packed or it wont be worth it.

Construction .. 6/10
Burn .. 9/10
Flavour 1/3 .. 7/10
Flavour 2/3 .. 6/10
Flavour 3/3 .. 5/10

Overall .. 6.5/10