This beer will be paired with a cigar that I have waited far too long to review. Drew Estate’s Liga Privada T52 Flying Pig. I reviewed the No.9 flying pig sometime ago and you can view the review here. In any case, I finally decided it’s time to tear through this review.

Again, if you know me, you know how much I love the Liga Privada line. I could smoke these cigars back to back, day after day. My poison is the No.9 Robusto. Needless to say, this may sound a bit biased, but I am always 100% honest. If a cigar sucks, then it sucks. And if a cigar is great, I have no problem boasting.  I smoked a ton of these prior to doing the review and I can already tell you (and apologize for the spoiler), but there won’t be any “sucking” this time around.

The Good Stuff: The Liga Privada line is very exclusive. It originally started as a private blend created solely for the smoking enjoyment of Drew Estate’s President, Steve Saka but due to pressure from the Drew Estate staff, was finally released to the public. At that time, the only blend available was the No.9 which consists of 7 different tobaccos including an absolutely beautiful, Oscuro Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. That wrapper is one of the main reasons why Drew Estate was forced to create a new, similar blend using a different wrapper. The wrapper in question is the Stalk-Cut Habano and the blend is called the Liga Privada T52. The wrapper on the No.9 is very expensive, and very rare. In order to fulfill demand Drew Estate created the T52 which is more of a permanent addition to their portfolio. I personally enjoy the No.9 more, but the cigar community is split right down the middle. The Flying Pig size was originally released in the No. 9 blend and limited to only 2,000 boxes of 12 ever to be released. Because of the difficulty in rolling these cigars the T52 Flying Pig will be limited as well to 3,250 boxes of 12, and run about $12 a stick. I’m not sure if they still have them, but I picked mine up over at Bonita Smoke Shop. These cigars were released in November of 2010 so I highly doubt there are very many left on shelves. Get them while you can!

Size: 4.25 x 60  -  Wrapper: Stalk-Cut Habano  -  Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina  -  Filler: Dominican, Honduran, and Nicaraguan  -  Body: Full

Prelight: The Liga Privada T52 Flying Pig is a strange looking little cigar. The obvious shape is the real story here. It’s a very short, very stout, very chubby perfecto cigar. It starts with a small point which quickly grows into a very large ring-gauged body filled with a very dark brown and orange, toothy wrapper. This cigar feels like sandpaper. The wrapper is very thick and tough showing only little veins throughout the entire body. After the thick body, the cigar begins to taper off, much like the foot, into a very small point only to be capped of by a nice, spiral pig tail style cap. This is a crazy looking cigar, and despite it being so different that I am used to, it feels a little strange holding it in my hand. It’s not uncomfortable, but it’s not comfortable, if that makes any sense. Not to mention this cigar is so heavy due to being so jam-packed with tobacco.

The wrapper gives off a very, very woodsy aroma with just a bit of grass mixed in, while the foot smells just like my humidor, very cedary with only a slight bit of spice.

Clipping the Flying Pig was a breeze using my double bladed Palio Cutter. The cold draw seemed a bit loose, providing me with a very bold, in your face cedar mixed with a ton of black pepper.

First Smoke: The Liga Privada T52 lit up nice and easy with my triple flame torch. Usually I have problems lighting the tips of perfectos evenly, but none of that this time.  The draw on this cigar is beautiful. It’s so smooth, without being too open, pumping out this massive cloud of thick, lingering smoke. The Flying pig also lets loose this huge trail of stationary smoke. You can see the oils just burn off this wrapper. The smoke smells sooooo good! Very cedary with some sweet spices in there. But it’s probably not something you’d want to smoke around people who can’t stand a lot of smoke.  The flavors were interesting. I was really anticipating this huge pepper punch right off the back, but I didn’t get it. There was only slight pepper notes mixed into the very bold, woodsy cedar, nutmeg, and a bit of prune. The burnline is a bit thick and probably as even as I could have hoped for from the start of a perfecto. The ash left behind is this very tightly compacted white ash with dark grey mixed in.

Halfway There: Going into the second third of this Liga Privada Flying Pig T52 I started to get this neat little bready taste. It’s still just an afterthought compared to the strong cedar, cinnamon, and slight plum flavor but it’s bringing in a very nice little balance to an otherwise bold cigar. This thing is a smoke machine. I can’t stress that enough. You could use a few of these in place of a fog machine at a dumb little emo-goth rock concert. The retrohale is a bit sharp for my liking, but I find myself throwing a few in every here and there just cause I love the strong cedar coating it gives me. This is a strong cigar no doubt. It’s about noon here and I haven’t eaten in a couple of hours. Needless to say I’m already feeling a bit of a nicotine buzz off of this stout little cigar. The ash held solid until I accidently knocked it off while trying to remove the band after the second third. If you check out the picture on the Flying Pig No.9 review, the ash actually held on until I could no longer keep the cigar in my hand before burning my fingertips.

Finish: Despite taking my time on this cigar there was still a bit of harshness into the final third. I guess that’s expected  with a cigar this size. Outside of the harshness the cedar has really been the dominant flavor in this cigar. Towards the end all the other flavors really faded out letting that cedar flavor really take off. The body on this cigar is just ridiculous. It’s not for the faint of heart. I got a very mean nicotine kick within the hour it took to smoke this cigar. Make sure you have something to eat before decided to take this cigar on!

Overview: Although I really enjoyed this cigar, the No. 9 will always have a special place in my heart. That blend is just, perfect. The T52 flying pig is a great cigar. Very strong, flavorful, and interesting. My only gripe is that harshness. I don’t remember that in my No .9 pigs, and I encountered it on just about every one of the T52 pigs that I have smoked. The other sizes in the T52 lines don’t produce it either. It’s probably just the size. Either way, these are still an awesome cigar to have around. The price is a bit steep, but anyone who smokes, and appreciates the Liga Privada lines are already expecting to shell out top dollar for each of their cigars. I do, and I don’t mind the prices at all. I think ever one is well worth it. If you find these, grab them. They won’t be around for very long.

Pairing: FINALLY! This is my first beer in almost 3 weeks. I know I pre-empted a little bit and I am hoping that I don’t pay for it later, but I needed it. As winter is coming to an end, I wanted to get this pairing out of the way before it was too late. I paired my T52 Flying pig with some of Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome ale. This is another one of my favorite winter seasonal ales. This brew was brewed in Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery (Tad caster) in England. It’s a bubbly orangish amber ale producing a very smooth, lightly floral, sweet ale. The pairing really helped bring the body of the T52 down and smooth it out. I wouldn’t suggest anything too strong with the T52 as it’s already a strong cigar to begin with. Sweet Tea is the perfect, ideal pairing with this cigar, but apple juice, or any sweet brown ale would go perfectly as well.

Liga Privada T52Liga Privada T52

Liga Privada T52

The Liga Privada line is extremely exclusive, and sometimes near impossible to get your hands on. Although most cigars that take that road end up selling just because of the hype, the Liga Privada line has the flavor, experience, construction, and overall product to back the hype up and then some.

The Good Stuff:As stated before the Liga Privada line of cigars is extremely exclusive. Drew Estate puts mass amounts of time and effort in each one of their cigar blends, the Liga Privada is the cream of the crop. The Liga Privada was originally created strictly for the sole enjoyment of the Steve Saka, the President of Drew Estate. Steve wanted a blend that he could call his own private reserve, and only cherish for his own personal enjoyment. Each Liga Privada is custom blended to perfection using only the most premium Nicaraguan tobacco farmed from the Drew Estate tobacco farm in Esteli, Nicaragua amongst 6 other regions of the world.. Not to mention each Liga Privada is then hand rolled only by the best hands in La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate.

Up until this point the Liga Privada No. 9 and the T-52 are the same. The main difference between the two lies in the distinct wrapper the T-52 carries. The Liga Privada No. 9 comes wrapped in a very dark, oily Maduro like Oscuro Wrapper, Where as the new T-52 comes wrapped in a stalk-cut Habano wrapper just a shade lighter than the Liga Privada No. 9, making for a much more bold, and robust smoking experience.

Liga Privada T52 and No. 9

Liga Privada T52 and No. 9

If you’d like to find out more on the Liga Privada No.9 feel free to check out the review I did here. It’s an older review, so unlike this one it doesn’t have all the pretty pictures and my pallet was still used to infused, but there is a lot of good research there. From what I can gather unlike the No. 9 the Liga Privada T-52 is only available in Robusto (5 x 52) and Toro (6 x 52). I was lucky enough to get my hands on the toro.

Size: 6 x 52  -  Wrapper: Stalk Cut Habano  -  Filler/Binder: Nicaraguan/Honduran/Dominican - Brazilian Mata Fina

Liga Privada T-52

Prelight:The habano stalk-cut wrapper isn’t one that I have encountered often, if not ever before. It is very dark brown with flourishes of cherrywood. The texture is really toothy and rough with many thick veins. It almost looks like a cat’s tongue up close. And the density is beautifully thick, and hard. I don’t think I will have any problems handling this cigar, its far from fragile. The Liga Privada T-52 has a very rounded, tough double-cap.  The only construction flaw that I can spot is a thick, bump just before the band of the cigar. Hopefully this won’t hinder the smoking experience. I am a huge fan of the simplicity of the Liga Privada’s bands. The band on the T-52 is almost identical to the No .9 except gold instead of silver. It is all white, with small metallic details and writing. One of the quotes actually reads “Hecho Exclusivament Para El Jefe” or “Made Exclusively for the Boss”. The wrapper gives off a light mossy scent where as the foot of the T-52 smells very earthy, mossy, and cedar-like. The cold draw matched the scent of the foot almost precisely. Very woodsy, almost like sucking on a stick of wet cedar. I will be cutting this cigar with my Palio double bladed cutter, and lighting it with a vector single flame torch.

Liga Privada T-52

First Smoke:The Liga Privada T52 took quite a bit of convincing to get lit under my single flame torch. I expected a very small draw due to how tightly packed this cigar is. To my surprise my mouth was soon full of large amounts of thick, heavy smoke with little, to no effort at all. The smoke was very dense, and just kinda hung around with a strong cedar like aroma. I really wouldn’t be at all surprised if me neighbors couldn’t tell the difference between the cigar smoke and an actual fireplace burning. The stationary smoke was incredibly large too, this is something to keep in mind if you plan on smoking the Liga Privada in public places. The flavor the Liga Privada started off with a huge punch of pepper, and then transcended into a very cedar like taste with hints of earthy, mossy flavors and grape. Smoking the Liga Privada T-52 tastes much like sucking on a plank of cedar wood. The burn line started out pretty consistent, and the ash was very tightly packed in its off grey, speckled white color. I got about an inch in a half into this smoke before the ash finally gave way. One thing to note though is the ash fell a great distance before landing in my ashtray. Most of the time when this occurs the ash almost explodes on impact. In the case of the Liga Privada there was almost no destruction to the ash log, it was that tightly packed.

Liga Privada T-52

Halfway There:About halfway in I started feeling the nicotine hit me. This is an extremely bold cigar vs. the no.9 which is a good thing. The flavors are still very consistent with cedar taking center stage only to be accompanied by creamy hints of leather, and soft fruit with the great tobacco aftertaste we have grown to love. In the case of the Liga Privada T-52 the after taste wasn’t bad at all, and only lasted a few seconds then disappeared. The burn line is pretty consistent up to this point with a few vein traces here and there.

Liga Privada T-52

Finish:Just before hitting the band I reached that thick bump in the cigar that I noted before. This did in fact throw off the burn just a bit, but not enough to require any touch-ups of any kind. Towards the end of the cigar the pepper taste made its return, but not nearly as powerful as it was at the beginning. Outside of the pepper the exact same flavors were picked up all the way through the Liga Privada. Some cigar smokers may frown upon this consistency in flavors but I for one love it. The ash held tightly through the entire cigar only dropping three times, which in my opinion is awesome for a Toro. The final stretch of the cigar packed a bit more punch than expected, again this is one characteristic that sets the T-52 away from the No. 9. The Liga Privada T-52 took just a little over two hours to finish.

Liga Privada T-52

Overview:The Liga Privada T-52 was one of the many cigars released in 2009 and it just may be top on my list for the “best of the best”. With its complex profile, bold strength, great aroma, and perfect flavors the Liga Privada T52 is a sure fire winner. Due to the exclusiveness of this cigar if you are ever lucky enough to stumble upon them, buy them! But all of them! and if you aren’t happy with them, rest assured they have  a home with me. I would recommend this cigar not only to any aficionado, but to anyone who is blessed with the opportunity to get their hands on them.

Liga Privada T-52