Drew Estate Plans Liga Privada Aniversario, Tapas Finas & More

Presumably as part of the rush to meet new FDA regulations, Drew Estate has quietly shipped select stores a variety of new products including a handful of new Liga Privadas.

Posters on the BOTL.org forum indicated stores have received a variety of new Liga Privada product including a new line called Liga Privada Aniversario.

It features black packaging and appears to be available in a variety of sizes from both the standard No. 9 and T52 lines, as well as the Único Serie sizes including Dirty Rat, Feral Flying Pig, Flying Pig, L40 and Ratzilla. One picture also shows black tins, though it’s unclear whether those are related to the Aniversario or not.

This year would mark the 10th anniversary of Liga Privada, which debuted in a single parejo size for the No. 9 blend in the summer of 2006.

A spokesperson for Drew Estate did not return a text message seeking more information.

Another picture show Tapas Finas in both No. 9 and T52 format.  The poster indicated size included 6 x 46, 4/1 2 x 46 and 4 1/2 x 42.

In addition, Drew Seconds bundles appeared in four blends: Connecticut Broadleaf, Connecticut Habano, Connecticut Shade and Mexican.

Drew Estate is hardly the only company who has quietly released new lines ahead of FDA regulations.

Companies had until Aug. 8 to release new cigars before they would be subject to pre-market approval by FDA. Many companies took this deadline to release a lot of new products, quietly shipped to a small amount of retailers, simply to satisfy the requirement with the intentions of doing national releases at later dates.

Had companies waited until after Aug. 8, they would have needed approval from FDA before the cigars could reach market. As of now, it remains unclear how long and how expensive this process will be.

For more information about FDA’s regulation of premium cigars, visit halfwheel.com/fda.