I still have an original Dogma around someplace, that was a really great smoke. They only made a few and you could only buy them from Smoke Inn, now it looks like they will be available from your better Diplomat retailers. Gotta love a large format Undercrown with a little extra oomph!
Drew Estate announces the Undercrown Dojo Dogma will be returning to Drew Diplomat Humidors across the United States. “Dogma” was created originally to celebrate the one year anniversary of the online cigar community Cigar Dojo, a mobile application available on the Apple iTunes Store and Google Play Store. Undercrown Dojo Dogma will be displayed in Drew Estate’s Booth at the IPCPR Convention and Tradeshow, held July 14-17, 2018 in Las Vegas Nevada.
The Undercrown Dojo Dogma features a tweaked blend of the original Undercrown Maduro Corona ¡Viva!, comprised of a Mexican San Andres wrapper, Connecticut Stalk Cut Habano Binder, and Nicaraguan and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers. Unique from the core vitolas of the core line of Undercrown, the Dogma is box pressed in a 6 x 56 vitola packaged in a commemorative soft pack of 10.
From the Wynwood Safehouse, Jonathan Drew President & Founder of Drew Estate, “DE absolutely loves the Dojo community and app because it represents the finest in cigar fellowship and technology. Dojo Dogma signifies our commitment to this distinguished community with a deep sense of purpose, as Dogma was created with intense, heartfelt passion. This is probably my favorite limited edition to date, along with the ShadyXV.”
From Colorado, Dojo Master Sensei, “Working with Jonathan and Drew Estate was a dream come true for the Dojo team throughout 2013/2014 and we could not have been more impressed with the final product. The return of the DOGMA is something we have always wanted to do, as the cigar’s unique shape and amped-up blend make for a stunning profile. We can’t wait for more enthusiasts to experience the legendary DOGMA first-hand!”
The Undercrown Dojo Dogma will be released at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival on August 25, 2018 in Broomfield, Colorado with the team from Cigar Dojo, Drew Estate, and John Drew Brands.
For full coverage of Undercrown Dojo Dogma and all of Drew Estate’s IPCPR national releases check out our 2018 #DEIPCPR promotion at www.drewestate.com/IPCPR. If you are attending IPCPR stop by for a smoke at the Drew Estate Booth (Booth #1814), and a cocktail under the Water Tower curated by John Drew Brands.
Here’s some news from my friends at Drew Estate. Last week we went out for an early dinner at a local bar called the Flying Pig Saloon, which has great sandwiches, along with an extensive beer menu. They have flying pigs all over the place! Check it out if you’re ever in Malvern, PA!
Drew Estate announces today the Holiday release of Liga Privada & Undercrown Flying Pigs to Drew Diplomat retailers in the United States for Father’s Day.
The Flying Pig is one of the most sought-after sizes in the company’s portfolio, presented in a 100mm x 60 ring gauge parejo vitola and is a favorite amongst cigar enthusiasts. The shape is based off a photograph of an 1895 cigar salesman’s size selection case. It is one of the most complicated vitolas to manufacture due to the unique size and signature pig-tail, which requires specialized training of the buncheros and rolleras at the factory.The Liga Privada No. 9 Flying pig and Liga Privada T52 Flying Pig is manufactured at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Esteli, Nicaragua. The No. 9 features a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Plantation Grown Brazilian Mata Fina Binder and filler leaves from Nicaragua and Honduras. The Liga Privada T52 features a Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut and Sun Cured Habano Wrapper, Plantation Grown Brazilian Mata Fina Binder and filler leaves from Nicaragua and Honduras. Both are packaged in 12 count boxes with an MSRP of $181.20 and a 2018 total annual production of 2500 boxes.
The Undercrown Maduro, Undercrown Shade, and Undercrown Sun Grown Flying pig is manufactured at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Esteli, Nicaragua. The Undercrown Maduro features a Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper, Connecticut Stalk Cut and Sun cured Habano binder, and Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan Habano filler leaves. The Undercrown Shade Flying Pig features an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper over a Sumatra binder with Dominican and Nicaraguan Filler leaves. The Undercrown Sun Grown features a Sun Grown Sumatra wrapper with a Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut and Sun Cured Habano binder with fillers from Nicaragua. Packaged in 12 count boxes with an MSRP of $152.64 with a total annual production of 2500 boxes.
From the Wynwood Safehouse, Jonathan Drew, Founder and President of Drew Estate reports, “As President of Drew Estate it brings me great pride to report that our production floor’s passion, and painstaking dedication to detail, remains as strong today as the day we began as a little fabriquita. All of us at DE wish to dedicate this release collection to all the fathers who give us the wisdom and love to fly high everyday.”
Fans of the Liga Privada and Undercrown Flying Pigs are encouraged to download Drew Diplomat the official mobile application of Drew Estate – The Rebirth of Cigars which is now available in the App Store for iPhone®, and iPod Touch® and on Google Play™ for Android™. For more information head to http://drewestate.com
Happy New Year’s Eve to everyone, 2017 is just about in the books, the year went by really fast. I honestly don’t know what to expect from 2018, but I’ll keep smoking cigars, visiting shops and going to events I suspect. So I wish everyone a safe and happy 2018, and be careful out there tonight! I’ll be finding an appropriate cigar to smoke this evening, that’s for sure. Anyway, there’s the business of selecting the winner of the La Gloria Cubana Contest, which includes a travel humidor and a dozen La Gloria Cubana cigars. The random number generator selected Trent Berry as the winner! Trent, please send me your address so I can ship this off to you! Once again, thanks to Rami at General Cigar Co., Cigar Cigars in King Of Prussia for having a great event with Ernesto Carillo which caused me to open my wallet and end up with a cool humidor to give away, and of course, General Cigar Co, for being an awesome steward of a long loved brand. Gee, I wonder what today’s giveaway is?
Contest (note: not Comic Sans this time Mike P!)
Today’s third and (maybe) final giveaway of the season is a collection of goodies from my friends at Drew Estate. Included are some items that may not be very common in the wild. These are items I’ve received over the course of the year, there’s a Barnsmoker cap from the Connecticut Barn Smoker (I’m not a hat guy), a DE backpack which contained a lighter, ashtray, and other assorted goodies which was from the media party that DE threw at the 2017 IPCPR, some various stickers that I’ve accumulated over the years, some of which are from my last visit to the factory in 2013, and a selection of cigars from my humidor including Undercrowns (and example of each wrapper), a KFC, a Nica Rustica and some Joya de Nicaraguas because Drew Estate distributes them and I have a bunch. I’ll add to it if I come across more stuff. Once again, it’s not that I don’t appreciate these gifts from Drew Estate, I do, but I like to share my good fortune, and I have lots of “stuff”! You know the de4l, leave a comment here to enter and I’ll pick a winner next Sunday, Jan 7, 2018. As always, thank YOU all for your continued support!
That’s all for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
(I was thinking of making a version of the logo with a party hat and one of those noisemaker, party things, for New Years, but lack the patience for that right now…something for me to work on for next year!)
First, I was going to announce a winner of the Exactus Super Coloso and Ashtray contest, but I figured I’d give it a couple more days. If I don’t post a winner on Friday, it’ll be in my regular Sunday post. I smoked a few cigars this week I wanted to talk about. I started out following the Drew Estate Barn Smoker with a new size in the Undercrown line, a Churchill. This is a 7″ x 48 cigar (a Churchill is traditionally 7″ x 47, but they run from 47 to 50 ring gauge in the US). I like the size, it’s a nice, long smoking cigar with a great burn, typical of Drew Estate’s output. It’s got the same make-up of the Undercrown line, Otapan Negro Último Corte wrapper, T52 Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut & Cured Habano binder and Select Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan Cuban Seed filler. As we learned in my last post about the Barnsmoker, that T52 leaf may be in short supply in a few years, due to the hail damage to that poor five acre plot at the farm. The Undercrown Churchill was full of flavor and complexity and is a great addition to the line.
Another Churchill I smoked this week was the new Winston Churchill the Late Hour from Davidoff, in the Churchill size. This is another 7″ x 48 cigar, made with tobaccos that are aged in Single Malt Scotch casks for six months. Since I have no frame of reference for flavors imparted by the barrel aging, I can’t speak to that, but I can say it was a spectacular cigar, and for what they get for these, it should be. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, and is made in the Dominican Republic. It was smooth and rich and very flavorful, maybe that little different flavor that made it interesting was the Nicaraguan Viso aged in the Scotch Barrels. I smoked a Robusto at the IPCPR show, Davidoff had a Media reception in their booth, followed by the Golden Band Awards, which they usually had in a ballroom after hours with tuxedos and all sorts of glitz and glamour. The Robusto was great, it’s just that I can’t really get a good handle on a cigar at the show, I don’t know how anyone really can. Anyway, These are pretty darned tasty cigars, if you have the means, give them a try.
Last night I went with the Mombacho Tierra Volcan from Mombacho Cigars in Granada, Nicaragua. I had my first real experience with these guys at the IPCPR show, attending their media party at the house they rented in Las Vegas. It was a beautiful place with a pool, I didn’t bring my suit and skinny dipping was frowned upon for some reason. While there I smoked their Cosecha 2012 limited edition, which was an amazing cigar although in the harsh conditions of outdoor Las Vegas, it didn’t hold up particularly well. That was my first experience with the brand, and later in the week I smoked one of the Tierra Volcan toros on the show floor. I wanted to give it a smoke under better conditions so I grabbed one yesterday. This is a Nicaraguan puro, something the company is dedicated to, paying homage to the country that host their factory in the first city in the Americas. The Tierra Volcan is a medium bodied, smooth and flavorful cigar, well-balanced with sweet cocoa and earthy flavors. Fortunately, a Mombacho lounge is coming to SMoKE Cigar Lounge in Manayunk, PA, not far from me. Below is a video I did with Claudio Sgroi, the president of the company and master blender, an Italian among Canadians (thanks to Rob Rasmussen, their director of Marketing, for doing the camera work!). Definitely a company to keep an eye on.
Tonight, because we are in the midst of an Exactus contest, I figured I’d smoke an Exactus Maduro toro. I’ve smoked and enjoyed the Ecuador Connecticut wrapped Exactus in the past, but wanted to try the maduro (as is my way). By the way, don’t be surprised if a couple “normal” sized Exactus cigars fall into the box when I’m packing up the Super Coloso to ship out. This was a tasty Dominican maduro cigar, 6″ x 50 with 3 year-old Dominican Maduro wrapper, Dominican Wine Fermented Criollo 98 binder (again, no frame of reference for me) and fillers of Dominican Criollo 98 & Pennsylvania. I found it to me on the milder side of medium, with a sweet maduro flavor. It was well made and worked well, burning even all the way, and providing a nice experience. You’ll be hearing more about the cigars from El Artista here in the coming weeks. Get on over to the contest and enter if you haven’t already.
Every once in a while Facebook chastises me for not posting enough on the CigarCraig.com Facebook Page. It’s funny, I post twice a week when I update here, but I guess FB is looking for interaction. SO I took the opportunity to ask what I should smoke Friday night, and offered a prize to the person whose advice I followed. There were some great suggestions I really wanted to go with, but I didn’t have and El Rico Habanos on hand (an old favorite), nor could I find the new Enclave Broadleaf from AJ Fernandez. Mike Weinstein suggested the Tabernacle from Nick Melillo’s Foundation Cigar Company, and I selected the Lancero for my evening smoke. I really love the Tabernacle line, it has a great Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with Nicaraguan fillers and smoked perfectly. The narrow ring gauge intensified the Broadleaf flavor, and slow smoking produced tons of rich, sweet smoke. Happy and sad at the same time that I only bought two of these, but it was the last two, so I didn’t have much choice. Tabernacle is a great cigar, thanks to Mike W for the inspiration, I’ll get some goodies out to you this week!
At the IPCPR show I visited Nick at his booth, which won the award for the best medium-sized booth, and we did a little video presented below for your enjoyment. He was displaying the new The Wise Man Maduro, simplifying the name from El Güegüense, which I guess the masses had trouble with. He also had the Highclere Castle on display, as well as the Special El Güegüense Humidor that he shows in the video. I didn’t receive any samples, but will certainly be buying some Wise Man Maduros when I see them. I did come across a Charter Oak Connecticut Shade from last year’s show and smoked that yesterday, boy what a great little cigar in the 4½ x 50 Rothchild size. These are priced from $4-6 and are exceptional values. The burn was great, the smoke had a nice, sweet nutty flavor and it was perfect for the early afternoon. Smooth, creamy and tasty. Not real pretty, but great tasting, and the closed foot is a nice touch. For what it’s worth, I had a couple of the Upsetters line from last year’s show that I could have chosen, I’m just always leery of the infused cigars. One of these days I’ll work up the courage…
Next Saturday I’m fortunate enough to attend Drew Estate‘s Connecticut Barn Smoker, the first of these events I’ve attended. I’m looking forward to learning more about the way tobacco is farmed in Connecticut, I’ve seen farms in Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, and burly tobacco farms in Lancaster County, but haven’t been to a farm in Connecticut. I’m looking forward to the experience and will take plenty of video and pictures to share with you. I figured I better try some of Drew Estate’s new offerings and had to sample the Undercrown Sungrown as I’ve heard great things about it. I’ll say right now, based on one sample, this may be my favorite in the Undercrown range, and I really like the maduro and Shade varieties a lot. It has a flawless milk chocolate-brown Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Stalk Cut Connecticut grown Habano (like the T-52 wrapper), and Nicaraguan fillers. Besides this being one sexy looking cigar, it tastes friggin great! It had a nice, warm bread sensation, with some sweetness and a hint of pepper. I only came home from the show with a couple of these, but I will be putting more in my humidors as this is wonderful cigar. I look forward to trying other sizes. Willy Herrera and his team killed it with this one. Very impressive.
Check out the video with Nick, once again, terrible camera work by me, but great content from Nick! I need to look into one of those stabilizing gimbal camera holders I guess.
The Undercrown Dojo Dogma features a tweaked blend of the original Undercrown Maduro Corona ¡Viva!, comprised of a Mexican San Andres wrapper, Connecticut Stalk Cut Habano Binder, and Nicaraguan and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers. Unique from the core vitolas of the core line of Undercrown, the Dogma is box pressed in a 6 x 56 vitola packaged in a commemorative soft pack of 10.
From Colorado, Dojo Master Sensei, “Working with Jonathan and Drew Estate was a dream come true for the Dojo team throughout 2013/2014 and we could not have been more impressed with the final product. The return of the DOGMA is something we have always wanted to do, as the cigar’s unique shape and amped-up blend make for a stunning profile. We can’t wait for more enthusiasts to experience the legendary DOGMA first-hand!”
