Video Cigar Review - Drew Estate Under Crown

[Charltonc]

I worked in two different cigar stores in graduate school, the majority of acid cigar sales were to 40 year old men.

[polarbear]

Drew Estate make some pretty decent sticks

The undercrown line is a bit meh IMO but the Dirty Rat, L40 and UF-13 Dark are amazing sticks. Polar opposites to anything you'd find in HSAs line up but still great.

Great review guys

Always nice to hear what you think of something a little of left of centre

[Punch]

"It's all handwritten... it says 'Help.'" LMFAO

[Hafner32]

I second the notion that the L40 is a completely different cigar and one that I think all lancero lovers should try at least once. I think the #9s and T52s from a few years ago were excellent but the last batch or two have been underwhelming to me as well.

I believe someone earlier mentioned one of Drew Estate's newer lines, Herrera Esteli. I have been beating this drum for some time and had the opportunity to smoke a fresh one rolled by Willy Herrera at an event. I have blown through a cab and a half of the short coronas and they are great ROTT and get better with a little time in the humidor.

[TM-US]

I've smoked some of the Drew Estate stuff- the Liga Privada line mainly- Feral Pig, L40 and some other stuff. I never really liked their cigars. I'll also mention that even the stronger stuff mellows to nothing in about a year of age- a friend of mine had a box of L40s that aged within a year into hot air.

Construction is not really anything special- I find most of the NC stuff to be perfectly rolled. It's very rare for me to find a plugged NC.

Rob, Ken, Smithy- if you guys want to try some better NCs that might not be available in Oz, I'll send you some. Stuff like Fuente Opus X, Anejo Sharks, Ashton ESG, My Father Le Bijou are all pretty good sticks. None of them change in character like the Cuban stuff, you're right about that. I recently smoked a NC that had all of that Cuban complexity and character change, I have to post it up in the review forum.

[Foe]

Try a handful of the Undercrown Corona Viva ...'tis currently my favorite budget cigar...I adore the outrageous smoke production...

[asmith]

Rob, Ken, Smithy- if you guys want to try some better NCs that might not be available in Oz,

Brings a tear to my eye that you would include me in that offer. Not sure if you have noticed but I have been excluded from the reviews of late

[frenchkiwi]

be fair. i said some nice(ish) things. it was a perfectly pleasant smoke, as i said, but no great heights and from reading above, probably not the intention.

that's what i've thought of when i've smoked these Undercrowns, nice enough with accompaniments to spruce them up e.g. coffee and chocolate etc when you're doing something else in the daytime. they are mild as well as linear so not well suited to the end of the evening.

they must've received the same feedback as El Pres's though, cos they put out a corona gorda (the corona viva mentioned above) with a blend tweaked to be a bit meatier. and at US$5/cigar that's fair value... a cheap, everyday kinda cigar.

[TM-US]

Brings a tear to my eye that you would include me in that offer. Not sure if you have noticed but I have been excluded from the reviews of late

Smithy,

In all seriousness, drop me an email with the address and I'll send some nice NCs your way so you can see what I'm talking about.

I really appreciate what you guys do for us poor souls in the States.

[jedipastor]

I'm slightly miffed only because this is the first NC review in I don't know how long, and you guys picked an "everyday" cigar instead of a cracker. it's like smoking Siglo Vis and Monte GEs and then reviewing an HU Con #1 ... nothing wrong with them, just not in the same league. I like the Undercrown myself for a $5 and smoke them pretty often as a 2nd cigar of the day, but if there were a poll on "What NC cigar should we review?" I'd have picked a good 50 sticks above this one.

It's all good, though. We know this site focuses on Cubans, and that's great. And I did appreciate Rob commenting on how there are a great many fantastic NCs that are complex and dynamic, which is true.

[DrunkenMonkey]

I'm slightly miffed only because this is the first NC review in I don't know how long, and you guys picked an "everyday" cigar instead of a cracker. it's like smoking Siglo Vis and Monte GEs and then reviewing an HU Con #1 ... nothing wrong with them, just not in the same league. I like the Undercrown myself for a $5 and smoke them pretty often as a 2nd cigar of the day, but if there were a poll on "What NC cigar should we review?" I'd have picked a good 50 sticks above this one.

It's all good, though. We know this site focuses on Cubans, and that's great. And I did appreciate Rob commenting on how there are a great many fantastic NCs that are complex and dynamic, which is true.

But in their defense, they didn't really 'pick' it, they were sent it by one of the guys on here who wanted their thoughts on it. I bet if you sent them a 3-pack of anejos, they'd review them too.

[laficion]

Hi there,

I know that it is difficult to do, but stop comparing two different products,Untill N.C.'s tobaccos have become better, stop compareing.

N.C.'s are and will stay, far from real HABANOS because of the soil, That the N.C.'s are destroying in different countries. As Cuban

Cigar smokers lets give them credit for trying but they can and do ,come out with a new cigar every 6 months,but it does not even come close,It never will.

Guy

[Ken Gargett]

But in their defense, they didn't really 'pick' it, they were sent it by one of the guys on here who wanted their thoughts on it. I bet if you sent them a 3-pack of anejos, they'd review them too.

also not strictly true. what happened was mark very kindly sent me some fishing lures and most genorously included a simones (a fave of mine) and a couple of these drew cigars. he didn't submit them for review but i thought it might be interesting (it is a cuban cigar site so i imagine that non cubans will be very much few and far between so not much point people making suggestions - won't be happening, unless rob decides that is what he wants to do - so 'slightly miffed' might be a long term thing for jedipastor). i asked mark and he was happy for it to happen.

i knew absolutely nothing about them. they could have been the greatest non cubans ever made or the worst. i had no idea. had not even heard of drew estate until they arrived. there was no attempt to "fix" things to denigrate non cubans. no conspiracy at all. just had these to hand and we did the blind tasting for the partagas reserva D4 so thought we could do this as well.

[jedipastor]

It's okay Ken, et all. I love this site for what it is, NC reviews or not. The "NC vs CC" debate exists everywhere, and for me it's pointless. I love cigars, I don't care where they come from ... if they're great cigars, I'll smoke them if i can afford to!

But I started as an NC smoker, and so I still struggle with Cubans in terms of construction quality. I don't deny it's gotten better, but to me it's still an awesome thing when I get a Cuban that has perfect construction, as opposed to good NCs, which pretty commonly have perfect construction. Part of that is personal preference, though, as I prefer a slightly looser draw to a thick milkshake draw that seems to be the norm for Cubans. But as long as it produced plenty of smoke, I'm happy!

[Ginseng]

Just tried to smoke an Undercrown picked up at a local shop. Could not make it more than 1/3 in. Harsh, nasty, terrible tasting. I enjoyed the early release Liga Privada very much. They have not recaptured that magic since. But this thing was a truly bad cigar. How bad? I lit up a day old Jose L. Piedra Conservas stub to get the taste out of my mouth. And you know what? The JLP stub was better.

Wilkey