Smoking Some New Drew Estate Non-Traditional Cigars

I’m going to go a little different direction than usual by talking about some of Drew Estate’s infused and non-traditional brands. I posted the news over the last few weeks about these new sizes, and my friends at BnB Tobacco sent me a sampler of some of the new sizes. So I figured, what the hell, I’ll give them a smoke, I’ve got plenty of time on my hands. Of course, I started with the one cigar that I was itching to get my hands on, the new size in the Deadwood line, the Leather Rose. OK, somehow I missed posting this news item, but I’ll recap.

Uniting with her sisters Sweet Jane, Fat Bottom Betty, and Crazy Alice after spending time away robbing banks (as the folklore goes) the spicy “Leather Rose” is the boldest lady of the bunch. This 5” x 54 torpedo features a rich maduro wrapper and proves to be the spiciest of the Deadwood family. Lighting up the Leather rose will fill the room with her exotic aroma, plus the effortless draw will leave you longing for more.

I’m not sold on the “spiciest” part, maybe, I’d have to smoke a bunch all together and see. I do enjoy the whole Yummy Bitches range, I find the sweetness and the spice and aromatics in the exotic tobaccos they use in these to be a really refreshing change of pace. They are loaded with interesting and unique flavors. For a new cigar this one was ready to go and burned perfectly. I’d definitely smoke this again and like to have something from this family in my humidors at all times.

My next selection was the Tabak Especial Negra in the new Lonsdale vitola. I’ve mostly smoked the Tabak in the robusto size, I enjoy them from time to time, and when I smoke an infused or flavored cigar, coffee is the flavor of choice for me. I tend to favor when coffee and espresso flavors appear naturally in tobacco, so it’s a reasonable fit. The Lonsdale is 6 3/4” x 44, which is a nice, elegant size, and actually a size I like quite a bit, but one you don’t see very often. If I’m drinking coffee, which I do every morning, I drink it black, unadulterated, straight up. The Negra is kind of like that but sweetened, which I like in a cigar. Again, for a new cigar, the burn and draw were spot on, and, like all smaller ring cigars, smoking slow is the way to go, lest it overheat and become bitter, like the pot of coffee that’s been sitting on the burner all day.

Today I got adventurous. I had thought the last Acid cigar I smoked was a Kuba Maduro in the spring of 2011, it was the eighth cigar of the day lat at night at Cigar Safari. I was burnt out and didn’t really care what I was smoking. I remembered later I smoked an Acid Shorty six years ago when we adopted our three-legged pitbull, Macha. She bore a resemblance to Shorty Rossi’s dog, Hercules, and Shorty had given me the cigar. I also didn’t realize that the Acid Plush came out over a year ago, and wasn’t one of this year’s new releases, so it doesn’t really fit with the theme of this post. Oh well, I smoked it anyway. In retrospect, if I had done a little homework, I would have smoked the Tabak Dolce Lonsdale instead to stay on topic, but them this Plush probably would have been relegated to that bag of infused cigars in the bottom of the humidor that I ignore (I think there’s an Extraordinary Larry in there that’s well over a decade old). So I smoked it, and it didn’t suck. It wasn’t something I’d go to every day, but it was an interesting smoke. It was sweet, and herbal, and the Broadleaf wrapper added to the sweetness and gave it some body. 

I wrapped up the day with the Acid 20 Toro. This one definitely is a new size, along with a robusto in a tube, announced a few weeks ago.  If I remember correctly, this had a San Andrés wrapper. I smoked a Robusto when they came out, or just before probably, and thought it was pretty good. I don’t remember it being heavily infused. I did taste the infusion in this one. My wife commented that the porch smelled of patchouli this evening, I can’t smell cigars while I’m smoking them actually, which is kind of odd. I can smell a cigarette or if someone is smoking an Acid and I’m not. It’s a weird thing. Anyway, the Acid 20 was a nice smoke. It’s a little but like the Kuba Arte to me, with maybe more spice, but it has that saccharine sweetness on the cap that takes some getting used to.  Like the  other cigars I’ve smoked in this post, it’s a nice change of pace for me, but not an everyday smoke. 

Maybe tomorrow I’ll smoke the Tabak Dolce Lonsdale early in the day, or, more likely, I’ll choose a cigar like an Umbagog, a Cornelius and Anthony Señor Esugars, or a Don Juan Calavera to get back to normal! Thanks to Brad at BnB Tobacco for sharing these new releases with me! I don’t think these are on store shelves yet, so I feel lucky to have the chance to try them! I do like a non-traditional cigar from time to time, there are certainly some I prefer over a few traditional cigars! Until the next time, 

CigarCraig