-Tony

Undercrown Sun Grown is a new extension of the popular Undercrown line by Drew Estate that I was eager to get my hands on ASAP, being a long time fan of the original dark Mexican wrapped version (I’m ashamed to admit that I have yet to try the Connecticut Shade).  This new blend, concocted by Willy Herrera and the Undercrown blending team, features a sun grown Ecuadorian Sumatra seed wrapper over a Connecticut River Valley Habano Stalk Cut and Stalk Cured binder, and Nicaraguan filler that includes “one leaf of extensively aged Ligero from the Nueva Segovia region”.  Jonathan Drew has said that the company has tried to secure the wrapper tobacco for over 15 years.

Manufactured at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Nicaragua, the Undercrown Sun Grown is available in seven sizes:

• Robusto – 5 x 54
• Corona – 5⅝ x 46
• Belicoso – 6 x 52
• Gran Toro – 6 x 52
• Gordito – 6 x 60
• Corona Doble – 7 x 54
• Flying Pig – 3-15/16 x 60

Prices run from $8.20 – $11.20 in boxes of 25, except for the Flying Pig, which is priced at $12.72 in 12-count boxes.

I got mine from our friends at Cuenca Cigars.

The Basics:

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sun Grown Sumatra seed
Binder: Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut/Cured Habano
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: Corona 5⅝ x 46
Price: $8.20
Smoking time: One hour, fifteen minutes
Pairing: Lagunitas Brown Shugga Barley Wine (ABV 10%)

Pre-light:

The Undercrown Sun Grown is draped in a uniform yellow tinted milk chocolate brown wrapper with a few noticeable, but relatively minor veins and a nice oily sheen.  The pack is firm throughout and the tight seams lead to a deep double cap.  The red and gold Undercrown band matches well with the color of the wrapper.  I can only pick up a faint earthiness from the shaft of the cigar, while the foot displays natural tobacco and spice.  The cold draw brings up wood and light spice and leaves some saltiness and a spicy tingle on my lips.

First third:

Sweet spice, cedar, and rich tobacco immediately hit the palate as the Undercrown Sun Grown gives up a hefty mouthful of smoke with a normal draw.  Pepper lingers in the background, but is not a major component, even on the retrohale, and a light salty cracker note is present.  The burn line is sharp and a bit wavy, and the ash holds for about ¾”.  An inch in, I hit a tunnel that puts a damper on things for ⅜”, but once past that, the cigar is back on track, bringing in more pepper, musk, and a citrus brightness.  The Undercrown Sun Grown ends its first third at a full-flavored, solid medium body, and low strength.

Middle third:

The second third of the Undercrown Sun Grown brings a greater cohesiveness of the flavors – where in the first third they were more distinct, they have now melded together to form a smoother and more balanced mouthful, adding in a touch of earth.  I have encountered another bout of tunneling, but this one is thankfully shorter and has much less of an effect on the cigar.

The pepper spice has become more of a red pepper, and the wood has turned oaky, as the lightly sweet spice and musk remain in the mix.  The Undercrown Sun Grown has been on a steady ascent into the medium-plus to medium-full range.

Final third:

Burning into the final third of the cigar, the sweet spice has moved up and a nice breadiness has emerged, as the pepper falls back.  The Undercrown Sun Grown now has a comfortable roundness to its flavors, even as they maintain their fullness.  With 1½” remaining, the pepper rebounds along with the citrus, taking the cigar down to an enjoyable and very small nub that is cool and firm, while exhibiting no harshness.  The Undercrown Sun Grown finishes at a medium-plus body and strength at the very low end of medium.

Overview:

First of all, I have to state that the Undercrown Sun Grown that I smoked prior to this one had no burn issues whatsoever, and since I have rarely, if ever, had any construction or burn problems with any of the many Undercrowns that I have had over the years, I have to consider this one an anomaly (coincidentally, I also thought the first one had a bit more kick to it, but perhaps that’s just where my head was at).  Once I burned past the short tunnel, the cigar picked right up where it left off, although it probably shortened my smoking time by a good five to ten minutes.  Even with the issue, I still enjoyed the heck out of the stick, as it presented great full flavors, good complexity, and otherwise solid construction and burn, and I was kind of bummed out when it came to an end, wanting the experience to last a little longer.  The price is, in my opinion, spot-on, if not more than fair, and I will certainly be smoking more of this cigar.  I definitely recommend it.

Pairing:

I’m a sucker for just about anything that comes from Lagunitas, and the Brown Shugga barley wine styled ale is another one that is right up my alley, especially when the weather cools down like it has here.  Boasting flavors of sweet malt, citrus and dried fruits on a fairly light but round and somewhat oily mouthfeel, it proved to be a terrific partner for the Undercrown Sun Grown, enhancing the sweetness of the cigar, while playing a fine balancing act with the cigar’s other flavors.  Because the Sun Grown is full flavored, but well balanced and not overpowering, it would pair well with any number of beers, such as a strong ale, brown ale, or dark Belgian.  It should also go very well with a red wine, sweet bourbon, or single malt Highland Scotch.

The post Drew Estate Undercrown Sun Grown appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: The Herrera Esteli is created by the infamous Willy Herrera. This man was the force behind El Titan de Bronze until joining forces with the Drew Estate team recently. Here is what Steve Saka had to say about Willy and the blend:

Herrera Esteli is the brainchild of Willy Herrera, newest member of the Drew Estate team. Willy’s presence at Drew Estate is notable, as he brings an authentic Cuban influence to the team. Herrera Esteli is a medium plus blend with an exceptional amount of creaminess and great balance of spice and sweet. Herrera Esteli will be available in select retailers in 25ct Slide Lid Boxes. The brand will feature five sizes, including the Short Corona Gorda, Robusta Extra, Lonsdale Deluxe, Toro Especial, and Piramide Fino.

Saka speaks about Willy coming on board at Drew Estate:

“Unlike most companies, we have decided to take the slow and low approach to his joining our team. Basically, we stuck him in Nica for over a year at a bench and gave him the key to our tobacco and said: “Create a great cigar…” We gave him no boundaries or limits. Willy then spent f’ing forever working on this first blend… drove me a little crazy, made a lot of bad blends along the way, but I think we overwhelmed him a bit – I don’t think he was prepared to have so many tobaccos to blend from, rather daunting… our man Nicholas helped nudge him a little here and there and viola! Willy created something I consider great.

Along the journey, Willy has become a very competent handmade cigar bunchero and rolero – so over this next year you will begin to see him in stores personally handrolling his own and other blends. Check him out when he is in a store near you! Ask him tons of questions while you’re at it!”

I got a chance to meet Willy in Nicaragua last year and he actually let us sample a few of the prototypes for this blend. I don’t know how close they were to the final release, but Jonathan Drew made mention to us that Willy was tearing through prototype blends like there was no tomorrow. That’s how meticulous this man is and that there was a good chance we smoked wasn’t near the final product. The Herrera Esteli should start hitting shelves any day now. The blend will come in 5 sizes: Short Corona (5 ¼ x 46), Robusto Extra (5 ½ x 52), Lonsdale (6 x 44), Toro Especial (6 ¼ 54), and the Piramide Fino (6 x 52). The will come in boxes of 25 and will range from $7.95 to $10.45 a cigar. I have had the pleasure of smoking the Short Corona, Robusto, and the Toro.

Size: 6 ¼ x 54
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $9.35
Pairing: Sixpoint Brownstone (American Brown Ale 6% ABV)

Prelight: The Herrera Esteli starts off with one of the most beautifully consistent wrappers I have ever seen. Silky smooth, oily as hell, and a perfect light yellowish brown from foot to cap. The Herrera Esteli screams of Herrera’s Cuban heritage from the meticulous construction, flawless choice of wrapper, round triple cap, and design on the band. I am a sucker for minimalistic band designs (and maximum design, it’s that area in between that does nothing for me) and this cigar pulls it off perfectly. The band mimic’s old Cuban style band designs with a simple white band, with gold embossed flourishes and red text. The front reads: “Herrera Esteli – Imported from Nicaragua” in big, bold text with some additional disclaimers on the side informing the consumer of the highest grade tobacco used in the blend, created at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate by hand. The Herrera Esteli is a beefy cigar with a lot of weight to it. It’s extremely firm with no soft spots, but I can feel how thin and delicate the wrapper is as I worked around the cigar. The wrapper sports only minor, seamless, thin veins running the length of the cigar.

The wrapper on the Herrera Esteli gives off a very sweet aroma mixed with some mild cedar while the foot of the cigar gives off nothing more than a subtle tobacco scent. I really had to dig deep to really get any type of aroma off the cigar. The cap cut clean and like butter using my double bladed Palio cutter. Right off the bet I am greeted with a ton of spice and cedar. I wasn’t expecting the amount of flavor produced by the cold draw considering how tame the aroma of the blend was.

First Smoke: The cigar starts out with a nice little black pepper bit that I wasn’t really expecting.  Shortly after the cigar blasted me with strong spice, cedar, and what almost tastes like black tea. The draw on this bad boy is perfect. Seriously, every little puff just fills my mouth with this linger, thick, white smoke. This is the construction that Willy has been known for in full effect. The burnline on the cigar is rather thick and it’s producing a few early, minor waves that don’t really concern me too much. The ash is a beautiful this, compacted white with light grey spots. It held on for about an inch and a half before giving way. The ash fell onto the floor literally a split second before this picture was taken. Sorry, but I wasn’t able to capture the first ash. Stupid wind..

Halfway There: The spice continues to be the dominant flavor in this Herrera Esteli. It’s crazy, I have had a handful of these all in different sizes but this Toro has to have the most pronounced flavor out of each of the formats I have smoked. Outside of the spice the black tea is still going strong with some slight vanilla, sweet tobacco, and soft cedar with just a bit of lemon. The retrohale on this cigar is shockingly good. Despite the soft cedar in the smoking experience the cedar is crazy strong on the retrohale along with a bit of the black pepper. The burnline has corrected itself for the most part and I am feeling a slight nicotine kick from the cigar already.

Finish: That spice is just killing it in this cigar. It’s still rocking while the cedar has ramped up, the black pepper finally faded out, the vanilla and tea are gone and have been replaced with a heavily creamed coffee flavor. This is one of the smoothest, creamiest experiences I have had in a long time. It’s interesting that a cigar with a bit more strength can be so smooth. Good work Willy. The burnline finished a bit wavy but I never had to touch up or relight the cigar the entire time. I did feel a nice little nicotine kick from this cigar once I laid the nub to rest. One note on this cigar is how slow it burns. It actually took me almost 2 hours to smoke this cigar down to the nub. The entire process was very, very creamy and smooth. It reminded me of the feeling you get while drinking a full glass of milk.

Overview: The first time I smoked this cigar I wasn’t overly impressed. Each time I smoked it afterwards I liked it more and more. Now that I have smoked this Toro I can honestly say that not only is it my favorite size in the line-up, but it completely changed how I feel about this cigar. You can really taste the blend and the increase in body and strength. This is a damn good cigar. And although it has the makings of a great “Mild, in the morning with my coffee” cigar, the extra body will make me consider this cigar a regular rotation blend. It’s smooth enough to enjoy any time of the day, but has all the makings of a cigar that you could enjoy in place of your hefty, after dinner smoke. I’m really interested to see what Willy has in store for the upcoming year. I think that Drew Estate scored a gem here. I’ve always been a fan of his work and Drew Estate needed the character that Willy’s blends bring to the table.

Pairing: I posted on my twitter page yesterday that I have been a Sixpoint fan boy as of late. Every brew that I have had by the company has been remarkable. They make one of the only IPAs (Resin) on the market that I could truly see myself enjoying everyday. I decided to pair this Herrera Esteli with Sixpoint’s staple brew, the Brownstone. When I was thinking about a pair for the cigar I remember just how smooth and creamy this cigar was, and the Brownstown is probably one of the creamiest beers I have had in a long time that shares a lot of common characteristics with the blend. The Brownstone is an American Style Brown Ale that comes in at 6% ABV. The beer starts off with an almost milky texture (much like Guinness) and finishes with a creamy mixture of malty, barley goodness. You will pick up a lot of subtle spices and a nice mild hoppyness from the brew which actually helped me pull that lemon flavor out of the cigar.

The post Herrera Esteli Toro Especial Cigar Review appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

We were greeted by Jose Blanco and Mario as soon as we arrived. The first thing you notice about the JDN factory was how old, yet well taken care of the factory is. There is a lot of history there and it shows. After a brief introduction Jose and Mario took us inside. Right away I was surprised by just how small and quaint the factory is. It seems as if this is the little factory that could. Once we got out to the production floor I couldn’t help but get a sense of pride from all the workers. It was a totally different feel than any other factory I had toured in the past. The factory is set up very different too. There are two main floors, production goes down on the top floor while storage and packaging take place on the bottom floor. Once you climb the stairs you are thrown right into the rolling floor. Surrounding the rolling area are the sorting, tobacco storage, and quality assurance areas. One neat conversation I had with Jose Blanco was concerning the quality assurance process of the Cabinetta serie cigars. I was watching a lady roll only the maduro portion onto the cigar. You see, the cabinettas are rolled with the natural wrapper just like any other cigar, then a separate roller adds the maduro section. Jose was telling me that they limit their rollers productivity. They get paid per piece, but most are limited to about 325 cigars a day. There reason they do this is so that the roller doesn’t try to speed through their cigars to make more money which could possibly produce bad quality cigars. The idea is to pace yourself and do every cigar right. I then asked if that goes the same for that one roller who only had to place the maduro cap section on the Cabinetta, and surprisingly it did. They train that roller to be extra precise with that one portion. We even timed her with the roller rolling full sized cigars next to her and sure enough, they were working at the same piece. What this means is, each Cabinetta made actually costs Joya De Nicaragua almost twice as much in man-power cost, yet they commit to keeping the cost of that cigar low. Nicely done JDN.

Anyways. After touring the entire production floor we headed downstairs to take a look at warehousing and packaging. Again, this factory in all aspects is a well oiled machine. They have about half the people pumping out just as much product. The employees there really seem to know what they are doing. One thing I didn’t ask was what the average length of employment was for each of the workers there. I would imagine with the history of the company it would be pretty lengthy.

After the tour Jose and Mario brought us out back to an open, covered patio for some coffee and our Joya De Nicaragua blending session. The blending session here was really straight forward. We were schooled on the types and differences of the tobacco that they carry at Joya De Nicaragua. We were given tips on how to mix them, and what to pay attention to as we felt the texture of the tobacco, smelt the aromas, and even rolled a few leaves up and smoked them. Thor obviously new how to roll his own, but Mario Takeyama had some problems. I don’t have a picture of it, but I know some of the other guys there snapped a few. Basically, he made what he called the “Mawio Cigaw Buwwito”. It was almost the size of my arm. Man I love that guy.

After the blending sessions we headed back to Drew Estate to enjoy a relaxing lunch before checking out Jessie Flores’ subculture studios. Bascially, Subculture studios is the place where all the artwork for all the crazy Drew Estate projects gets thrown down. The company started with Jessie doing all the work. He actually explained that he hooked up with Jonthan Drew as a mere graffiti artist who ran into him at a gas station. The two hit it off and became good friends. As time went on, Jessie realized that Jonathan spoke very poor Spanish, and his translator sucked so Jessie went on to assume that role. The two became very close and as time went on Jessie soon became the artist behind all things Drew Estate.

Jessie now employs a handful of people under him who ensure that all things Drew Estate are hip, artistic, and plentiful. Serious this kid has so much raw talent it’s scary. You should really check out the pictures at the end of the post to see more of his artwork.

We headed back out on the road, this time on our way to visit the My Father factory. It was interesting to see how close the Nicaraguan factories are both in terms of distance, and relationships. Joya, Drew Estate, Oliva, Perdomo, and My father were all within a few minutes of each other

The rain had been hitting hard all day. We were actually there during the rainy season which means it was incredibly sunny one minute, pouring rain the next, the back to sunny, back to rain, and the cycle continued. Kind of like that clip in Forrest Gump. Anyways. What the rain did was it actually caused part of the My Father factory to lose power. Pete Johnson from Tatuaje greeted us at the door and took us on our tour. The first leg was the 4 buildings that were sans-power; the tobacco receiving, storage and sorting areas. It was different than most factories as each of these areas were housed within their own buildings. I wish I could have gotten more pictures there, but most of them didn’t come out due to the fact that it was pitch black.

After we toured the smaller buildings we headed inside while making a quick stop at the box storage area. My Father actually has a full box manufacturing facility on site, but it was closed and locked when we too the tour so sadly, we didn’t get to see that. Either way I was very impressed with the massive amounts of ready made boxes they had on hand. We proceeded through the tobacco bodega, then onto the rolling floor. Much like Drew Estate, My Father is a huge factory with a ton of rollers. Every at that, I don’t think that they had more than Drew Estate did. One awesome addition was a double table roller set put up in front of the rest of the rollers. You can see in the picture below who these two seats belong to.

After the production tour we hit the packaging department. Again, this area was huge. There was a ton of neat little projects going on. We actually got to take a first, hands on look to the much anticipated “Little Monsters” series by Tatuaje.

We ended the tour with a few minutes with the man, Jaime Garcia. The air in any room feels different when you have Steve Saka, Jaime Garcia, Pete Johnson, Jose Blanco, and Willie Herrera in it. It was a shocker and I think we were all impressed at the amount of talent and knowledge in that room.

After the My Father factory the Cigar Safari team lead us to a quick tour of the Oliva factory. After being in so many factories we were brisked through this one. The first thing I noticed about the factory was it was rather primitive. They weren’t using some of the same technologies or procedures some of the larger factories did. Again, this factory was just more of a hands on machine. This isn’t to say the company doesn’t produce top-quality smokes, we all know they do. It was just interesting how they seemed to put less money in the factory which ultimately shaves off the cost of their product. Oliva has always produced quality, cost effective cigars.

The most impressive part of the Oliva tour was the massive amounts of tobacco they have stored. Seriously, there were tons. Another great experience at the factory was we got to meet the legend himself, Gilberto Oliva, a.k.a. “the chick magnet”. Ok, they don’t call him that, but they did go on to tell us on how much a of a flirt he was. Look at the dude, he’s got charm written all over him!

The last leg of this expedition was a tour through the Drew Estate tobacco bodega. This was basically a crash course led by Steve Saka on how they store, ferment, and ready their tobacco for processing. I’ve never actually been involved as much with the hands on fermentation of tobacco so I soaked up a ton of knowledge from this experience. For those of you who don’t know, tobacco is fermented by being stacked in huge “pilons” about 4 feet tall. I have no idea how to spell that word, but you get the idea. Anyways, the stacking of the tobacco causes a reaction within the leaves that heats up the tobacco to temperatures as high as 160 degrees. No one knows for sure if it’s a chemical reaction or biological, but Steve Saka and Jose Blanco seem to think it’s more chemical. As the tobacco heats it releases the natural aroma into the air. They track the tobacco on a daily basis and rotation the fermentation as needed. We got to actually stick our hands inside a pilon to see just how hot it gets, ant it’s hot! Saka said that if you leave it unattended long enough it could actually combust and catch fire. Luckily, fire is the only disaster Drew Estate has yet to face (knock on wood).

From the tobacco bodega we headed back to Drew Estate for a much needed rest, and dinner. Burrito dinner to be exact with some of the best BBQ I have had. After dinner we hung out on the patio for some time before Jose Blanco started his blending session. This session was much more intensive. We started out by smoking a cigar that had 4 different wrappers. We had to guess which tobacco was used. I actually went 3-4 on that. He also went into everything from taste, texture, body, strength, and construction. One huge subject that came up was flavor in which Saka and Jose agreed with us bloggers that taste is related to memories of items that we have actually enjoyed. For instance, when we say chocolate and coffee, this is just our taste buds picking up flavors that remind us of coffee and chocolate which enables us to describe these flavors to you all. This is a subject that comes up often and I am glad that someone was finally on our side.

And that was that, the end of the trip. A few of us spent that night smoking and drinking late into the evening. Steve Saka eventually joined us and told us all sorts of stories from his past, his family, when he was a blogger, and the start of his career. It was really nice to hear from him on such a personal level. I swear, that guy needs to write a damn book on his experiences. One thing that I loved about the trip was Jonathan, Saka, and Jose’s love for not only what they do, but for us. Not many companies see new media as a valid form of media. Although more and more are coming around, these guys really see the power in what we do, the passion behind it, and the work we put in and respect it and us. We felt loved. At least I did.

In closing, I just want to thank everyone involved in this trip. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I urge any cigar enthusiast to enjoy a Cigar Safari trip. You get to meet amazing people, experience a wonderful country, and get schooled on the cigar manufacturing process. Again, Thank you Steve Saka, Jonathan Drew, Pedro, Allejandro, Pedro, Jessi, Jose Blanco, Gary, Pete Johnson, Dave Lafferty, John Brooke, Willie, and everyone else that joined us, and welcomed us.

Check out more pictures from the day: (click each image, once you are done hit “back” on your browser to return to this page. Annoying, I know, but the only other quick option was stupid flash.)

Click Here if you rather see the image via my personal Flickr slideshow.

Link: Drew Estate – Cigar Safari – Blogger Trip Day 1

Link: Drew Estate – Cigar Safari – Blogger Trip Day 2

The post Drew Estate – Cigar Safari 2012 – Blogger Trip Day 3 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

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

The post Liga Privada T-52 Cigar Review appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.