The Best of the Drew Estate Portfolio?

[El Presidente]

Since I will be attending an Asia/Pacific industry Drew Estate dinner/event on Friday, I had better educamate myself 

Huge respect for what Jonathan Drew built and sold. Today they make some 100,000 cigars a day. 

For the NC lovers among us, what do you consider the best and worst of the Drew Estate cigar portfolio. Why? 

 

.....help me out here ...I need something to talk about while I drink their wine and eat their food 

[Blazer]

The Acid series would rank at the bottom for me. It's infused with a bunch of different flavors that I just find off putting. The T52 is probably my favorite of their traditional lines. From my notes: flavors of black coffee, dark malted barley, cedar with a slight pepper bite. Full bodied and medium-full strength.

[BlueRidgeFly]

The Liga Dirty Rat is probably my favorite of the small # of their blends I’ve tried. I really liked the two I had a couple years back. It’s been a while though.

[mikejh]

I really like the Liga Unico series, unique flavor profile, very savory, tons of thick dense smoke. 

[sharpnc]

Feral Flying Pig, Velvet Rat, and H99 would be my top 3 favorites.

[Jackdani7401]

Their entire Liga Privada line, and spin offs, are their most rich and complex cigars. The Undercrown line is approachable for the novice, yet interesting enough for someone in the middle of their flavor complexity journey. The Acid line is infused and targeted at the casual/novice smoker. The Herrera Esteli line is trying to pick up where Steve Saka left off, but misses in complexity for me. The blends in the Liga line have changed over time and after Saka departed, not for the better, in my opinion, unfortunately. 

Grab a Liga #9 after a steak with a bold red wine or 90+ proof whiskey and enjoy!!

[Jimmy2x]

One of the few NC that I smoke is the Liga Privada T52. Much more complex than the #9 or any other Drew Estate offerings, in my opinion.

[zeedubbya]

I smoked some DE cigars during my hiatus from CCs. Their flavored cigars are undeniably horrible to us cigar smokers who appreciate the taste of tobacco but…Tabak Especial and Acid line are massive sellers for them. Their smoked cigars are very popular as well, as evidenced in the Kentucky Fire Cured and the “Barn Smoker” events they’ve done.  Hugely popular.  Also-

Their marketing is in unique parallel with yours @El Presidente so THIS would be the common thread for you at an event like this. Culture creation. DE has created a massive culture around their product, by using exclusivity and generating hype around their products and making them fun and interesting. Drew has ALWAYS had the most exciting and generous reps at the few events I have attended where they’ve been. I would say you have done the same, starting with grading boxes, and making them more exclusive to creating a group of loyal to you enthusiasts like all of us to building Bond Roberts and starting an NC line with much fanfare. Sharing your story (not that indifferent from Jonathan Drew) to explaining some of the challenges you’ve faced in making a transition to NCs will be the ticket. There’s much common ground here. Hope this helps.

Z

[Boss Hog]

10 hours ago, Jackdani7401 said:

The blends in the Liga line have changed over time and after Saka departed, not for the better, in my opinion, unfortunately. 

Speaking the truth, my fellow brother. Definitely not what they use to be. 👎

[rcarlson]

8 hours ago, Boss Hog said:

Speaking the truth, my fellow brother. Definitely not what they use to be. 👎

Agreed. Very early on at the launches, No. 9 and T252 were incredible. I had a chance to meet with Rocky, and even had agreed they were among the best in his humidor. That was years ago. Since then, I can't say much about any of the Drews. They're okay, but the glory-days have passed.  

Acid is a crime against humanity.  

[Çnote]

Hot, hot opinions to follow...

Talking about DE is also talking about Joya de Nicaragua. JdN is a very good factory. The house brand is certainly worth trying, and anything made there is often on my radar. I'd say there are better cigars here under the JdN marquee than in the rest of DE. 

As mentioned by others, DE makes a -huge- amount of flavored cigars Isla del Sol, Deadwood, the aforementioned Acids. IdS and DW are at least interesting changes of pace, Acid has an immense fan base. I doubt anyone here can say much nicer than that. I'd lump KFC with Acid, but many enjoy them as change of pace, and they are made in some vitolas that are used for the very high end, most notably the Flying Pig. There also a coffee flavor, Tabak Especiale that is popular, and Drew worked with Rocky on Java, which is branded DE yet sold by RP.

DE has some notable partnerships with the van Winkle family of bourbon fame, and Metallica, of fame fame. Their cigars have fans, I have even seen these cigars smoked in lounges unironically.

DE has nearly two decades of high end marquees as well, mostly Liga Privata. The last decade saw new blending with Herrera, and there's some good things fresh in a huge amount of sku. I'd echo comments above that fresh stock isn't as interesting or taste as agable as OR stock when Herrera started, and I'll avoid talking about the legacy of Saka at DE even in person much less in written in public. They're decent cigars over all, but imho a shadow of what they used to be. There's a couple like Dirty and Velvet that are still -very- good, but they're not as near the value anymore to me, and not worth reaching for them harder than i would foe the brands it would be my preference to lay stock.

Tl;dr: Joya

[El Presidente]

Have always struggled with LP9. I find it out of balance and one dimensional. What do I know as it is a market monster? 

OK, you have given me 10 minutes of quality talk points + I will point out that Rob Carlson believes the place has gone to shit. 

I'm good 👍

 

[Puros Y Vino]

6 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Have always struggled with LP9. I find it out of balance and one dimensional. What do I know as it is a market monster? 

OK, you have given me 10 minutes of quality talk points + I will point out that Rob Carlson believes the place has gone to shit. 

I'm good 👍

I "aged" an LP9 for about 5 years. Lit it up. Had the profile of dry newspaper. A T52 was ok. It definitely puts out a lot of smoke. Papas Fritas for the money is ok. The only noteworthy DE smoke I had was a Feral Flying Pig. Cool vitola and it had a distinct pecan tasting note to it.  (It must've been mixed into the slurry.) 😁

[Li Bai]

Maybe you should ask them about that "mineral oil"? 😁

[MrFolgers]

DE hasn't been the same since Saka left and they sold to Swisher. Dunbarton is very reminiscent of what Liga used to be 10+ years ago. If you can find it (very rare and only sold at DE events), the Undercrown Manifesto might be my favorite NC of all time. 

[VeguerosMAN]

Flying Pig No.9...pair with strong IPA beer to bring out the sweet chocolate mousse notes of the cigar. 

I would also add their latest collaboration release with Metallica- Blackened.  Probably the best maduro cigar in their portfolio. 

[rcarlson]

On 3/10/2025 at 12:41 AM, El Presidente said:

OK, you have given me 10 minutes of quality talk points + I will point out that Rob Carlson believes the place has gone to shit.

I live to give!

[unaslob]

He comes to events at our local box. Met him twice. He seems pretty down-to-earth and thankful for his success. His story, the way he tells it mind you, is an inspiring journey of hard work and right place right time.  

[Fuzz]

On 3/9/2025 at 6:32 PM, Çnote said:

DE has some notable partnerships with the van Winkle family of bourbon fame, and Metallica, of fame fame. Their cigars have fans, I have even seen these cigars smoked in lounges unironically.

Funny you should mention the Pappy, they handed out the flying pig at the event on Sunday.

[unaslob]

On 3/9/2025 at 7:04 AM, El Presidente said:

Since I will be attending an Asia/Pacific industry Drew Estate dinner/event on Friday, I had better educamate myself 

Huge respect for what Jonathan Drew built and sold. Today they make some 100,000 cigars a day. 

For the NC lovers among us, what do you consider the best and worst of the Drew Estate cigar portfolio. Why? 

.....help me out here ...I need something to talk about while I drink their wine and eat their food 

So can we expect some Acid dirt or Eggs on 24:24 soon?

[El Presidente]

6 hours ago, unaslob said:

So can we expect some Acid dirt or Eggs on 24:24 soon?

.......Ahhh.......no

[jtapies]

Rob, great meeting you in HK last week. Drew Estate and Jonathan Drew are more than a brand, like he said, they are a subculture, and believe me, it has paid off handsomely for him. They have an amazing factory in Esteli and the company is run by a very capable group of people, both on the business as well as on the tobacco and creative sides.

Drew Estate cigars are clearly not for anyone (as I guess for every other brand as well), but they do make some pretty creative and good products using CT broadleaf. All Liga Privada are great cigars, with a decent range. Do not forget the Undercrown, a beautifully made and presented line of cigars that are still affordable and deliver a Liga Privada Junior style experience. Aside from Davidoff, OpusX and Padrons, I would say that the Liga Privada bands are the next most recognisable ones when you see folks out there smoking one. With the FDA revisions on flavored stuff, watch out for those guys again. What Acid did back in the day was remarkable.