Drew Estate Freestyle Live Cigars, a 20 Acre Farm and an Undercrown Shade

I watched the last Drew Estate Freestyle Live show a few weeks back and was a little intrigued.  I was curious about how exactly a Dominican cigar with a sweet cap could be a game changer, but I was interested in finding out.  Low and behold, a package shows up with the Freestyle Live pack inside from Drew Estate.  The gear included is nice. A Cigar Caddy 10 count Tackle Box travel humidor  which was just announced in January by Quality Importers (and doesn’t appear on the site yet), a Palio Pistola dual jet lighter, and a dog tag.  These are still available around for $40ish, depending on where you live or where you buy.  There’s four cigars, a Gordo, Toro, Robusto and a pigtailed petit corona.  I smoked the Gordo and the Toro over two evenings and had similar notes.  First thing is I can’t say that shade wrapped cigars are my favorite, nor can I say Dominican cigars are something I lean toward, but I really like a Diamond Crown, or any other number of cigars from the DR, so that really doesn’t mean anything.  I don’t mind a sweet cap on the right cigar either, although a little bit goes a long way.  We should find out next month what Drew Estate is going to brand these, and what the price point will be, but I hesitate to say that this cigar isn’t aimed toward the same smoker who likes an Undercrown or Liga Privada. In the case of both cigars, the sweetener on the cap was overwhelming, and stuck around through the entire cigar, to my palate covering the taste of the Ecuador shade (one would assume) wrapper. Buth cigar burned OK, and they weren’t completely off putting, but they wouldn’t be what I would consider a premium offering.  I hope that these target more of a budget smoker, more of a broad appeal sort of thing.  Unlike some of the past Free Style launches, this probably isn’t going to be on my to-buy list.

I figured as long as I was smoking shade cigars, I’d smoke more of Drew Estate’s offerings in that category.  I selected a 20 Acre Farm cigar that I received at the Florida Barn Smoker last year.  This was one of several, the Barn Smoker is held at the literal 20 Acre Farm, so it makes sense that the brand would be featured. This was a previous Free Style Live release, by the way. I had some hockey to watch, so I chose the massive 20 Acre Farm Corona 25th Anniversary Belicoso, which is exclusive to Corona Cigar Co., and measures 7″ x 54.  This cigar has a Connecticut Shade wrapper, Honduran Sun Grown ‘99 binder and fillers from Nicaraguan (Jalapa & Esteli) & FSG (Florida Sun Grown Corojo).  The FSG twang is present, and it’s a very nice, medium plus shade cigar. There’s some nutty sweetness along with the twang.  While I’m not particularly enamoured with FSG tobacco, it ads a little something different to whatever blend it’s in. Nice smoke, got me through two periods of Hockey.

I had some options for Drew Estate shade cigars, I could have smoked a very old Chateau Real, I could have chosen a Blackened S84, I even might have smoked a unicorn, a shade wrapped Liga Privada No. 9, but I went with an Undercrown Shade Churchill instead.  This has been in the humidor for quite a long time, I don’t recall where it came from.  This cigar is 7″ x 48, and I don’t think it’s still in production.  It has the Ecuador Shade Wrapper, a binder from Ecuador, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I like the Undercrown Shade, it’s definitely in my top ten of shade cigars, and I like a Churchill.  This was a really enjoyable cigar, my favorite of the cigars mentioned in this post.  It’s toasty, nutty and loaded with flavor. The burn and draw were perfect, and it made for a very enjoyable two hours.  I wish I had more of this vitola.

That’s about enough from me today, until the next time,

CigarCraig