Liga Privada Unico Serie L40

[shilala]

I was gifted this stick by Ken (steelcityboy) at our Pittsburgh Herf back in January. I swore to him I'd smoke the damned thing, so I did.
I wouldn't be bothering with a review were it not a pleasant surprise. I actually enjoyed it. I'll break it down a bit as I saw it...

On lighting, it tasted like aluminum and Hershey's cocoa. Not sweet chocolate, more like dark chocolate with no hint of sweet. It wasn't a good start as I was already a bit puckered up about this stick, and probably over-critical. The over-critical likely worked in this stick's favor. I had expected black pepper because I've heard "pepper, pepper, pepper" in regards to this Drew Estate stuff. There was no pepper whatsoever. None. No black pepper, no white pepper, just mildly sweet Nicaraguan spice.

About a half inch in, the aluminum disappeared, and the chocolate/caramel goodness showed up in droves. A nice, medium-thick body presented itself. A medium level of spice remained present throughout the stick. It was not a Nicaraguan powerhouse by any means, something I had also expected. It was middle-of-the-road powerful in regards to both spice and nicotine.

At halfway, nothing had changed. The body filled out a bit and the cigar got that "I'm being smoked pretty hard" taste that I like. It had achieved all it was going to, and that was it. Done deal. If anything, I insisted there was a Dominican tobacco sweetness working in, and it made me go check later to see if there was Dominican tobacco in the cigar, but there was not. I'd probably have bet you there was.

The cigar had lots of what I like, classic maduro sweetness, albeit on the light side, plenty of cocoa and caramel, and a nice touch of spice.
As I smoked, I thought of somewhere around eleventy billion $2 or $3 cigars that tasted exactly like this one, although none in a lancero (almost lancero) format. A 5 Vegas A maduro robusto for instance, almost identical, or at least close enough to not warrant an extra ten bucks. An Old Henry maduro robusto is the same profile, but spicier. An '08 JJ Maduro is it's big brother, a fuller, thicker cigar. At that time it was a $10 stick and much better than they are now, but it still illustrates my point. Been there, done that.
There is nothing new or fascinating about this cigar. I will say that it's construction is so perfect, and the cigar is so beautiful that it almost looks artificial. The craftsmanship is over the top.

Would I recommend this cigar? Absolutely. It's a nice one-dimensional medium-strength cigar that should appeal to any maduro lover. The price is a gagger. 5 bucks would be fair. 7 or 8 bucks, reasonable. 13 bucks? Ridiculous.
There are many, many cigars that do more for a lot less.
Another thing that concerns me is the ability to age these. There really doesn't seem to be anything there to benefit from aging. A loss of flavors would be the only thing I could imagine, then a brother would really be out some coin.

My final thought? Spend the 13 bucks on a fresh Padron Anni. It does everything this stick does, but does it better, plus a whole lot more.
If this cigar comes down to half the price, you've got a fair, solid winner.