Liga Privada T52-3

Cigar: Drew Estate Liga Privada T52-3

This cigar is an experimental release from Jonathan Drew. Some were given to T.G.; who shared them with several BOTLs, including myself.
Vitola/Wrapper/Binder: unsure

Drink / Food: Sam Adams Boston Lager
Outside Factors: Beautiful night spent on front patio with my wife
Construction: First thing that hits you is the look of this wrapper. It has an almost antique varnished look to its sheen. Some minor black mottling added to the attractiveness, rather than being objectionable. Some small veining along wrapper. Nice cap and decent bunching. Cigar is firm throughout, without being hard.
Prelight: End has a sweet tobacco scent. The wrapper has a very unique scent to it. I ask my wife what she thinks. I said an herbal scent and thought tarragon; she smells it and says tarragon. In the spice rack later, we realize we were both wrong, it was marjoram. Richly sweet and enjoyable scent regardless. End cuts nicely.

First Third: Lights up well after toasting the end. Cigar comes in with a warm spice flavoring. A welcome break from the harsh pepper blasts many of the sticks I’ve had lately start with. It reminded me of warm mulled cider. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are dominated by a cedar finish. I can’t say it was a creamy taste, but certainly not the antiseptically dry taste cedar can have either. Soft cedar is the easiest way to describe it.

A half inch in and a little snap on the back of the throat comes in. A light pepper that adds, not dominates and overwhelms. Soon a leather and oak taste comes in and out of the aftertaste along with the cedar. Some cinnamon drifts in occasionally.
Draw: A little firm, but my humidor was running around 70-72% lately
Burn: Not razor sharp for sure, but decent. No correcting necessary. Very slow burning. Clear your schedule, this cigar takes a while.
Ash/Smoke: Dingy gray ash that was very solid. Marbling and tooth coming through always cool to see.

Second Third: Some vegetal qualities come in to play. An herbal note, but not sure what. Cedar remains dominant on the aftertaste. Strength of cigar starts to kick in. This is a sneaky strong cigar, as the flavors don’t lead you to believe it will have this kind of kick.

Needs relit and I purge the cigar while doing so. Cigar shoots flames like a torch for several seconds. Some serious tar built up! A little spice enters after purge. Cigar is very clean tasting, without a lingering funkiness left on your palate.

Final third: Some pepper has stepped up in the final third. Cigar needs relit a couple more times; possibly due to before mentioned high humidity. Cedar never leaves the aftertaste through entire cigar. I guess my main criticism is that it dominated the cigars flavor profile throughout. Not offensive, but made the cigar easy to put down when it was done.

Strength: Very full Flavor: full
Overall Impression: This cigar seems to be J.D.’s entry into the uber-full cigar market. I’m glad he chose to walk his own path, rather than jumping on the pepper onslaught bandwagon. This cigar was very unique to me, and was an enjoyable change of pace. It was stronger than I prefer, and the cedar being continuous also didn’t hit my wheelhouse. I would have this cigar in my humi as a special occasion or a different road traveled cigar; not in my regular rotation. I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes to change it up, or enjoys the flavors described.

Construction: 10 10
Prelight: 5 5
First Third: 14 15
Draw: 8 10
Burn: 9 10
Ash / Smoke: 9 10
Second Third: 8 10
Final Third: 7 10
Overall impression: 17 20
Total Score: 87 100
Rating: B+

Thanks to T.G. for giving me the opportunity to try this great stick and to Jonathan Drew for sharing these ahead of schedule.

Wow. Sounds like a decent smoke. I wonder if it will be a high pricer like the 9.

[G G]

Very nice review, thanks.

[Mikepd]

Congrats on getting yourself one of the few prerelease LP T52 Blend 3's that are floating around. From what i understand this wrapper is a Connecticut grown habano, which is primed from the bottom of the plant and then stalk cured. What did you think of it in comparison to a regular Liga Privada?

I am luke warm to the original, so I favor these. The uniqueness and beautiful construction make this stick for me.

[MedicCook]

Thanks for the review and pictures.

[CigaSkills9]

HHHHhhmmmmm! I'm a true Liga Privada 9'er fan, I moved it to #1 over Opus X's. Your review is very interesting. I look forward to getting my hands on this new Liga. Thanks for the review !

[Coz77]

Bro I love the Morgan hat... I had the same one! It was my favorite hat. I literally wore the thing out and cant find another one ANYWHERE.

Sorry for the thread hijack. Nevertheless a nice review on a rare stick

Originally Posted by Coz77

Bro I love the Morgan hat... I had the same one! It was my favorite hat. I literally wore the thing out and cant find another one ANYWHERE.

Sorry for the thread hijack. Nevertheless a nice review on a rare stick

I'll see if my wife remembers where we got it. If they have anymore, I'll pick you up one.

[T.G]

Damn Lou, I just stumbled on this via a google search; I never realized you had an account here / posted this here.

Glad you enjoyed the cigar my firend. I should dig my review up and add it to the thread.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Mikepd

Congrats on getting yourself one of the few prerelease LP T52 Blend 3's that are floating around. From what i understand this wrapper is a Connecticut grown habano, which is primed from the bottom of the plant and then stalk cured. What did you think of it in comparison to a regular Liga Privada?

You are correct, it is a stalk-cut, American grown Habano leaf.

From some email correspondance I had with Jonathan Drew on the leaf:

The history of the Liga Privada T-52 and the "American Habano" Wrapper:

The history of the "Liga Privada T-52" begins three and a half years ago when Steve Saka joined Drew Estate. Just at that time, Nick Melillo, Steve Saka and I were heading back and forth to Brazil and Dominican Republic working with certain well known growers to obtain a wrapper that was heavy and clean that could be grown excusively for Drew Estate.

While we saw some amazing Brazillian Habano and Dominican Corojo Wrappers, we had not yet made up our minds to move forward with the purchase, as we were looking at a half million dollar investment, and wanted a certain taste profile and dark brown, rich appearance. We were, however, very impressed by both of these wrappers.

Then it happened ...

On a regular farm trip to Connecticut for the purposes of purchasing a barn of Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro with Universal Leaf Company (Lancaster Leaf), we stumbled upon a farm that was growning a very unique looking "Stalk Cut Tobacco" in addition to the Broadleaf. This American farmer (whose name I will reveal once the brand is released at the RTDA show this summer) called the wrapper leaf - "American Habano." After a few hours of inspection, we were impressed, but we tried to keep our composure, as this beautiful leaf had the exact color and thickness qualities that we had been flying all over the damn world looking for. Over and over, I kept making hand motions to Saka to stop smiling and looking so darn excited. It was difficult, cause he's just that kind of guy... Lucky for us, the farmer was complaining that this experimental tobacco would be the last year of crop unless he found a buyer who was willing to look past this one crop and make a real committment. He said that other brokers had loved the tobacco, but they didnt want to pay the high price which is required to grow it the right way.

In any event, we took a break for lunch and he treated us to a hamburger at a true American small town diner. During lunch, Saka and I could barely eat (just imagine that), with our complete attention on buring the hell out of that "American Habano" for combustion and flavor. Needless to say, we made our first purchase by the next morning and called the bank in Nicaragua preparing them for the good or bad news, depending on which side you're looking at. We spent a pretty penny...!

We were excited and nervous, cause we still had to remove all the tobacco from the barn, ship it to Nicaragua, and place it in Pilones for curing. This wrapper is no joke. Thick and oily, and dark redish brown - we had no idea where the bulk would take this stuff. Well, almost three years later it finally, finally burned. Saka still had a job (just jokin ... well), and I still had a bank. And together, we made one of the very finest investments in the history of Drew Estate. Welcome "Liga Privada T-52." Welcome "American Habano" Wrapper.

And please remember, there is more to the story - Filler and Binder - which has a story of its own yet to come ...

When Jon speaks of filler and binder and a story yet to come, he is referring to the stalk cut American Habano that will be used for filler and binder in future cigars not yet created.

[RichardW]

Thanks for the review and photos

and thanks T.G. for the back story...

[skullnrose]

Great info TG thanks. Nice review sounds like a nice cigar.

[kelmac07]

Thanks for sharing.

T.G. I'd been mostly lurking here and felt this was something worth adding to the forum. Been doing a little more posting over here since this review also.
thanks for filling in the additional info on the particulars of the cigar. I'm looking forward to trying out the final version and where they went with any changes.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by lou2row

.
thanks for filling in the additional info on the particulars of the cigar. I'm looking forward to trying out the final version and where they went with any changes.

The final will be a mix between the T-52 #3 and #4.

From Steve Saka:

LP T52 - This was a blend that was in a holding pattern for a very long time as we were working with a new stalk-cut capa since Sept 2006. To be blunt this leaf is a pain in the a$$ and until just 9 months ago I thought we might have pissed away $400k on it. Luckily we didn’t and the result is phenom imo - anyhow there were seven base iterations of the T52 blend - as fate would have #3 and #4 again turned out to be the best even though the T52 #3/#4 differ from the LP#9 #3/#4 - and again the #4 was the stronger of the lot... for months I was sold on the #3, then the #4, then #3, and so on - we even put the #4 into real production, to change our minds yet again - in the end the final blend is actually between the two... so #3.5 is the official LP T52 blend.

There is another LP you may hear about or even get a sample of from either Jon or me, it is called the "rata sucia" or Dirty Rat - it is the the byproduct of a project I was working on with Nicholas to try an recreate that LP #9 flavor in a corona size... which btw we never did get right imo, however while trying to do so Luis (our lead torcedor and gallery supervisor) came up with an amazing blend utilizing the techniques we developed together. So good that I have been smoking at least two a day lately.... yes I am a junkie..

We may release this in a limited batch, the problem with the "Rata Sucia" is that it is not economically viable due to what is required to create these bunches. It actually costs more to make these coronas than a LP-quality toro because of the techniques employed. Really haven’t decided yet...

Oh also there is a special small batch production of the LP No. 9 that will debut this summer called the "Flying Pig" - this was a vitola I have been dying to do since I saw it about 15 years ago in an old 1895 cigar salesman catalog. Very time consuming to make - average production per pair is 125 p/day, but very unique and ultra powerful - think LP No. 9 on steroids.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Toasted Coastie

Wow. Sounds like a decent smoke. I wonder if it will be a high pricer like the 9.

Pricing will be identical to the LP No. 9.

From Steve Saka:

As for their release, we expect to be shipping them by early fall initially in two sizes: the 6 x 52 Toro and the 5 x 54 Robusto and they will be priced identically to the No. 9.

dying to try one of these...