Posts Tagged drew estate

Liga Privada Lounge Grand Opening – Barrister Cigars

On 15JUN2012 I attended the Liga Privada Lounge Grand Opening at Barrister Cigars. In case you have been living under the rock for the past few years, Liga Privada is Drew Estate’s current flagship line. David Mallow’s (owner) establishment has been selected as the third Liga Privada Lounge in the US. In addition to the very broad selection of Drew Estate’s cigars presented at the Grand Opening, the Barrister Cigars shop was and will continue to be decorated with Drew Estate and SubCulture Design Studio Fan Club (club spearheaded by extremely talented artist – Jessi Flores and his team) art work (e.g. paintings, display cigar case, flying pigs, banners, etc). In attendance were: Jonathan Drew – Drew Estate co-founder, Gary Drew (Jonathan’s father), Kevin McCormack (Regional Sales Rep at Drew Estate), and many fellow cigar enthusiasts. Overall, great event as one would expect from the Drew Estate family ! If you are in the area, check out the Barrister Cigars – Liga Privada Lounge. If you are not in the mood for Liga Privada No9, at least you can scope out the place and enjoy SubCulture Design Studio Fan Club art work.


Effective 15JUN2012, the following three locations are your Liga Privada Lounges:


Barrister Cigars (North Lounge)
2565 US Highway 22 W # 2
Union, NJ 07083
(908) 964-3000


Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop (East Lounge)
95 South Eagle Road
Havertown, PA 19083
(610) 449-7001


Leaning House Fine Cigars (West Lounge)
21 1/2 State St
Belle Vernon, PA 15012
(724) 483-2333


Please consider the following post:
* Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘Feral Flying Pig’
* Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘L40′
* Liga Privada No9 ‘Flying Pig’

[portfolio_slideshow]

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CigarPhoto at Cigar Safari 2012 (before)

CigarPhoto is off to Nicaragua attending the Cigar Safari – an event sponsored by Drew Estate ‘The Rebirth Of The Cigars.’ This will be our first cigar trip to the ‘cigar motherland.’ I’m looking forward to learning, sharing, experimenting and most importantly, spending quality time with the Drew Estate family and fellow cigar enthusiasts. Of course, I hope to share my trip live via iPhoneography. If you are interested, check my FB page at https://www.facebook.com/CigarPhotography. I also hope to take few decent frames with my other equipment. That will be shared after the trip.


Pursuit of passion !!!

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Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘Feral Flying Pig’ – prerelease

This week we are photographing and smoking the latest project out of the Drew Estate stable – a pre-release of Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘Feral Flying Pig’ (FFP). This is a follow-up, in my eyes, to the successful ‘Flying Pig’ (FP) project which was photographed and reviewed by cigarphoto.net as well (No9T52). Although both versions of the FP have received plenty of accolades, many, including yours truly, have expressed a constructive feedback regarding “ergonomics” and the size of the cigar. I’m not sure whether that feedback was considered or the follow-up project was already in motion, I am, however, pleased to see Drew Estate’s reaction and increase in the FFP’s length.

Let me be clear about the Feral Flying Pig (and any Flying Pig Family for that matter) in regard to aging. The Feral Flying Pig is the VERY BEST PIG we have ever done and quite possibly the very best cigar we have ever made (in my opinion of course). These will only get better with age, and might, just might, become an all time classic with a year or two on them. – Jonathan Drew

In my opinion this is by far and away the best Flying Pig blend – the taste and proportions are just perfect. They will be more expensive having just looked over the final cost, but I think those who are fans of this oddball will feel like they got a better value when they buy a box of these. The blend is so righteous we are right now working the tobacco schedule to see if there is anyway to make the FFP an ongoing vitola even if it is in a really limited capacity. First batch in late November – it will be released in waves of about 800 – 1000 boxes a month for the next 4 months or so as they age/taste right. We have decided to NOT make this a one-time batch release like the previous FP releases – rather we will continue to make it in small lots like we do Dirty Rats. – Steve Saka



Conceptually, the FFP looked very much like the FP: perfecto on steroids with a sexy pigtail. If you had a pleasure of enjoying the FP No9 and appreciated the wrapper and construction, you will definitely not be disappointed with the FFP. Work of art without seams and no visible veins ! In the FP T52 review I’ve noted extremely toothy wrapper and in the FP No9 review, “silky” smooth wrapper. Although Jonathan Drew had stated that FFP is wrapped in the No9 capa, I found its texture to be similar to the FP T52 – very toothy. After clipping the head, perfectly flowing draw. In flavor department, notes of wood / cedar at the beginning with a touch of chocolate / sweetness in the middle and increase in flavors toward the end. Definitely spicy / peppery finish on the palate, especially on retrohale. Although there was a decent amount of flavors in the FFP, in my personal opinion, most were muted compared to the FP No9. However, when it comes to the strength and the kick, the FFP shined like a glowing star ! This cigar had some kahunas. Full Stop !!! As mentioned in all previous Liga Privada reviews and as expected, the FPP produced an incredible amount of thick smoke. The burn line was top notch as depicted below. Ash, as with both FPs, could not have been any better.


Overall, another successful release from folks at the Drew Estate. If you are into big ring gauges, have enjoyed FPs (both flavor profile and shape) and appreciate an extra strength kick, I see FFP flying (* literally) off the shelf like its predecessors. After appreciating all three FPs, I’m still partial to the FP No9. I believe there is a bit more flavor and a bit less strength in the FP No9 and that combination agrees more with my palate.


** Thanks to Charlie Minato from thecigarfeed.com for w/b/f confirmation.

Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler: Nicaragua
Length: 5 3/8″
Ring: 60

Construction > Great
Burn > Great
Enjoy > Yes
Recommend > Yes
Buy > Yes



Please consider the following post:
* Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘L40’
* Liga Privada T52 ‘Flying Pig’
* Liga Privada No9 ‘Flying Pig’

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Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘L40’

This week we are photographing and smoking one of the latest projects out of the Drew Estate stable – Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘L40.’ This long time coming lancero has been dreamed and talked about in many cigar lounge circles. Looking horizontally and vertically across Liga Privada brand, including core as well as Unico Serie, a lancero was the next logical, in my opinion, project to be tackled by the creative minds of the Drew Estate. As per cigar spec sheet located on the Drew Estate blog, ‘L40’ refers to the slightly larger ring size than your typical lancero. The additional girth was necessary to accommodate the desired blend of 5 tobaccos. The ‘L40’ recipe was in development for 2+ years prior to release.


One has to appreciate the look of the full box of Liga Privada. The ‘L40’ lancero is not any different. Fifteen well rolled, shiny, oily, veinless, full of aroma cigars are gracing the Unico Serie box. The selected specimen had few visible seams but overall excellent construction and well applied cap. After clipping it, excellent draw. There is nothing more annoying than plugged and excessively soft lancero, fortunately ‘L40’ had scored highly against those two requirements. In flavor department, a spice bomb out of the gate on the first few puffs. Definitely black pepperish lingering in the back of the throat. Mixed with the spice were hints of coffee, chocolate and clearly noticeable (periodically) sweetness. That intense spice level had cooled off in the second / third part of the cigar. Toward the end, coffee / chocolaty / sweet flavors were replaced with wood and cedar. Burn line was relatively acceptable, considering it was lancero. It was wavy but no manual intervention was required. Ash – surprisingly flake-less but DIRTY and when I say dirty, I mean exactly that. The color of the ash looked like someone dipped the tip of the cigar in the mud. Having said that, who cares ! One can not complete a review of the Liga Privada without talking about the smoke, the cloud, the atomic bomb mushroom cloud ! Like the rest of the Liga Privada, especially No9, ‘L40’ produced a ton of smoke which made photography session that much more enjoyable.


Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘L40’ was definitely an enjoyable experience. I have not had a chance to sample the pre-release so I can’t comment on improvements, if any (* check Tony Casa’s thoughts on the pre-release at
casasfumando). If you enjoy lancero vitola, I would recommend searching them out and experiencing it for yourself. I understand both Jonathan Drew & Steve Saka of Drew Estate have stated that Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘L40’ is a unique blend, differing from other Liga Privada blends. I can appreciate that statement but I can not look at the Liga Privada brand and not compare Unico Serie ‘L40’ to my favorites: Unico Serie ‘Dirty Rat’ or LP No9. I think we, the mainstream cigar smokers, often fall in the trap of forcing already excellent projects into other vitolas. Many of us love corona gordas, coronas, lanceros without fully appreciating the existing work. In my humble opinion, Liga Privada Unico Serie ‘L40’ is another well executed project but when it comes to the Liga Privada brand, my go-to will continue to be No9 toro and Unico Serie ‘Dirty Rat.’ In that order.



Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut & Cured Habano Leaf
Binder: Plantation-Grown Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler: 3 Extra-Choice Nicaraguan Cuban Seed
Length: 7″
Ring: 40

Construction > Great
Burn > Good
Enjoy > Yes
Recommend > Yes
Buy > Yes



Please consider the following post:
* Liga Privada T52 ‘Flying Pig’
* Liga Privada No9 ‘Flying Pig’

- click on photographs (slideshow / EXIF)- 

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Humidor Update (2011 Part 1)

- click on photographs - 

CigarPhoto.Net is now 6+ months into cigar photography, smoking, reviewing, etc. Although we occasionally receive pre-releases from various manufacturers, 99% of what is aging in our humidors came through our personal wallet. Back in JAN2011 we unveiled this blog and our Humidors. Few months and many boxes later, humidors/coolidor are packed to gills. As I said in my Intro, cigar researching and ultimately purchasing is as equally enjoyable as cigar smoking. Attending events, participating in online forums and social media, expending circle of fellow cigar ‘aficionados’ surely didn’t help in keeping this hobby in check. I’m actively thinking about cabinet humidor purchase (Aristocrat or Avello ?) to add an extra cushion. While this is in works, please find recent bulk arrivals. There was obviously a lot of singles that were purchased / smoked immediately that were not photographed for blog’s humidor update. However, you can keep track of those purchases and experiences via Facebook Fan Page and / or Twitter. Below boxes / 5packs came through random sources: Ruben’s Smoke Stack, Federal Cigars, Fume Cigars, Hava CigarShop, Saints & Sinners, Cigar Mas Fino, and various online cigar communities. Enjoy !

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