Justan, you can make a pano from raw file to finished cropped HDR image in a pano program. I wouldn't advise it though. I process the RAW files using ACR for max DR, etc. I export 16 bit TIFF's and load those into Autopanopro. I make the pano and save. I then take the finished pano back into ACR, crop and do as much work as possible before sending to photoshop for layers, etc. Because all the basic work is done in ACR I usually manage to finish an image with only 4-6 layers, half of which is just the B&W conversion, etc.
This photo was incredibly hard to process for, it was too wide an angle for the rectilinear pano I made from it. I did it in autopanopro and ptgui. Ptgui gave a less distorted result, slightly, but the finished file, from 7 frames, was only 11 megapixels. The Autopano image was 35 megapixels and I fixed the worst of the distortion in PS.
In other words, download a trial of both, try it on a good trial pano, see which one floats your boat.
Interesting picture, 5am, field stripped the cable release with my teeth and spliced it, it worked and I'm useless at DIY stuff.