Tag Archives: drew estate

by | March 30, 2025 · 9:34 am

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

 

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by | December 29, 2024 · 9:30 am

CigarCraig’s Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza!

It’s been a busy week and I decided ins

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tead of smoking some newer cigars and writing about them I’d go through some of the goodies I have strewn about the office and put together a mega-prize and do a giveaway.  I have been reminiscing about the days of the Twelve Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways I did from 2011 to 2015, it was a lot

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of fun but took up a whole lot of time and resources! So, in homage to those good old days, I try to put together one good giveaway during the holiday season. I’m off to a late start this year, but better late than never, right?  This is going to be an epic haul, including some goodies from Drew Estate, Miami Cigar and Co., Villiger and Dunbarton. I’m not going to list cigars, but rest assured any case or humidor is going to be filled!  It’s hard to tell what other treats might fall into the box!  There’s a couple lighters and cutters, some cigar rests, a mug, a hat, some luggage, a wallet, an ashtray, a notebook, a rocks glass, all sorts of stuff!

 

All of these items are included, plus cigars to fill the cases, and whatever else happens to fall into the box! The cigars will not suck.  Rules are simple, leave a comment on this post to enter. Please leave a new comment and not a reply to another comment.  Comments on social media posts will not be counted. You must be of legal age to enjoy cigars in your jurisdiction, and willing to provide proof. United States address only please, it’s going to cost me a small fortune to ship this anyway, shipping abroad would bury me!  Those are the rules!  One entry per person.  Thank you to the companies who provided the SWAG!  I love it, but I love sharing it with my readers more!  Thanks to those of you who have chosen to waste time reading my nonsense over the last 15 years! 

 

Happy New Year! Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | November 17, 2024 · 8:50 am

A Quick Florida Trip, Part Two: The Drew Estate Florida Barn Smoker

Last Friday, after finishing up a long and excellent day at J.C. Newman, I hopped in my rented Polstar 2 and made my way to the Orlando area.  Traffic sucked, and I never really got to see what that car could do. It was about the cheapest rental I could find, and I only spent about $22 charging it after driving it around all weekend.  I forgot to mention in my last post about the “lunch” I got from the La Segunda Bakery a short walk from El Reloj.  Not the healthiest choice, but the cinnamon rolls and apple turnovers were delicious, and filled me up for the day. The iced coffee was darned good too. I could do some damage there under different circumstances.  Also notable was the park the Newmans have built across from the factory, the Cigar Workers Park. It was a beautiful place to pre-game before our tour.  Now that I’m caught up, it’s on to the Barn Smoker.  I left the hotel early, and got to the Florida Sun Grown Farm about two hours before the event opened, so I got a good parking spot.  I managed to get in line with some folks who manage two of the CigarCigars shops in Sarasota, so we had some mutual friends. CigarCigars has a bunch of stores in my

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area. I’ve been to Barnsmokers in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, so I had an idea what to expect, and I’ve toured the FSG farm before.  I went into this one to enjoy myself, and see some old friends.  Amongst the friends I spent some time with were Rebecca and Jason of Ash Quarterly Magazine. I met them at the last PCA show I attended and Jason and I hit it off. I was very happy to be able to hang out with them for a while.  As I’ve done in the past, I smoked the Liga Privada Serie Unico A, as I never have any faith that a cigar that long is going to survive the trip home.  It was excellent, although t didn’t burn particularly well. 

The grounds were set up nicely, with a lot of room to spread out.  Of course, there was a big tent with tables (as per tradition, most of the ashtrays were stolen early).  DJ Eli was playing music, too loud in my opinion. It always mystifies me that companies get 6-800 people together and drown out conversation with loud music.  They had a live band playing later in the day.  I made my way around all te activation stations early before they got crowded. There only seemed to be one educational portion, in the past it was very scheduled, with the crowd broken into several groups who rotated through several stations with various people, WIllie Herrera, Pedro Gomez, Jon Drew and usually the farm owner, giving talks on various aspects of the life cycle of a cigar.  Another thing that was different from other events I’ve attended was the food. There was a buffet/food line after the educational portion in the past, this time they had several food trucks with coupons for each. This was a better way to do it, from my standpoint.  Folks were free to get food at their leisure.  There were also a lot of liquor stations, in which I was not interested. They did have plenty of water and soft drinks available at all times. The food was good, I sampled smash burger and some BBQ pork sliders with mac and cheese. 

 

Only because I know somebody, I snuck in the back of the  “Black Widow Saloon” for the tasting seminar that was going on.  This was an inflatable, air conditioned structure for the VIPs (I was just a P). It was packed with people, and had a nice spread of cookies and brownies and assorted goodies.  Rob Dietrich, the master distiller of the Blackened Whiskey, and JD were leading the tasting.  Again, booze isn’t my thing, but I’m g

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lad I got to see inside the saloon. This would be a nice place to cool off if it wasn’t so crowded. The baked goods were excellent.  

 

I stayed until the end, my flight home wasn’t until 5am Sunday, so I didn’t have anyplace else to be. Traveling alone, I sometimes get bored, this time I knew and met enough people there to  occupy my time.  It was a good time, people were well behaved for the most part, almost surprising given the amount of booze available.  Cigars were plentiful and delicious.  Everyone should go to at least one of these events, remember to bring $10 to “buy” your pack of cigars at entrance.  The swag was very nice (picture above), not over the top.  I did have an interesting experience with the spray can lighter going through TSA, they had never seen anything like it before and it took much examination and scrutiny to get through. I would have surrendered it rather than cause any trouble, but it got through fine (the actual working lighter in my other bag went undetected). It will probably end up in the Christmas Givaway!  Thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for including me. I wish communication would have been better between some parties, that would have made the weekend a 100% success.  I spent the week smoking some of the cigars I got there, it annoys me that I like the 20 Acre Farm as much as I do, and the Blackened S83 has grown on me. There wasn’t a bad cigar in the bunch.  

 

I’ve opened up the annual CigarCraig.com Secret Santa, if you want to join in, here’s the link: CigarCraig’s Secret Santa 2024. We’ve had a small, but high quality, group in the past.  Jump in, it’s a lot of fun sharing your favorite cigars with people! That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

 

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by | May 17, 2024 · 8:22 pm

JR Cigars Exclusive Deadwood Girl With No Name

Drew Estate’s Deadwood line has really taken off in popularity over the last few years.  The line is an expression of the Natural, later Larutan, line, which uses varieties of tobacco which is more usually used in pipe tobacco. It’s even cased like pipe tobacco, giving it a sweetness.  I used to argue that these aren’t flavored or infused, but technically they are flavored, in as much as an aromatic pipe tobacco is flavored.  Recently Drew Estate has begun producing The Girl With No Name, exclusively for some of the large retailers.  This iteration has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, as opposed to the maduro wrapper on the Fat Bot

tom Betty, Sweet Jane, Crazy Alice, and Leather Rose.  JR Cigar’s exclusive is a robusto size, 5″ x 50.  You can get a 5-pack at JR’s for $23, which is pretty reasonable.

 

I smoked a few of these, as well as a Leather Rose for reference and quite enjoyed the cigars.  They do have a sweet cap. so if your opposed to that, this might not be for you. I smoked them with desert in mind, after dinner, and I enjoyed the sweetness, it’s a nice change of pace.  There’s sweet exotic spice, and some mellow nuttiness from the shade wrapper.  Burn and draw were perfect, which I’ve come to expect from Drew

Estate products.  One thing I will say is that smoking another cigar after this isn’t recommended, the finish is quite long.  If you like the Deadwood line, I think this would be a nice change of pace, I might even like it more, it’s brighter and rather tasty! 

 

JR Cigars provided these cigar for me to sample, links included are affiliate links, Use code FORYOU for 25% OFF.  That’s all for now, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | November 26, 2023 · 9:57 am

A Drew Estate Nightshade and a Few Lampert Cigars

Thanksgiving is behind us and we have Christmas and Hanukkah to look forward to, then New Years and we can start this whole mess all over again!  As we’ve done for the past few years, I’ve started a CigarCraig Secret Santa through Elfster.  You can go HERE to sign up.  It’s a simple $40 minimum, send what you like. I send without expectation, it isn’t a trade, I look at it as gifting, I don’t worry about getting!  I think that’s the most healthy way to go into these things.  So far there are 7 people signed up, let’s get a bunch of people this year!  I also have some of the usual holiday giveaways planned, so stay tuned! I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend!

 

I smoked a few new cigars this weekend, one wasn’t new but new to me.  I’ve b

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een hearing about the JR Cigars Exclusive Drew Estate Nightshade for quite a while and never got around to trying it, so I ordered a five pack recently. Don’t forget to click through the JR Cigars and Cigars.com affiliate links on the left sidebar if you order from either place!  I got the 5″ x 52 robusto because that’s what was available in a fiver at the time, of course I would rather have had the toro.  This cigar has a maduro Connecticut Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. I think this falls somewhere near a Nica Rustica and an Undercrown Maduro for me, which both have Broadleaf wrappers, so are sweeter. This is a little earthier than those, but it has a nice flavor, for a reasonable price, it’s an interesting cigar.  I think if you like the Liga Privada T52, you’ll enjoy this. I think you can get a box of 20 for around a c-note.  That moves it well into the great cigar for the price category.

 

I’ve recently gotten a sampler of cigar courtesy of Lampert cigars, a company I’ve heard of, but haven’t really seen on local shelves.  I tried three this week and will attache the other three next week.  I tried to arrange them logically, next weeks will be the three in the Nicaraguan 1675 line, this week I smoked the cigars made in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.  The first one was the Lampert 1593 Oscura.  Lampert is another company that devotes one size per blend apparently, with this one coming in

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a 6″ x 52 toro.  Is it any wonder I was drawn to it first?  It’s listed as having a Mexican wrapper, Indonesian binder and Dominican filers.  The factory is called El Maestro, which is the smaller William Ventura factory, the one that didn’t burn down. I don’t have a track record of liking cigars from this factory, however this one is an exception, it was really good. I questioned the wrapper seed varietal, which is listed simply as “Mexican”. It clearly isn’t San Andrés to my palate, it was more reminiscent of Sumatra, and I was told that it was Indonesian grown in Mexico, and since Sumatra is in Indonesia, I’m going to go with that.  It’s good.  It has some of that cane sweetness I like, along with just good tobacco.  It’s a really nice cigar.

 

Next up was the Lampert Ocean Breeze.  This is a 5″ x 54 Robusto with an Ecuador wrapper and binder and “undisclosed” fillers.  I’m told that some tobaccos in this blend are aged near the ocean, hence the name, and I’m not sure about that, and the name sounds more like a cologne than a cigar, but what do I know, I’m just some cynical old jackass who smokes cigars.  I do know that this cigar, along with the next one, is made at the Tobaccos de Costa Rica factory, the same factory that makes Atabey, Byron, Bandelero, Alphonso, apparently some El Septimos, used to make Mbombay Cigars, and, as far as I know, still makes Vegas de Santiago. I go back 20 years with Vegas de Santiago, they made some great, affordable cigars back then. Last I heard, they got rollers from Cuba on special work visas and sorta rotated them in and out as the visa allowed.  It’s rumored that they use some Cuban tobacco in the blends, but Villiger tells me there’s some in the Exports too, so   believe what you want.  Back to the Ocean Breeze, this was a really well made cigar, and was very interesting.  I found it to be bright and a bit floral, perhaps that’s the saltiness from the ocean? My compadre Kaplowitz likes this cigar, he likes stuff that isn’t necessarily in my wheelhouse. 

 

Finally, the other cigar made a the Costa Rican factory is the Lampert Oro Don Patron.  The band has a top hat wearing, bearded gent who should probably have a monocle, but does not. This is the mild line, with an Ecuador wrapper (obviously a Connecticut Shade variety), an Ecuador binder and Dominican and Peruvian fillers.  This is a really well crafted cigar with a perfect burn and a well formed ash, and when I lead with construction, most of my regular readers know that I’m not excited about the flavors.  True, this isn’t my style of cigar, it’s light, creamy, with some herbal and gassiness.  It’s very good, if that’s what you’re looking for.  I had just had Thanksgiving redux for dinner (day three!), something with more weight would have been better, but I’m not doing this for me, readers…I’d say if you are a fan of the Atabey, this will probably be a good fit for you. No idea what they cost, gotta think it’s less than the Atabey!  So far, the Lampert line is impressing me.

 

That’s all for now, sign up for Secret Santa!  Until next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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