Liga Privada UF4 (Exclusive)

Single store Liga Privada. A few weeks after Jonathan Drew posted a picture of a bundle of MF4s in craft paper, and now the particulars.

First and foremost, this is now known as Liga Privada UF4. The cigar is actually the JD4, which Drew Estate had renamed as MF4 for the last eighteen months or so. For those unfamiliar with the blend it’s a slightly tweaked T52, Steve Saka describes it:

This is an alternative stronger blending of the current T52 recipe that we developed that is stronger. At one point it was in the running to be the T52 blend, but ultimately we had to choose one.

That being said, this was JD’s personal favorite of the two so the factory continued to make them for him on a batch basis.

The difference between this blend and the existing T52 is the amount of ligero in the recipe – this liga has more.

Jonathan Drew had originally planned to release the cigar under the MF banner, but a few months ago while meeting with Thor Nielsen of Cigar Press, the two realized that the “MF” on the band was also used by My Father. Jonathan decided to change the cigar to “UF” as a courtesy to the Garcías. The UF moniker stands for Único Fuerte and the MF13, another Liga Privada test blend, is now known as UF13.

There are forty bundles of twenty-five set to be released at Casa De Montecristo on October 27th. Casa De Montecristo is being given these as a personal thank you for a favor the Khalils, owners of the shop, did for Jonathan a decade ago. The cigars being released were rolled two years ago and already banded. As such, JD asked the Padróns if he could have them repackaged at the Padrón facility in Miami. Jonathan said he was “a bit nervous about repackaging because they are two years old”, but after speaking with Orlando Padrón he was confident the cigars would be fine.

Prices are the same as the T52 Parejo, which is the Toro size, $10.95 a cigar.

• Name: Liga Privada UF4
• Vitola:Toro
• Size: 6 x 52
• Wrapper: Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut & Cured Sun Grown Habano
• BinDer: Plantation Grown Brazilian Mata Fina
• Country: Nicaragua
• Factory: La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate
• MSRP: $10.95 (Bundles of 25, $273.75)
• Expected Release Date: October 27, 2011
• Production Number: 1,000 Cigars (40 Bundles of 25 Cigars)

Casa De Montecristo 1332 West 55th Street Countryside, IL 60525 708.352.6668

Update (October 14, 2011) — Casa De Montecristo is allowing pre-orders of a limited amount of five packs.

In addition to UF4, the Casa De Montecristo event will be one of two events where Liga Privada Único Serie L40 will be featured this year, the other being an event at Nat Sherman. The event will be November 29th and Michael Herklots has described at as almost a pre-event for Big Smoke. The event will run from 7:15-9:00 and will cost $75.00. Each attendee will receive one L40, two other cigars, the normal Nat Sherman hospitality and a twenty-five dollar gift card towards any Drew Estate purchase that night. L40 has been pushed back until 2012, although both events will have a significant amount of boxes. Prices for L40 are $12.95 a cigar and they come in boxes of fifteen.

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.