H99 Archives - Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando

Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage

Tony Casas — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 13:30:00 +0000

Another beautiful weekend, another beautiful cigar. This week I take a run at the Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage Lancero.

The Good Stuff:

The H99 was originally added to the Liga Privada line in 2018. Since the release Drew Estate has continuously expanding the line adding additional formats. In 2022 the company announced the release of a much anticipated lancero vitola dubbed the “Phineas Gage”. The name comes from an American railroad construction forman donning the same name who was severly injured during an accidental explosion. Phneas Gage went on to survice 12 more years and become a marvel of science. Created at the La Gran Fábrica Drew Estate in Esteli, Nicaragua the blend features a USA-grown Connecticut Corojo over Mexican San Andres Negro binder and filler tobaccos from Honduras and Nicaragua. The Phineas Gage comes in a single 7 x 40 format which comes packaged in boxes of 10 runnign $19 per cigar. I purchased mine over from our good frineds at Cuenca Cigars.

Size: 7 x 40
Wrapper: USA Connecticut Corojo
Binder: Mexican San Andres Negro
Filler: Honduran and Nicaraguan
Body: Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $19

Prelight:

The Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage starts off with a very dark brown wrapper with a ton of orange and red splotches all over it. The wrapper’s texture is very toothy and gritty ith a whole mess of oils coating it. The wrapper is very thick and dense while the cigar itself is a little soft and feels a bit lightly packed. The wrapper carries a huge vein running almost the entire body of the cigar leading up to tis round, double-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with the beautiful Liga Privada white band with the words “Phineas Gage” printed accross the front.

The wrapper on the Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage gives off notes of spice and cinnamon while the foot of the cigar carries a ton of sweet spice over lots of woodsy-musk. The cap cut clean and easily while the cold draw produces notes of sweet spice and raisin over oak and musk.

First Third:

The Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage starts out with a very mild black pepper punch which fades almost instantly allowing the cigar to showcase some great spice and molasses flavors over musk and oak and lighter notes of vanilla and earthiness. The draw is absolutely perfect. Each tiny puff on this little lancero kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke which really hang out for a while before dissapating while the cigar releases a ton of stationary smoke as the oils burn off the cigar while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is dead even and razon thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white ash which held on for about 3/4 of a inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage and the flavor profile remains mostly the same. The vanilla, oak, and molasses lead the charge backed by lots of dirt, musk, and oakiness with a pretty dry finish. The retrohale brings out a little of the spice and some great hidden sweetness I don’t pick up in the regular experience. The cigar does need to be hit every so often as it has the tendacy to try and go out on its own. As long as I keep a good pace it burns great. I close out the second third with only a minor little nicotine kick.

Finish:

The final third of the Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage is pretty much the same as the second. The flavor profile remains lead by vanilla, oak and molasses while backed by dirt, spice and musk. The strength has really increased however which actually pumps up the body as bit as well. It took me almost 2 hours to take this down to the nub. I experinced no harshness, nor extended heat. There was a tiny bit of sap at the end which is liekly the result of the increased smokind speed needed to keep the cigar burning correctly. I clsoe out with a suprising little nicotine kick.

Overview:

The Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage was an ejoyable smoke, however as with the other H99 blends I have smoked I just wish it had a bit more “umph”. Most of the cigars in the Liga Privada lines have something extra special to it. With the H99 it’s just a bit more tame. That doesn’t mean its a bad cigar by any stretch of the imagination. I just don’t think this one speaks to my own personal palate like all the other Liga Privada blends do.

The post Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo

Tony Casas — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 14:57:54 +0000

Today’s review is another one that has been on my radar for sometime but I just hadn’t had any luck getting my hands on until now. Today I take a look at Drew Estate’s Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo.

The Good Stuff:

The Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo is the first regular production addition to the Liga Privada line since 2009. The blend starts with a Corojo seed leaf that is grown right here in the U.S. in the Connecticut River Valley over a Mexican Sand Andres binder and fillers from Pennsylvania, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo comes in a single 6 x 52 toro format packaged in boxes of 24 running $15.99 per cigar. I scored mine over from our good friends Cuenca Cigars who still have a few singles in stock currently.

Size: 6 x 52
Wrapper: Connecticut Corojo
Binder: Mexican San Andres Otapan
Filler: Pennsylvanian, Honduran, Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Full
Price: $15.99

Prelight:

While is uses a different wrapper leaf the Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo starts out with an awesome orangish brown wrapper that resembles the T52. The wrapper’s texture is very toothy and gritty while it’s coated in a ton of thick oils. The wrapper itself is very hard an dense while the cigar as a whole is very tight and heavy with no give anywhere. There are some smaller veins leading up to the cigar’s round, double-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with the standard manilla Liga Privada band with the H99 crest in copper in brown similar to the T52.

The wrapper on the Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo gives off notes of deep cigar and spice with a bit or floral while the foot of the cigar is mostly cedar with natural tobacco scents and a touch of spice. The cap took a little convincing from the Xikar XO double bladed cutter to clip since it was so thick. The cold draw proceeds notes of heavy cinnamon and nutmeg over musk. It reminds me of Christmas morning.

First Third:

The Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo starts out with a huge burst of cayenne pepper that left my lips and tongue screaming. After the first few draws the pepper began to fade and I am left with a mostly cedar flavor profile with lighter notes of spice, dirt, and musk with hints of brown sugar and raspberry herbal tea. I was hoping that more of those Christmasy cold draw notes would shine through. The draw is perfect as every little puff kicks out huge clouds of white smoke which seem to never go away while the cigar releases a chimney of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is super sharp and pretty even leaving behind a very tightly compacted trail of white ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo the mossy, earthy, musky, dirt notes really take hold of the experience while the sweetness has all but tapered off. The retrohale coats my nasal passage with spice and pepper so I don’t find myself doing it too often. The burn line has become a bit wild and I found myself having to use my torch to touch it up a few times. I close out the second third with a pretty significant nicotine hit which puts the H99 up there in strength with most other Liga Privada blends.

Finish:

The final third of the Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo reports much of the same in terms of flavor profile. I was hoping things would switch up a bit but the main flavors are cedar, dirt, and musk over a very light cinnamon. I had to touch up the cigar a few times into the final third as well, however it wasn’t anything too significant. Just worth mentioning. It took me an hour and forty five minutes to smoke the H99 down to the nub. Outside of the burn issues I experienced no harshness nor extended heat. The cigar did leave me with a pretty heft bit of nicotine kick.

Overview:

I was really excited to finally get my hands on the Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo for two main reasons. First, I am admittedly a huge fan of the Liga Privada blends and that’s no secret. Secondly, I LOVE corona. While this is a great cigar, I feel like it didn’t fully satisfy either of those marks. The altered blend just didn’t live up to the experience that I had with any other Liga Privada blends in the past. The corojo just didn’t mesh well and the result was a good cigar, but nothing special which is one of the things I like most about the Liga Privada experiences. They are always special. Couple that with the rarity of this cigar and I don’t think it’s something I would have in my regular rotation. It’s worth picking up a few to try, but not something I’d really keep on hand.

The post Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Connecticut Corojo appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.