Cigar Review: Panamericana by Nat Sherman

• Vitola: Cervantes
• 6” x 43 ring gauge 
• Price $8.99
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

It’s easy enough to say that the addition of Michael Herklots really changed Nat Sherman over the past 4 or 5 years. From the Timeless to the Epoca, the Sterling to the 1930, the cigars are more unique and bold than ever. In October 2014, the brand added the Panamericana, an exclusive cigar available only at their Manhattan flagship Townhouse store. Herklots described it like this on his blog:

The Nat Sherman Panamericana is a full-bodied blend of aged tobaccos from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, with a stunning Ecuador Sumatra wrapper. 

“This new expression of Nat Sherman is sensationally complex in flavor, achieving great balance by tempering the Costa Rican tobacco’s unique attributes with three different Nicaraguan tobaccos,” said Michael Herklots, Nat Sherman’s Vice President of Retail and Brand Development.  “We’ve been tweaking this blend for two years, and the final product was well worth the time and effort.”

Then this spring, Nat Sherman decided to spread the wealth…at least a bit…by offering the Panamericana to members of the Tobacconist Association of America (TAA). In the case of Burns, they ended up being the company that shipped TAA orders the quickest, with product showing up just a couple days after the TAA gathering finished.

The Panamericana is available in 4 vitolas, but I chose to try out the one that best reflects my cigar preferences. In this case, it’s the Cervantes, almost a Corona. Fans of traditional cigar sizes, rejoice! No vitola in this line is larger than 50 ring gauge! They are available in 10-count boxes, too, so a box purchase won’t break the bank. I bought mine at Burns and this review sample is the second one of this size I’ve smoked.

Prelight

Not the easiest cigar to find in the humidor. The boxes are subtle, plain wood with the a logo and name stamped on them in type that isn’t the most attention-getting. The band is a slightly hideous combination of red, pink, brown, yellow and lime green, with gold foil trim and some embossing. Yes…it looks bad and the closer you look at it, the worse it actually appears. It’s hard to read the type on the left and right sides of the circular center (yes, it says “Est. 1930” in white reverse-out type on the yellow and green background) and nothing about the package particularly grabs the attention of the smoker. I’ve told people about these and pointed them to them, then had to come back and walk them right up to them before they see them. Am I taking off points here? Yes, this is one of those few cigars whose packaging just fails in my eyes. And despite that, the cigars are selling well at Burns…because the cigar is that good…which is the reason I and other Burns employees (and customers!) have been recommending it. It’s almost like a test…if a cigar is great but the packaging isn’t, will it sell? In this case…yes, so far.

Getting past the band and to the cigar itself, the wrapper leaf is actually very beautiful to look at. I wouldn’t have called Sumatra for this one…it has the coloration closer to an Ecuadorian Habano. But if you think of how dark some of the Sumatran leaf on the LFD Ligero Cabinet series gets, I guess this makes sense. It was oily and a bit veiny and smelled of manure and wood. The foot of the cigar had scents of earth and coffee and chocolate. The cold draw of the Panamericana was excellent and had flavors of earth and dried fruit.

Flavor

Lighting up the Panamericana, I got a solid earthiness right up front, with pronounced cedar notes and a bit of the metallic twang I often get from Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. To me it always depends on how it is blended when I decide if that coppery, mineraly note works or not…here I think it does. There was a little pepper on the palate, but a load of it on the nose. The Panamericana (every time I say or type that I want to change the name to a certain German sports sedan) starts off already in the full-bodied zone, in fact probably more full-bodied than any other Nat Sherman gets at any point. This was surprising to me…and very welcome!

As I puffed on through the second third, I found the pepper on the palate picking up quite a bit, more wood notes coming through and a continuation of Nicaraguan earthiness, all while the body steadily built.

The final third featured more spice, more earth, a bit of coffee, and some more of that metallic twang.

Construction

The samples of the Panamericana I have smoked have all been uniformly excellent, with great draw, even burn line and solid ash.

Value

This is another limited production cigar that has a very nice price point. Add to that a very good smoking experience and the result is excellent value.

Conclusions

This was a great smoke, no matter what the packaging. Could it all be a test to see if someone would criticize it? Who cares…the cigar was great. It was easily the most full-bodied and full-flavored Nat Sherman produced to date and I will smoke it again and again until the supply runs out. Hopefully they will offer it to the TAA on an ongoing basis and that supply won’t actually go away forever. If you like full-bodied sticks and vitolas that don’t make your jaw ache, track these down.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10