July 13, 2015 Charlie Minato IPCPR 2015,  News

Drew Estate Announces Undercrown Shade

Four years after the Undercrown line debuted at the IPCPR Convention & Trade Show in Las Vegas, the upcoming New Orleans rendition will be getting a Connecticut-wrapped version of the cigar.

Formally, it’s known as Undercrown Shade, but this is not simply a new wrapper. The new line uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, Sumatra binder and Dominican criollo 98 fillers along with Nicaraguan corojo and criollo. It’s a long list of changes from the original Undercrown blend which used a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a Connecticut River habano binder and fillers from Brazil and Nicaragua.

Undercrown Shade Box

The company says that this is the first cigar Willy Herrera has blended that is not part of the Herrera Esteli family.

“Since day one, Drew Estate has demonstrated that no premium cigar company better understands its team, and that the heart of the company is the production floor and factory,” said Herrera in a press release.

“This is why I chose to work closely with the rollers responsible for the original Undercrown blend, and challenged them to create a Connecticut blend that would satisfy my palate. It was a long road, taking more than a year to develop. In the end, it was a very rewarding process, as finding a Connecticut blend to fit my palate wasn’t easy.”

The original Undercrown was developed by the company’s production team as a way to deal with the shortage of tobaccos that prevented rollers from smoking Liga Privada while working. As such, they used some tobaccos that were similar to Liga Privada, but different grades and  primings along with the Mexican wrapper.

Undercrown Shade Vitolas

Undercrown Shade will be available in six sizes: Belicoso (6 x 52, $9), Corona Doble (7 x 54, $9.50), Corona (5 5/8 x 46, $7.50), Gordito (6 x 60, $9.95), Gran Toro (6 x 52, $8.25), and Robusto (5 x 54,  $7.75). It will ship in boxes of 25 this fall.

For those who think the name sounds familiar, the company released the Undercrown ShadyXV late last year, a regional exclusive.

The cigars will be shown off at the IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, which begins July 17.

Update (Aug. 10, 2015) — The Robusto and Toro sizes are shipping how, retailers have reported reciting the cigar as early as Aug. 5.

Davidoff is the official sponsor of halfwheel's coverage of the 2015 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show.
Drew Estate IPCPR 2015 La Gran Fábrica Drew Estate Swisher Undercrown Undercrown Shade Willy Herrera
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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.

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