New Liga Privadas

In the past few weeks, two of Drew Estate’s lesser-known Liga Privada projects have had some light shed on them. The first was the Liga Privada MF13, a prototype blend based off of the T52 which will be featured at a few special tasting events; the second was the announcement last week that the Ratzilla, a 6 x 46 Dirty Rat, would be out at some point this year. Today… three four more product leaks and some thoughts on the JD4. — el niño diablo.

This isn’t going to be a State of the Brand, but there are some announcements none the less:

• Liga Privada T52 6 x 60 – happening. (See info about the No. 9 below)
• Liga Privada “EV-10” – A 7 x 38 Lancero made for someone who is rather known in the industry. Less than 200 (singles) made, I suspect someone else will shed some light on it a bit later in the year. These won’t be for sale, so you can stop calling your favorite Drew Estate retailer.
• Liga Privada “TP-1” – No official name, but one of the more widely made prototypes. Blended by someone who doesn’t work for Drew Estate, it uses a T52 wrapper on binder/filler I don’t know about. There have been at least three batches of the cigar made and there is some chance that this could be available in some capacity at some point.
• Liga Privada L40 – This is a blend that is neither one of the two “core” Liga Privada lines, nor Dirty Rat. The cigar will be coming out in production, presumably under the Único Serie moniker.

So… why is the 6 x 60 coming out in the T52 format? The answer is simple, there’s not a whole lot of No. 9 tobacco available. There have been numerous estimates given to various individuals as to just how long the No. 9 shortage and the answer is pretty much all of 2011 from what I’m now hearing. It was wet last year and Steve Saka and the rest of Drew Estate refuse to compromise in terms of the way the cure tobacco or the blend itself. If you talk to your local Liga Privada retailer, you’ll find out very quickly that ordering No. 9s right now is not an option and hasn’t been since around August of 2010. I presume that once the No. 9 is back up to full production, perhaps the 6 x 60 and other projects based on the No. 9 wrapper might become available, but for now it’s just not a possibility.

The following is based on nothing other than my personal speculation, as more time passes and the more I think about it, I believe the JD4 might not turn into a production cigar. The evidence? The JD4 prototype has been floating around for a while now and unlike the Dirty Rat, the reception from what I can tell hasn’t been outstanding. Most people agree, the JD4 is a good cigar, but it doesn’t sound like many would buy a JD4 over the T52 blend that is on the market.Time will obviously tell how wrong I am, but for now, it wouldn’t shock me if the JD4 just remained in production at prototype levels, to be handed out at events and to friends.

(Thumbnail via Steve Valle, you can read hisreview of a prerelease L40.)

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 handle the editing of our written content, the majority of the technical aspects of the site and work with the rest of our staff on content management, business development and more. I’ve lived in most corners of the country and now entering my second stint in Dallas, Texas. I enjoy boxing, headphones, the Le Mans 24-hour, wearing sweatshirts year-round and gyros. echte liebe.