Drew Estate Liga Privada Undercrown Gran Toro Review

Buy the Liga Privada Undercrown at Famous Smoke Shop

• Size: 6.00 x 52 (Gran Toro)
• MSRP: $216.00 (box of 25); $8.65 for a single
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Wrapper: Otapan Negro Último Corte (Mexican San Andreas)
• Binder: T52 Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut & Cured Habano
• Filler: Select Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan Cuban Seed
• Body: Medium
• Strength: Medium
• Humidor Time Prior to Review: 8 months
• Cigars Smoked Prior to Review: 3
• Source: Purchased with Personal Funds
• Date Smoked: August 25, 2018

By now you have read the same introduction over and over to this cigar. The folks rolling the Liga Privadas, were getting high on their own supply, and it was hitting the bottom line too hard. This blend was designed to be something they could smoke and still supply Ligas to their paying customers. It utilizes some of the Liga tobaccos, but different parts of the plant. Yadda yadda yadda. The cigar has been out for years at this point. Here is a link to the manufacturer’s page, which goes into a decent amount of detail, and even features a video.

As usual, I bought the cigars for a song. Under $3 on cBid in January. A phenomenal deal. So I’m smoking em because I got em cheap, and I also did this in part to introduce myself to this more value oriented Liga offering from Drew Estate. I sampled the T52 Flying Pig a while back and it didn’t go so well for me, but I’ve been smoking on some Pappas Fritas the past couple months and they have been great.

Additionally, the Undercrown is an interesting blend on paper with its dark Mexican San Andreas wrapper, T52 stalk cut binder, and featuring some Brazilian filler sprinkled in there. I’m trying to get a good base line of reviews here, and thought the Undercrown would be a nice reference point. These are the reasons I purchased the cigar.

Appearance and Pre-Light Aromas

I bought the toro version of this cigar, the “Gran Toro” to be exact, and it’s a big cigar. Construction looks good. It’s a dark oily stick with tight, near invisible seams and fine veins. It’s densely packed, and it feels heavy for its size. It’s an attractive cigar with little in the way of lumps or bumps. Topping things off is a double cap.

From the wrapper I get deep barnyard, cocoa, and coffee aromas. It’s sweet and dark. From the foot I’m getting more of the same with the inclusion of a little dusty leather.

I clip the cap and take a test draw. It’s free, but slightly on the snug side. I start toasting and light up the cigar. It’s Saturday afternoon. Start time is 3:05 P.M.

First Third

At first light I’m getting some deep earthy flavors, cocoa, and a little nuttiness. I’m getting a small amount of pepper, mostly on the retrohale. The draw is still snug but the cigar is producing plenty of smoke. And of course the thing is throwing off plenty of resting smoke like a stick of incense. All the Liga Privada cigars do that due to the high oil content in the wrapper. Here is an interesting forum post on that subject.

I’m getting an oily mouth feel, and tons of chocolate flavors. Dark and milk chocolates. I’m a chocolate lover so no complaints here. The wind has shifted ever so slightly, and I’m being perfumed with a sweet and smoky aroma. There is almost a fruity element to the aroma.

The cigar has started off at a solid medium body. The burn is a little wavy at 5 minutes in.

Creaminess has arrived at the party. Oddly enough I’m getting it on the draw and a little on the retrohale.

I offer the burn a slight correction. Last one of these I smoked needed constant touch ups. I’m hoping that’s not the case here. 8 months of rest, so we should be good to go.

Some fruitiness has entered the profile. For me it’s like a red grape. The cigar has a lot of sweetness to it. The finish is short, leaving a tiny pepper tingle on the back of my throat. I take another puff and I’m getting a little wood now. All sorts of things going on here. Not a bad start to the cigar.

The wavy burn appears to be stabilizing. That would be great, I better knock on some wood. In between puffs I get nose fulls of aromatic resting smoke. Right now I’m getting sweetness with some baking spices from the aroma.

Cream, earth, wood, chocolate, and a little pepper are the flavors of the moment. All is well, until I look up towards the sky. Pale blue skies have been replaced with a blanket of gray. I hope we don’t get rained out. It has been clear and sunny all day. I’m under a patio umbrella, so I can take on a little rain, but if it starts pissing down I’m in trouble.

The Undercrown is a slow smoker. 20 minutes in and we have smoked maybe 3/4″ of the cigar. A light gray ash is forming. The burn line has been cooperating since that one little touch up.

A huge crack of lightening shoots overhead, and a I hear a tremendous crash of thunder follow a second or two later. Rain starts coming down gently. I adjust my patio umbrella. Lets see how it goes boys. I’m water resistant, but less sure about my camera, laptop, and cigar.

It was standing room only for a few minutes as the rain came down hard and I hung out under the umbrella. The wind was blowing, but the Undercrown stayed as cool as a cucumber. In fact it smoked great, self correcting a wavy burn, and dropping a half inch chunk of flakey gray ash. I was unable to record the play by play for fear that my laptop might have gotten doused, but plenty of earth and chocolate flavors, and a resurgence of that grape flavor I noted earlier in the review. Now I can see blue sky behind my house. The storm appears to be heading offshore.

I’m getting some interesting flavors out of this cigar. A nice almond note has made its presence known. Lots of sweetness as well. And then a musty leather. The Undercrown has stayed at a medium body through the first third.

Second Third

Smoke time is around 40 minutes. This will easily be a two hour cigar.

I step inside briefly to grab a towel. The Undercrown can sit a minute or two unattended without any issues. It will keep smoking like a camp fire. When I get back I’m greeted to plenty of earth, chocolate, wood, sweet tobacco, coffee, and a touch of hay. It was never a super creamy cigar, but I do get a little cream in there as well. Not much pepper.

So far it isn’t proving to be a super complex cigar, but it’s pleasant. Nice flavors and smoking well. Small transitions that flit in and out. The biggest shift I can detect is that we are getting a fair amount of coffee as we get into the second third. Coffee and chocolate. Can’t argue with that. Twist my arm, and I guess I’ll keep smoking.

Strength is beginning to show itself. I’m a little woozy as I get up to take a picture. This Florida heat doesn’t help. The back yard is now bathed in intense sunlight, and the air is completely still. As they say, if you don’t like the weather in Florida wait 5 minutes. As if on cue, a light breeze shows up to cool me off.

Not much new to report. A large red-headed wood pecker swoops down and silently lands on our oak tree. It hops around looking for a good spot, and begins pecking away quietly. A squirrel shows up on the fence line to investigate.

That red grape fruity element is still present. I think it’s the Brazilian tobacco. I recall reading a review of the CAO Amazon, and the reviewer noted grape in that stick as well. It keeps things interesting. Some toasty graham cracker supports it.

Our burn line has grown slightly wavy, and the resting smoke appears to be petering out. I’m noticing some tunneling. The wrapper is pulled and contorted. I offer a small burn correction to keep things going. That seems to perk the cigar back up.

This is turning into a very sweet cigar. An almost candy like sweetness pours from the foot smoke, and on the draw I’m getting an almost marshmallow sweetness. We had a greyhound that liked to get into the cat’s litter box. I called him Sweet Tooth.

The wrapper has formed a small crack about half an inch from the burn line. It’s peeling up and away slightly. I set the cigar down and a half inch chunk of ash tumbles into the tray. The cracked wrapper eventually corrects itself and the burn evens out.

I’m still getting big sweet coffee and chocolate notes from this Undercrown. A cadre of supporting flavors come and go, but it’s that big sweet coffee and chocolate over an earthy backbone that define this stick. The grape is turning more into a raisin. Sometimes I think raisin may be more off a combination of sweet tobacco, and mild coffee. But there is also that slightly round fruity flavor that makes a raisin a raisin. I’m getting some of that here.

The smoke output is waning. Not a good sign. It’s like a shark sitting at the bottom of the ocean. If it ain’t moving, it ain’t breathing. Sure enough the stick has died. I let it rest for a minute, scoop out the ash, and reboot the cigar. We are pretty much at the final third anyways, so I’m going to move on to the final act.

The Final Third

Smoke time is 1 hour 30 minutes. The Undercrown lights back up easily enough. Life goes on.

The flavors are chocolate, coffee, and raisin bread. Not much pepper. I haven’t mentioned this, but it has been a smooth cigar so far. Not a lick of harshness to this smoke.

The draw has been on the snug side, but producing plenty of smoke and it has been more or less performing well. Especially given the circumstances. I don’t know many cigars you can smoke during a rainstorm that will behave perfectly. I don’t smoke cigars in a vacuum, so each experience has its own unique circumstances.

Some would probably say you shouldn’t review a cigar while its raining. I say it’s part of the “charm”. Builds character. Or perhaps I should rent out a hyperbaric chamber for future reviews. As an added measure we can attach some electrodes to my nutsack and apply a few volts each time I type out the words “flavor profile”. Then again all that oxygen may not do so well around an open flame.

The Undercrown is smoking well since the relight. A little saltiness has found its way into the flavor profile. Very light, but present. Still getting plenty of sweet tobacco and chocolate to balance it out. The finish is short on this cigar, maybe 5 seconds or so, leaving a neutral flavor in the mouth.

Strength is present, dulling my nerves slightly. Smoothing out the jagged edges in my mind. It has me a little loopy if you couldn’t tell.

Thunder rumbles off on the distance. A blanket of grey clouds are overhead. It reminds me of the ash of this cigar, a pale grey. Half an inch and accumulating. It’s like prom night all over again. Ok, I’ll stop.

The burn line has gone a little wavy. Peninsulas of wrapper are forming, and the cigar is beginning to resemble the rugged Norwegian coast.

The coffee is building to more of a dark roast. Still getting that odd, almost grape like element. That Brazilian tobacco is interesting stuff.

At 2 hours in we are finally approaching the band. It pulls away cleanly. The band art is something of a marketing coupe. Simple, sharp, and masculine. Gold embossed over blue gray paper. I’m sure it has helped sell some sticks. Kudos to whoever designed. As much as it pains me to admit this, the band helped pique my interest in this cigar. A nice band may pique my interest, but it’s all about the flavors and smoking characteristics for these reviews. Still, here’s a band shot:

I’m getting some leather in the retrohale now. Deep oily leather with plenty of mustiness and nuance. It’s a welcome addition to this sweet stick. The chocolate and coffee are as present as ever. And I’ll be damned if that grape isn’t still hanging around too.

Dark gray clouds are forming. Tons of thunder. The wind picks up dramatically and I haul in my umbrella before it blows away. We are 2 hours 10 minutes in on this cigar. Still have an inch and a half or so left but, I’m going to call the review. We got plenty of smoke time out of this one, so I’ll end things on a high (and dry) note. But I could easily get 2.5 hours out of this cigar. Probably even longer. Good value for your money if you are into that sort of thing.

I smoked on it for another 5 minutes as I was bringing in the lawn mower and putting away my stuff. Nice and pleasant with rich chocolatey smoke, but eventually the skies opened up and I had to put it out and go inside. Here is the parting shot:

Sorry for the out of focus picture of a wet cigar.

Drew Estate Liga Privada Undercrown Gran Toro Review – Final Thoughts

I liked this one. Despite a few hiccups with the weather and the burn on this cigar, it has rewarded me with over two hours of sweet flavorful smoke. Not a marvel of complexity and transitions, but enough going on to keep me entertained.

Most importantly, I happen to enjoy the core flavors. I’m a sucker for a sweet cigar, and this Undercrown delivers that in spades. The deep cocoa flavors remind me of the Papas Fritas I’ve been smoking, but this is a smoother and more flavors and transitions. It’s a true cigar while the Papas Fritas is a short filler cigarillo. It was a smooth medium bodied smoke throughout. Strength is medium plus. So it will appeal to a broad audience.

This is something I can enjoy sitting on my back patio, or puffing on while I’m fishing. And since these have been out for at least 5 years now, you can regularly find them at daily smoke prices. Plenty of cigar at MSRP, but why do that when you can regularly get them at least 20% off?

I’d certainly recommend a 5 pack, and would buy this again.

Final Score: 4.0 out of 5 and a solid “1” on my 0-2 scale (I’d buy it again).

Final Smoke Time: 2 hours 10 minutes (with plenty of room left on that number).

I recommend purchasing the Drew Estate Liga Privada Undercrown at Famous Smoke Shop. Please consider that purchasing things through any of the links on this website, including Amazon.com, helps support the website and keeps it going. Any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.