Posts Tagged drew estate

Liga Privada No9 ‘Flying Pig’

Aug 19

Posted by admin in Liga Privada No9 'Flying Pig' | 7 Comments

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In march of 2011 we have reviewed Liga Privada T52 ‘Flying Pig’ and now it is time to photograph and smoke its “twin brother” – Liga Privada No9 ‘Flying Pig.’ Although both T52 and No9 are quality products, for some reason folks subscribe to one or the other, not necessarily both. Personally, my preference goes toward the latter. I have tried T52 in different vitolas but I do find myself reaching for No9 99% of the time. My “poison” is No9 toro and I can smoke those back to back, and some. Let’s get back to the ‘piggy‘, shall we ?

Visually, there was not much difference between No9 and T52. Same size, same format, same super fancy pigtail, tightly packed. Wrapper’s texture however was very different. T52 was known to be very toothy where No9 felt and looked “silky smooth.” Lots of oils with no visible veins nor seams. After clipping the pigtail and lighting the cigar, excellent draw. Considering large ring gauge and tightly packed tobacco, I’m always amazed at how good of a draw one can experience while smoking Flying Pig. In flavor department, notes of wood / cedar at the beginning with touch of chocolate / sweetness in the middle and toward the end. Very small amount of spice, almost undetectable, in my personal experience. Burn, ash, amount of smoke … nearly perfection. Liga Privada No9, flying pig or parejo, is The “Chu Chu Train” of the cigar industry. This cigar produces so much smoke that sometimes it is overwhelming. From photography perspective, as you can see below, this is the ultimate “model.”

If you enjoy Liga Privada No9, the ‘Flying Pig’ should be up your alley as well. The unique format should add that extra excitement to the overall experience. Personally, I will continue to enjoy both No9 and T52 piggys in my rotation but my disposable cash will most likely go toward parejo vitolas.

Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler: Nicaragua, Honduras
Length: 4 1/8″
Ring: 60

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

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

Tags: 60 ring gauge cigar, brazilian mata fina, cigar, cigar construction, cigar flavor, cigar images, cigar photographs, cigar photography, cigar photos, cigar pictures, cigar review, cigar smoke, cigar smoking photos, cigars, dominican republic, drew estate, flying pig, honduras, jonathan drew, liga privada, nicaragua, no 9 cigar, nub cigar, perfecto cigar, photography, pigtail, steve saka, stogie, tobacco, toothy wrapper

New Jersey Cigar Festival

Apr 5

Posted by admin in NJ Cigar Festival | 3 Comments

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Cigar industry is blooming … period. Not only we are seeing quality products out on the market but cigar smokers and aficionados can now discuss those products in-person with manufacturers. On Sunday, 03APR2011, that opportunity presented itself in New Jersey. Riverfront Stadium, the home of the Newark Bears was the home of the 1st New Jersey Cigar Festival. David Mallow, mastermind behind this project and the owner of Barrister cigar shop, despite questionable weather and last minute obstacles, was able to pull of a pretty good event. In reference to manufacturers, one was able to chat with few of the heavy hitters in the cigar industry: Miami Cigar & Company; Alec Bradley; Drew Estate; Joya de Nicaragua; Reinado; Rocky Patel; Los Blancos; Maraya; Martin Family; Villiger; Xikar as well as CRA; The Guayabera Lady; The Metropolitan Society; Smoke N Lounge.

David Mallow approached me couple weeks before the Festival and asked if I was interested in coming over and photographing the event. Perfect opportunity to catch-up with fellow Brothers/Sisters Of The Leaf, chat with the manufacturers, and last but surely not least, expand my personal photo project – ‘The Cigar Smoker.’ I believe I have accomplished all three. I was able to catch up with my friend – Barry Stein from acigarsmoker.com. In manufacturer department, I finally met David Lafferty – Regional Manager at Drew Estate. We have exchanged few laughs and talked about a very ‘sensitive’ subject – ‘Liga accounts’ (* LoL !!!). It is always a pleasure to chat with Miami Cigar crew – Chris Lenzo & Arielle Ditkowich (La Sirena). To get to Arielle, one has to walk through/around couple other ‘sunday’ photographers. Next time ! A day wouldn’t be complete without chatting with a good friend of mine, Antonio – the head of ‘Reinado‘ empire. I admire Antonio’s passion and wish him all the best. If you live in North Jersey and you are a cigar smoker looking for a cozy place with great camaraderie, there is nothing better than The Metropolitan Society private club. George Koodray (President) and Nick Verdi (Vice President) were present at the festival and it was a pleasure to catch up with a ‘bada bing’ crew.

Below is a visual summary of the event and contribution toward my ‘The Cigar Smoker’ project. Enjoy !

Tags: alec bradley, antonio, cigar, cigar festival, cigar photography, cigars, cra, drew estate, guayabera lady, joya de nicaragua, la sirena, los blancos, metropolitan society cigar, miami cigar & company, new jersey cigar festival, newark, newark bears, photography, reinado, riverfront stadium, rocky patel, stogie, tobacco, xikar

La Aurora Preferidos ‘Ruby’

Mar 29

Posted by admin in La Aurora Preferidos ‘Ruby’ | 11 Comments

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This weeks we are departing from boutique space and diving into classical cigar realm – La Aurora. In the hopper is one of Aurora’s special edition preferidos – a Brazilian Sun Grown covered ‘Ruby.’ Preferido, the cigar that paved the way for manufacturing in Dominican Republic back in 1903, is a perfecto shape vitola which expands to a thick center in the middle. In addition to visually pleasing shape and sweetness off the wrapper, the Special Edition red-jet metal tube adds another dimension to the product. From photographer’s perspective, I was really looking forward to incorporating the color, shape and finish of the metal tube into the ‘set.’

Holding 5/54 La Aurora Preferidos makes me want to see Liga Privada Flying Pig in the same vitola. That would be a pleasure to hold and smoke, wouldn’t it ? The ‘Ruby‘ itself is very well compacted and covered with extremely toothy wrapper. One visible vein with otherwise well blended seams. Initial few puffs produced extreme amount of smoke – thumbs up ! In flavor department, delicious sweetness mixed with wood and characteristics of leather. Throughout the cigar, and especially through retrohale and toward the end, fair amount of spice. Thick and razor sharp burn line, light grey and tight ash scored high in construction department. All around great experience, great cigar and stand up company.

From photographer’s perspective, as stated above, this was nothing but a pleasure. In the spirit of thinking ‘outside of the box‘, I went little extreme and incorporated snow (* yes, we still have snow) into the shoot. Sun rays immediately melted the snow and left spontaneously positioned water drops – bulls-eye.

Once again, got this cigar at my B&M shop – Ruben’s Smoke Stack.

Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Brazilian Sun Grown
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Length: 5″
Ring: 54

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

Tags: cigar flavor, cigar in tube, cigar photography, cigar review, cigars, dominican cigars, dominican republic, drew estate, guillermo leon, jonathan drew, jose blanco, la aurora, la aurora cigars, la aurora preferidos ruby, liga privada flying pig, photography, preferidos, preferidos cigars, ruben's smoke stack, stogie, stogie review, tobacco

Nosotros

Mar 22

Posted by admin in Nosotros | 5 Comments

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Nosotros project was a collaboration between two industry giants, Dion Giolito of Illusione and Jonathan Drew of Drew Estate. Nosotros cigars were rolled by Drew Estate in Nicaragua. I was gifted my first Nosotros by Jonathan Drew at one of the cigar events in local B&M cigar shops in New Jersey. When I look back, I shake my head because at that event I was still craving a Nosotros sample after receiving couple pre-release Dirty Rats. We all know where both cigars are now in regard to popularity. I smoked gifted Nosotros sample few days later and due to high expectations, I was far from being impressed. Reading other reviews online, my experience was within the same bracket. I have since purchased few different viotolas and although the overall package has improved, I still wasn’t fully satisfied. I decided to rest the robusto for few more months and see if extra aging can positively impact the experience.

I smoked my last Nosotros this past weekend and I can report that cigar definitely benefited from extra aging. In construction department, cigar had a well applied Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper with few dark running veins. If you enjoy looking at dark oily wrappers, Nosotros is an extreme opposite. I can probably go to Home Depot, buy an ultra fine sandpaper and you wouldn’t know the difference – it is that ‘sandy’ to touch. Burn has improved, drastically. With my very first sample, I recall sitting there for 1.5hr with a cigar in my left hand / a lighter in my right hand and performing a touch-up procedure for equal amount of time – it was annoying. Although the burn was far from being razor sharp, I only touched it up twice. Flavors – I can’t slice this cigar into 3s since there is definitely not enough complexity. Normal puffs and retrohale presented enjoyable spice on the lips, tongue and a small amount in the back of the throat. If you enjoy ‘wood’ in your taste, there is an abundance of it in Nosotros. I was able to pick up small amount of chocolate / coffee / cocoa. The amount of smoke on the 2nd/3rd puff was out of control. Photographing the nub and ensuring that I get sufficient amount of smoke was a piece of ‘cake.’ In conclusion, one would ask “Is Nosotros Worth The Box ?” Probably not. “Few singles ?” Yes. My expectation is extremely high when it comes to Dion’s Illusione brand and Jonathan’s Liga Privada brand. I hope they continue to innovate and continue to meet my expectation. Who knows, maybe some day we will see Nosotros Take 2.

Please be aware that Nosotros project has been discontinued as per Dion Giolito but there are still a lot of local B&M cigar shops that carry the line. If you can’t find them locally, give Ruben’s Smoke Stack a call. To read up more about Nosotros, check out my colleagues: casasfumando, acigarsmoker, stogiereview, nicetightash, mikesstogies.

Specs:
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Binder: Connecticut Habano
Filler: Nicaraguan
Length: 5″
Ring: 50

Construction > OK
Burn > OK
Enjoy > Yes
Recommend > Yes
Buy > Yes (* discontinued)

Tags: cigar, cigar construction, cigar flavor, cigar photography, cigar review, cigars, connecticut habano binder, dion giolito, drew estate, esteli, illusione, jonathan drew, Liga Privada Dirty Rat, nicaragua, nicaraguan corojo wrapper, nosotros, nosotros cigar review, photography, robusto, ruben abreu, ruben's smoke stack, stogie, stogie review, tobacco

Liga Privada T52 ‘Flying Pig’

Mar 15

Posted by admin in Liga Privada T52 'Flying Pig' | 13 Comments

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Piggy, piggy, piggy …

Liga Privada T52 ‘Flying Pig’ cigar left me with a bag of ‘mixed’ emotions. Vitolas that I usually buy & smoke are in corona, corona gorda, lancero territory, hence delay in smoking Flying Pig. This perfecto on horizontal steroids and lack of vertical hormones was definitely visually more pleasing from photography perspective than smoking lust. If you are into ‘NUB’ concept and enjoy wide ring gauge cigars, this is The Unicorn.

On the outside, the Piggy was packed well, really well. Extremely toothy wrapper and fancy pigtail were the main characteristics of the cigar. Although the middle of the stick was 60-wide, the foot was small enough to go up against a single flame torch lighter. The very beginning presented small amount of sweetness on the tip of the cigar. Few puffs into it, I was able to taste a bit of spice in the back of my throat. As I was going through the narrow head and working my way toward 60 ring gauge, I was putting extra effort to extract more flavor and more smoke – all without much success. Frequent retrohale didn’t help either. “Good things come to those who wait” and it came, full force. Cigar went from no smoke to smoke machine in a matter of split seconds. Fortunately same applied to the flavor department. Each puff had a good amount of cedar, cocoa, coffee, chocolate and enjoyable sweetness that lingered in the background. From burn & construction perspective, overall, very impressing. Although similar to smoke & flavor ‘questionable’ beginning, the latter part was top notch with razor-sharp burn line. Ash was tight and had a ‘clean’ / light gray look to it. See what else my colleagues have said: acigarsmoker, casas fumanfo, nice tight ash, stogie review.

This ‘freaky’ looking cigar solidified my believes and vitola size preference. Although I can appreciate the novelty, the Flying Pig concept (* not the wrapper / binder / filler combination) will continue to stay in my rotation as an occasional treat. Continuing with an animal theme, give me a Liga Privada ‘Dirty Rat’ and I will smoke that cigar back to back, day after day. Liga Privada T52 ‘Flying Pig’ was definitely an experience, both smoking wise as well as photographing it. A tremendous amount of smoke had a positive impact on last few shutter clicks – see photograph of the nub. Thanks to Drew Estate, Jonathan Drew, Steve Saka, and the gang … Well done !

Specs:
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Stalk-Cut Habano
Binder: Brazilian Mata Fina
Filler: Dominican, Honduran, Nicaraguan
Length: 4 1/8″
Ring: 60

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