Category Archives: News

by Craig Vanderslice | May 4, 2021 · 5:05 pm

News: Joya de Nicaragua to Release Diplomatic Favorites: Numero Uno L’Ambassadeur and Le Premier

Drew Estate has been loading up with news ahead of the Thursday Freestyle Live show where they will be talking about all these cool things. This is one that I like because I like the Numero Uno, I mean, for a Connecticut wrapped cigar and all! Really there’s only a handful of shade cigars I gravitate to, and this is one.

Originally given exclusively to world leaders by Nicaraguan ambassadors on official missions, Joya de Nicaragua’s Numero Uno has become a favorite for cigar enthusiasts everywhere since its introduction in the United States in 2019. Numero Uno has received numerous awards, becoming the top cigar of 2018 and 2019, and was recently named the No. 6 cigar in Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 list of 2020 with a 95-point rating. The 2021 release of the limited edition Numero Uno cigars will be showcased by Juan Ignacio Martinez, Executive President of Joya de Nicaragua, and the Drew Estate team during Freestyle Live: Special Edition on May 6, beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern on Drew Estate’s Facebook page (facebook.com/drewestatecigar).

Numero Uno is part of Joya de Nicaragua’s Obras Maestras line. The highly acclaimed cigar Numero Uno cigar is available in two sizes: L’Ambassadeur (6 5/8 x 44, Lancero) and Le Premier (6 7/8 x 48, Churchill). Numero Uno features a smooth, Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and Nicaragua binder and filler tobaccos to create a mellow- to medium-bodied and flavorful smoking experience with lots of rich creaminess.

“It is very exciting for us to announce that we are preparing the annual batch of Numero Uno for the United States. Receiving another iconic award this year, now by Cigar Aficionado, reaffirms that our commitment to quality is recognized by the industry and cigar lovers around the world, and we are happy we were able to guarantee the annual allocation plus additional boxes to satisfy the overwhelming demand for the fantastic cigar,” says Martinez.

The 2021 annual release will offer a limited amount of each vitola, exclusively for Drew Diplomat Program participants. The 2021 Numero Uno limited edition cigars will be available beginning in August. The MSRP for L’Ambassadeur will be $15.75/cigar and $16.95/cigar for Le Premier.

About Joya de Nicaragua

Joya de Nicaragua is a family-owned tobacco grower and cigar factory. Established in 1968, it is the first and most authentic premium handmade cigar manufacturer from Nicaragua. Based in Estelí, many regard Joya de Nicaragua as the patriarch of the Nicaraguan cigar industry, and its cigars are sold in more than 55 countries around the world. The company’s commitment to quality, along with its skillful and resilient people, have been rewarded with the industry recognition of “Cigar Factory of the Year” for the last three years in a row.

For more information, visit joyacigars.com.

ABOUT DREW ESTATE

Founded in New York City in 1996, Drew Estate has become one of the fastest growing tobacco companies in the world. Under their mantra “The Rebirth of Cigars”, Drew Estate has led the “Boutique Cigar” movement by innovating new elements to the tobacco industry with their unique tobaccos and blending styles that attract new and traditional cigar enthusiasts. In their Gran Fabrica Drew Estate, the Nicaraguan headquarters, Drew Estate produces a variety of brands such as ACID, Herrera Estelí, Herrera Estelí Norteño, Isla del Sol, Kentucky Fired Cured, Liga Privada, MUWAT, Larutan by Drew Estate, Nica Rustica, Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Fermented Cigars, Tabak Especial, Undercrown, Florida Sun Grown, and Java by Drew Estate.

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by Craig Vanderslice | May 1, 2021 · 9:57 am

News: Drew Estate to Release 2021 Limited Edition Undercrown Dojo Dogma Maduro and Sun Grown

Here’s some more news from Drew Estate, it’s sure been a busy news week from DE (and JdN, which is distributed by DE). I normally would let Dojo pimp their own stuff, but since this is out in the wild, and they are great cigars, I’m happy to pass the news along. I love the extra little punch that the Dogma blend has because they based it off the Corona Viva which has extra ligero in the blend. They are tasty smokes whatever way you look at it.

Drew Estate and Cigar Dojo team up once again to release the 2021 limited edition Undercrown Dojo Dogma Sun Grown and Undercrown Dojo Dogma Maduro. The pair of box-pressed Undercrown Dojo Dogma cigars will be available exclusively for Drew Diplomat Program participants and will be showcased on “Freestyle Live: Special Edition” on Drew Estate’s Facebook page (facebook.com/drewestatecigar) on Thursday, May 6, at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Drew Estate released the first Undercrown Dojo Dogma to celebrate Cigar Dojo’s first anniversary in 2014 to massive acclaim. The first Undercrown Dojo Dogma Sun Grown appeared three years later after the Cigar Dojo team named Drew Estate’s Undercrown Sun Grown its “Cigar of the Year.” Since then, the annual release of Undercrown Dojo Dogma has become highly anticipated for cigar connoisseurs who quickly snatch up the limited-edition box-pressed cigars.

Jonathan Drew, Drew Estate Founder and President explains, “The Cigar Dojo community represents true cigar fellowship … !! DE has always been proud of our association with Dojo and the vast, diverse crew who rep the name. Undercrown Dojo Dogma is a passion project for our factory torcedors and Pedro Gomez, our Factory Spokesman, who feel as though they are expressing their heart and soul directly to the final consumers with each puff … almost as if they are speaking to them, face-to-face during our factory tours, Cigar Safari.”

Undercrown Dojo Dogma Maduro is a powerhouse cigar that was blend-based upon the Undercrown Corona Viva mega-hit. It’s composed of a toothy Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper, a spicy Connecticut stalk-cut and stalk-cured Habano binder and incorporates a filler tobacco recipe featuring only the highest quality Nicaraguan Habano and Brazilian Mata Fina leaves. Earthy, rich and smooth with inherent sweetness, the 2021 Undercrown Dojo Dogma Maduro is a medium-to full-bodied cigar that is box-pressed and will be featured in the Corona Gorda (6 x 56) vitola. Previously, Undercrown Dojo Dogma Maduro cigars were packaged in 10-Count Soft Packs, but they will now be featured in 10-count wooden boxes that will be emblazoned with both the Undercrown and Cigar Dojo logos.

The box-pressed Undercrown Dojo Dogma Sun Grown (5 x 54, Robusto) features an Ecuadorian Sumatra sun-grown wrapper, Connecticut River Valley stalk-cut and stalk-cured sun-grown Habano binder and a blend of Nicaraguan premium filler tobaccos, including a leaf of extensively-aged ligero from the Nueva Segovia region along the Nicaraguan border of Honduras, providing extra body to the blend. Dogma Sun Grown will be packaged in 24-count wooden boxes that also feature the Undercrown and Cigar Dojo logos.

From the Cigar Dojo studios in Lakewood, Colorado, Master Sensei Eric Guttormson comments, “Undercrown Dojo Dogma has been our most popular collaborative cigar by far. They smoke great right out of the box and improve even more with proper age. Our friends and retailers who make up the Cigar Dojo community truly look forward to its release every year, and they never last long on retailers’ shelves or inside consumers’ humidors.”

The Undercrown Dojo Dogma Sun Grown is packaged in 24-count wooden boxes with an MSRP of $258 and will be available beginning in August. Undercrown Dojo Dogma Maduro is packaged in 10-count wooden boxes with an MSRP of $112 and will begin shipping in October.

ABOUT DREW ESTATE

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by Craig Vanderslice | April 29, 2021 · 6:03 pm

News: Herrera Estelí Limited Edition Lanceros Return as Drew Diplomat Program Exclusive

If you’re a Lancero fan, you can hardly go wrong with the Herrera Esteli Lanceros. To be honest, I enjoy the Lancero about the most in the regular Herrera Esteli line, taking the Norteño and Brazilian Maduro out of the equation. Something about the Lanceros hit me right, and it doesn’t have anything to do with any wrapper to filler ratio nonsense. Then there’s the broadleaf version that’s super yummy. Read on…

Drew Estate will release limited edition Lanceros for Herrera Estelí Habano and Herrera Estelí Connecticut Broadleaf for 2021. Exclusive for Drew Diplomat Program participants, the limited-edition Herrera Estelí Lanceros will debut during Drew Estate’s Freestyle Live: Special Edition, which airs on Thursday, May 6th, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern on Drew Estate’s Facebook Live page (facebook.com/drewestatecigar).

A notoriously difficult vitola to make, there are only four bunchero-rollera teams at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate who are qualified to craft the Lancero size (7 x 38) due to its narrow ring gauge. Lanceros require expert hands to perfectly arrange the individual tobacco components, assuring the cigars’ complexity and ideal draw, which is difficult to attain. Cigar connoisseurs around the world appreciate the Lancero vitola partly because they respect the handcrafted talent that’s necessary to create the cigars and partly because they enjoy the heavy wrapper emphasis realized while smoking a Lancero.

Willy Herrera, Master Blender of Drew Estate, says from the El Titan de Bronze factory in Little Havana, “The Lancero size is the one vitola where you get to experience the real essence of a cigar’s blend and savor the truest taste of all of the cigar’s individual components. In larger sizes, where there is proportionally more binder and filler leaf in the blend, a wrapper’s flavor profile might be masked a little bit. A Lancero brings out the intensity of all the tobaccos’ flavor. I always prefer to smoke a Lancero when I can, and I wanted to make sure fans of Herrera Estelí could enjoy the same experience.”

The Herrera Estelí Habano Lancero is made using a flavorful Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Honduran Habano binder and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. The medium-bodied cigars are sweet and spicy with cedar wood notes. The Herrera Estelí Connecticut Broadleaf Lancero is composed of an exceptional higher priming of Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper that Drew Estate reserves throughout the year exclusively for this cigar, a bold Brazilian Mata Fina and rich Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. The blend offers a smoking experience that’s spicy, elegant and smooth.

Jonathan Drew, Drew Estate Founder and President, adds from the Wynwood Safehouse, “Lanceros are certainly not as popular as large ring gauge cigars, but they have a cult following amongst the most educated cigar geeks who love majestic capa leaf, what I call the ‘oro’ of the plant. Everyone knows that Willy blends spectacular Lanceros.”

Both the Herrera Estelí Habano and Herrera Estelí Connecticut Broadleaf Lancero are packaged in 15-count boxes with an MSRP of $194.24. The cigars will be available exclusive to Drew Diplomat Program participants. Herrera Estelí Connecticut Broadleaf Lancero will be available beginning in June; Herrera Estelí Habano Lancero will be available beginning in August.

ABOUT DREW ESTATE

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by Craig Vanderslice | · 5:44 pm

News: Joya De Nicaragua Introduces Antaño Gran Reserva GT20 Inbox

More news from Joya de Nicaragua! This is exciting news, as the Antaño Gran Reserva is one of my favorite cigars. The Churchill, which was a TAA cigar a few years ago if memory serves, was delicious. I’m a big fan of the Antaño 1970 and Dark Corojo too, this completes the trilogy. Add that to the fact that it’s a toro, how can I not be delighted with this? What a great 20 years it’s been for Joya de Nicaragua. This week marks 8 years since I visited the factory. I’d love to go back!

JOYA DE NICARAGUA INTRODUCES ANTAÑO GRAN RESERVA GT20

It was 2001 and in the dawn of the new Millennium, the cigar industry was still shaking-off the jabs and uppercuts of the last few years; blows that included natural catastrophes in Nicaragua and the implosion of the cigar bubble worldwide. It was then that Joya de Nicaragua once again demonstrated its strong character and forged another of its monumental contributions to what would become the undisputed king of the tobacco world: the Nicaraguan cigar. This instance was sparked by the introduction of Antaño, an original Nicaraguan puro that transformed the appreciation and acclaim of Nicaraguan tobaccos forever; a blend that became popularly known as the “The Boldest Cigar out there.”

Twenty years after the initial sweats and excitement during its release at the 2001 RTDA show, the legendary Antaño continues to be a cigar enthusiast’s favorite, driven by its unparalleled boldness. These traits result from Joya De Nicaragua’s doctrinal obsessions with quality and consistency, utilizing for more than two decades, without alteration, the same leaves from the same tobacco varietals grown in the same plots of land in northern Nicaragua; a composition that delivers on that unequivocal character loved by so many. It is for good reason that Antaño has become one of the company’s best-selling brands around the globe.

Today, the Antaño family has expanded to encompass four sub-lines with more than 24 vitolas in total, all distinguished by the authentic Antaño lineage: the original Antaño 1970, the super full-bodied Antaño Dark Corojo, the award winning creamy Antaño CT and the smooth and elegant Antaño Gran Reserva.

“When anybody thinks of Nicaraguan powerhouse cigars, they undoubtedly think of Antaño. This is the cigar on which cigar legends are inspired,” says Dr. Alejandro Martínez Cuenca, Chairman of Joya de Nicaragua and Master Blender of Antaño. “When we first tried the blend in progress, it was a bomb! Everybody in the room became so excited because it was exactly what we wanted: it was full-bodied and really hit your palate in all the places where we wanted it to hit … and we knew it was to become a game changer.”

To continue building on Antaño’s ongoing legacy, Joya de Nicaragua introduces Antaño Gran Reserva GT20, a special edition that highlights only the best of Antaño. “Instead of only celebrating another wonderful occasion, we wanted to focus on forging the thriving future for Antaño by giving our cigar lovers an enhanced experience of Antaño. Thus, the blend selection was intricate, drafting on our more than 53 years of experience and on the best leaves of Nicaraguan tobacco in our bodegas. We chose to do a special version of our Antaño Gran Reserva blend, with all Nicaraguan leaves aged for more than five years. In this way, we have the original tobaccos and the original character, but with a smoother and more complex flavor profile that just upgrades the smoking experience to a whole new level. We guarantee this is the best Antaño you’ll ever smoke; that’s why we call it our GT!,” says Juan Ignacio Martinez, Joya De Nicaragua’s Executive President.

Antaño Gran Reserva GT20 is a box-pressed Gran Toro (6×52), that comes in a 20-count box, with an MSRP of $9.50/cigar. It will be available for all Drew Estate customers in the United States as of August 2021.

Antaño Gran Reserva GT20 will be formally announced by Juan Martinez and the Drew Estate team during the Freestyle Live:Special Edition event on May 6th at 7pm. We invite cigar lovers around the world to join the online celebration and share their Joya de Nicaragua experience using.

ABOUT JOYA DE NICARAGUA

Joya de Nicaragua is a family-owned tobacco grower and cigar factory. Established in 1968, it is the first and most authentic premium handmade cigar manufacturer from Nicaragua. Base in Estelí, many regard Joya De Nicaragua as the patriarch creator of the Nicaraguan cigar industry, and its cigars are sold in more than 55 countries around the world. The company’s commitment to quality along with its skillful and resilient people, have awarded it the industry recognition of Cigar Factory of the Year 2018 & 2019. For more information, please visit. www.joyacigars.com

ABOUT DREW ESTATE

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by Craig Vanderslice | April 27, 2021 · 6:06 pm

News: Joya de Nicaragua to Release Annual Cinco Decadas Cigars

Here’s some news from one of my favorite factories, about a really good cigar. I was trying to decide what cigar to smoke tonight, and I might select an El Doctor tonight for a special treat after reading this. Why not, you only live once, as far as we know, right?

Joya de Nicaragua to Release Annual Cinco Decadas Limited Edition Cigars

Three years ago, Joya de Nicaragua celebrated its 50th anniversary and released one of the most iconic blends in its portfolio, Cinco Decadas. As a commemorative cigar, Cinco Decadas pays tribute to the incredible individuals who have shaped the company, and the Nicaraguan cigar industry, over the last 53 years. Each year since 2018, Joya de Nicaragua has released annual limited editions of Cinco Decadas. The 2021 Cinco Decadas edition will be showcased by Juan Ignacio Martinez, Executive President of Joya de Nicaragua, and the Drew Estate team during Freestyle Live: Special Edition on May 6, beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern on Drew Estate’s Facebook page (facebook.com/drewestatecigar).

Each vitola is named to represent a milestone or individual. Diadema (6 x 54, Perfecto) was the first shape ever made at the factory. El General (7 x 50, Churchill) represents one of the pioneers of tobacco in Nicaragua. El Fundador (6 x 54, Toro) was introduced in 2019 as a tribute to the founders of Joya de Nicaragua.

“As we have always said, this is the best cigar that comes out of Joya de Nicaragua’s factory in Estelí. That is why we pay so much attention in guaranteeing that every annual batch has the same quality level as the first one we sold in 2018. This year, global demand of cigars is surging, however, we remain true to ourselves, and we are selling the number of cigars that can be rolled with the Cinco Decadas standards,” Martinez says.

The 2021 Cinco Decadas limited release will be available beginning in July and it will feature 600 boxes each of the Diadema, El General and El Fundador vitolas. These cigars will be sold exclusively to Drew Diplomat Program participants in the United States. MSRPs for the cigars are: Diadema $20.40/cigar; El General $19.50/cigar and El Fundador $20.40/cigar.

“Each year, I look forward to the Cinco Decadas release,” says Joya de Nicaragua’s Field Market Manager, Sarah Hearton. “It is not only a beautifully constructed line of cigars, but truly represents the history, growth and triumph that Joya de Nicaragua has had over the last 50-plus years.”