Last year’s winner of the large booth award was back and the rumors before the show started was it was going to bigger than ever. In addition to heels, Drew Estate brought out molds redecorated by Subculture Studios as gifts to accounts. There was a lot more than the car at the Drew Estate booth, a lot more.

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Big Jucy & English
These two extensions to the Drew Estate Natural line were shown off, they ship towards the end of the summer.

Java Mint
You know the story. The next edition of the Rocky Patel/Drew Estate combination has taken off and both Jonathan Drew and Patrick Vivalo have said that it has been received well. Fans of traditional premium cigars would be astonished as to how popular ACID is, and Java isn’t much different.

Liga Privada A
Steve Saka showed off a two-pack of these that will be given at events starting later in the summer. There haven’t been Liga Privada events in essentially a year, but towards the end of the summer Drew Estate will be able to offer Liga Privada in better supply and as such, events will return.

Liga Privada MF-13
Perhaps we shall see this as another Serie Único some time soon, we all agree, this should be done.

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Liga Privada Serie Único Feral Pig
I asked Dave Lafferty, East Coast Sales Manager for Drew Estate, if he has seen one, and his answer was no. There was a picture of one in the Drew Estate catalogue, but the Feral Pig was not in Las Vegas. This is the first time that the “Pig” release will fall under the Serie Único banner, rather than the No. 9 and T-52 that it previously did, but the bigger Pig will be out like last year, in October.

Liga Privada Serie Único L40
Steve Saka sat down and once again reiterated his lack of love for Lanceros, but he does sound confident and content with the L40. His basic message is that this is what they wanted to create and he thinks they did what was possible. It is not a larger Dirty Rat, it’s a Único Serie product. These ship later in the summer and it seems like plenty of accounts picked them up. Review is here.

Liga Privada Serie Único Ratzilla
There were a bundle or two in the hands of Saka, but still no plans for a release. The basic explanation is that the demand for Dirty Rat is already significantly outpacing supply, so rather than creating more supply issues with the Dirty Rat, Ratzilla remains a project not-for-sale. I suspect, at some point we shall see Ratzilla on shelves, it just might be more time than most hope. Ratzilla is now sporting an official band, as opposed to the prerelease/prototype printer editions most have seen.

My Uzi Weighs a Ton
The other two sizes of Jonathan’s partnership with Joya de Nicaragua were released. Rumors of smaller sizes persist, but for now it’s 60 RG or go home. There’s some final details being worked on the packaging, including a cool story behind the “My Uzi Weighs a Ton” name.

Subculture Studios
he name synonymous with everything Drew Estate, but something a lot still don’t know about. There are plans right now to make Subculture Studios a much bigger name in the industry, but that’s about all I’m allowed to say right now.

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Undercrown
The star of the Drew Estate booth and one of the most monumental releases of 2011, Undercrown. I’ve smoked a few and it gets my seal of approval. In the words of Steve Saka:

Now with that said, here is the skinny:

– Undercrown to be debuted at the IPCPR – initial delivery to retailer in Sept 2011.

– Undercrown is a blend that was developed by the Liga rollers for their own smoking pleasure because we had to ask them to cut back on smoking the LPs they were making – they were crushing us. The name represents this – if LP was made exclusively for the king/boss initially, this cigar was made initially for themselves, the princes, ie. Undercrown.

– Imo, it is just a touch stronger than Medium bodied with a great natural tobacco sweetness and earthy flavor. Very creamy core and sexy smooth – like all LP’s** it is very balanced – this cigar probably won’t satisfy some of the pepper junkies.

[Disclaimer: this of course is my personal opinion of the smoke – you will have to decide for yourself… some folks will say it is too strong, others will say it is mild, one guy will say it tastes like bing cherries and pencil lead, and on and on and on – lol]

– Made with many of the same tobaccos as other LPs, but utilizes different primings, crops from different sections of the same fields, different ages etc… or change-ups – for example the binder is our exclusive T52 stalk cut habano.

– Prices are NOT set on the brand yet, because we price all of our cigars based one what they cost to produce and it takes us a few months of true production to know for sure what the indexes and run rates will be – I am going to Nica next week to do a final review – we expect the prices to range between $7 – $9…

BUT I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO BE COMPLETELY WRONG ABOUT THIS!!!

– LP-grade pairs are rolling these.

– Initial launch will be in the same 4 sizes as LP + the 6 x 60 parejo Gordito. Complain to JD about it, he wanted it, he is on a 60RG rampage… Look when I first wanted to do Dirty Rat JD was not really on board because he always preferred larger cigars, but he let us run with it and fell in love with it. I in turn, am not a 60rg guy, but I gotta admit I am impressed with the MUWAT he did over at JDN. I do not think you have to choose between doing all big or all small.

– If the brand proves to be popular with smokers of course we will add sizes… I already have been smoking a 5 5/8 x 46 version. But launching with the most popular sizes is what makes sense… tell you what I will make up some more of the Corona Gorda UC to share cause you ain’t getting mine. Lets plan a BOTL herf somewhere this Fall an I will show up with these to share…

– It will not be limited to LP accounts only – this is a more sustainable blend so in the long run is will have better availability – hoorah!

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If you think the Drew Estate booth was ever not at capacity, you are out of your mind. It took about an hour after the show closed before things ever got quiet, and these pics were shot two hours after the show closed. — el niño diablo.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.