Dirty Rat by Drew Estate

It’s nice to see the sun out and all the snow and ice gone, what a mess that was. The temperature gauge is reading 40F; however with the wind blowing like it is it feels much colder, the air is pretty dry with the humidity reading 27%. But, it’s decent enough on the back porch to put fire to a nice cigar. I picked out a Dirty Rat by Drew Estate, the first and only one of these I’ve had. The Connecticut Habano wrapper is dark and oily with a leather-like appearance. There’s noticeable tooth throughout with one prominent vein running the length and a nice pigtail, or rat tail on the cap. After punching, I test the draw and find a perfect resistance with a strong, rich tobacco taste coming through; spice is left on the lips as well.

After torching the foot, I take a number of quick puffs and have a difficult time getting smoke to come through, as if it is already tunneling. But, after letting the cigar rest and a decent amount of ash has formed, the smoke begins to flow, and flow in abundance. My first long draw brings a fairly powerful black pepper spice on the tongue with the strength and body both very full. Although there’s a lot of strength going on, I’m still able to taste strong earth and leather flavor with a hint of what seems like sweet cocoa.

Through the first third, the burn is sharp with a rather rugged looking medium to dark gray ash forming that holds until tapped off in the ashtray. I’d say somewhere around a half inch or so the strong spice begins to taper off a bit allowing me to really taste the dark, rich tobacco that has a lasting finish after exhaling slowly. The strength of the smoke is medium to full with the body full leaving a somewhat oily mouth feel.

Around halfway I again have a difficult time with getting smoke to come through and do a good bit of puffing and purging. After a bit, the cigar goes back to burning well and smoke flows through the perfect draw in abundance with a bluish white color. The spice is still there and right at medium with the strength medium as well. Flavors are rich and as previously described, but now I seem to be getting a slightly charred wood taste in the finish, which is actually pretty good. The finish is really good upon initial exhale, but doesn’t last as long as I would like.

I’m not sure the problem; however I continued to have a time keeping the cigar lit and smoke flowing well at certain intervals while going through the final third. I know that the wrapper is really thick on this thing, which may be burning slower than the binder filler. The burn did remain sharp with the ash becoming more compact and tooth noticeable. I found that the strength picked back up to a strong full with the spice kicking up a notch as well; the smoke has a thick body leaving the tongue feeling coated with slight oiliness. Flavors continue to be that of dark earth, leather, and cocoa with a hint of that charred wood taste left in the finish.

Other than the burn/draw issues, this was a really good smoke. Thoroughly enjoyed it!