Today we are starting a new series, What’s In Your Humidor
Each Thursday, we’ll be asking those closest to the industry (brand owners, sales reps, etc) what they keep in their humidor and what their smoking habits are…because we all want to know, right?!
For our inaugural post, we asked Paul Bush of Flatbed Cigar Company, maker of Panacea, what’s in his humidor. Flatbed is headquartered in Pennsylvania and was formed three years ago, with the Black being released in October of 2007. Primarily distributed in the North East, the Panacea has made its way into over 40 stores and are working to reach other regions. Though based in Pennsylvania, their factory is located in the Dominican Republic.
What’s in your humidor?
I have many brands in my humi. My favorite PANACEA is my Black label Connecticut – Toro. When not smoking my blends, I love to try all cigars. New names, and/or new blends by existing companies. It’s all good. It is what this industry is all about. You have your favorites, but it’s fun to try all the new blends. In my humidor now: CAO Italia, Perdomo Cabinet Series, La Flor Ligero, Rocky Sun Grown, Reyes Jr., Valdescaro, La Reserva, Torano Tribute, Demuth, and a bunch of bandless blends (that honestly, I don’t remember who gave them too me). However, it’s fun to light them up and wonder where the heck I got the blend from!!
What kind of humidor do you use for your personal storage?
I have a no-name, table top humi my Dad bought for me 10 years ago. It holds about 80-100 cigars. The interesting twist is I saw the same “humidor” as a jewelry box in Marshall’s two years later. There are many boxes out their being sold as a humidor. This box was lined properly, but did not have a good seal. Now, keep in mind, I have a warehouse that is perfectly maintained at 65 and 68. So….I have a great space to store cigars. Make sure you keep them cool and at the correct humidity. I like 68.
How many cigars are in your humidor right now?
Tens of thousands…but only about 60 in my table top humi.
Are you currently testing any new blends for your company? Any details?
Yes, we are working in making our Red label Habano stronger. If we get it right, we’ll release it as the Red 560xl, and the Red 760xl. We are also working on a Corojo. And…there are another couple blends that will be very unique to the market (can’t tell you any more on them now). But, you will see they are pretty unique.
How many cigars do you smoke in a typical day, when your not blend testing?
1-2 per day on average. I smoked many cigars daily when first building the company, but found my taste buds were just burning out. I love to smoke with my customers so I find myself not smoking some days because I know the next day I may have 4-5 cigars. I also like to rest a day or two when going into a blending week. I like to have a really clean pallet in order to pick up the subtle notes, etc.
What are some of your all time favorite cigars?
This is a tough one. I have had many, many great cigars. But I know you would like a name or two. My Black label Connecticut is my absolute favorite. A couple more I really like;CAO Mx2, Rocky Winter (Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper), Torano Tribute, and Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur (this was one of my very first cigars, and remains very nostalgic).
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Fellas - glad you like it. I sent emails out to about 50 folks in the industry last week and about 8 or so have replied with their answers. Some went into lots of detail w/ new blends and what not, others just gave bullet points. It has been a lot of fun reading them. I will try and remember to repost them here each Thursday.
If there are some others you'd like to hear from, apart from the major guys that I likely contacted, feel free to PM their email address to me and I'll send them the questions.
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