Undercrown Flying Pig (2012)

Today, spotting an Undercrown Flying Pig at your local shop is not a rare occurrence, but that wasn’t always the case.

When the Undercrown Flying Pig debuted in June 2012, it was only available in the Netherlands and limited to less than 2,500 cigars. At that time, the Flying Pig vitola itself was still an extreme rarity. In fact, I’m not sure Drew Estate was actively making any cigars in the size for most of 2012, though it was making the Feral Flying Pig.

The limited edition runs of Liga Privada No. 9 and T52 Flying Pigs had come and gone, and the unique double perfecto vitola hadn’t yet been added to blends like the MUWAT Kentucky Fire Cured.

Of course, all of that has since changed.

In 2014, Drew Estate made the Undercrown Flying Pig and MUWAT Kentucky Fire Cured regular production vitolas for retailers. Two years later, the Liga Privada No. 9 and T52 Flying Pigs were added to those lines. While the cigars can be difficult to get for certain retailers or at certain points of the year, the novelty is nowhere near like it was in 2012, when very few people had (smoked) an Undercrown Flying Pig.

I was fortunate to be one of those people who had smoked one, here’s what I said at that time.

Because it’s what everyone is wondering, let’s get it out of the way. Better than the No. 9 Pig? Nope. Better than the T52 Pig? I liked it more. Better than Feral Flying Pig? Two different cigars—push. Better than Corona ¡Viva!? No. Better than a regular Undercrown? Yes. Perhaps most interesting—better than I expected. Despite the youth, the vitola was earthier and more detailed than most of the other Undercrowns I recalled smoking and unlike the No. 9 or T52 renditions, I wasn’t frustrated that the flavor of the vitola had to be ruined by the shape itself. There is no doubt that a month in the humidor, where the cigars can dry out a bit more and the flavors can settle a bit more, will improve the Undercrown Flying Pig. But most importantly, unlike the No. 9 or T52 versions, I’m going to have to stop myself from reaching for these versus a regular Undercrown, something that just doesn’t happen now. Is it worth the hoops and stress you are inevitably going to have to go through in order to pay $20+ for one? Probably not. But, if you get a chance to get some without the hoops, shipping costs and language barriers, like say in the comments below, I wouldn’t waste the opportunity.

In 2014, I wrote a review of a new regular production Undercrown Flying Pig, but after nearly a dozen years, I’ve decided to revisit the original cigar.

• Cigar Reviewed: Undercrown Flying Pig
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: La Gran Fábrica Drew Estate
• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés Negro)
• Binder: U.S.A. (Connecticut River Valley Habano)
• Filler: Brazil (Mata Fina) & Nicaragua (Habano)
• Length: 4 1/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 60
• Vitola: Flying Pig
• MSRP: $15.30 (Boxes of 12, $183.60)
• Release Date: June 22, 2012
• Number of Cigars Released: 205 Boxes of 12 Cigars (2,460 Total Cigars)*
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Redux: 1

*As noted above, this is a review of the 2012 version. The Undercrown Flying Pig is now a regular production cigar.

There are just two cigars left in this box, which is sitting at the bottom of one of my IRIS bins. I suppose there’s now just one left. As for the other cigar, I originally grabbed it as a potential candidate for Holy Grail Week but ended up picking the Bolívar Armonía to review instead. When I removed this cigar from its very yellow and brittle cellophane in December, the aroma was medium-full with sweet cedar and some barnyard. It’s definitely mellowed out, but there’s a surprisingly robust smell from the wrapper. The foot has a medium-plus aroma with sweet cedar, a smell that reminds me of the smell of a Kit Kat bar and also the smell of processed turkey. Fast forwarding to February, once the cigar is cut, the cold draw is medium and like the smell of the wrapper, there’s plenty of flavor left, but I can tell this is an aged cigar. There’s lots of creaminess, unsalted tortilla chips, oak, oatmeal and faint touches of spiciness.

Anytime I’m reviewing a cigar with a peculiar foot, I tend to take extra time lighting the cigar. After making sure the foot is fully lit, I take my first puff and the draw is very tight. While this may not be surprising to you, it caught me off guard. Flavor-wise, there’s a medium-full mixture of earthiness and white pepper over cedar and some toastiness; again, I can taste that this is an aged cigar, around medium-plus. After five or so minutes, the draw begins to open up and within 10 minutes, the Undercrown Flying Pig’s draw is more or less normal, or at least as normal as this peculiar vitola can be. Flavor-wise, the profile is led by a lot of roasted flavors with notes like bread crust, nuttiness and bitter coffee standing out above the earthy core. From time to time, I pick up leather, chili pepper and barnyard but none of those flavors are all that strong. The finish is led by toastiness, but there’s also some creaminess and sweetness that combine to remind me a bit of whipped cream. Retrohales are similar: earthiness, cedar, creaminess and a mild black pepper, but sometimes I pick up a tang-like citrus. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium and strength is medium. While smoke never stops pouring off the foot, towards the middle of the cigar, I find the smoke production from the top of the cigar has died down and I’m forced to make a touch up.

“Not a ton of change” is mentioned in three different occasions in the middle part of my notes. There was so little change in flavor, my second third notes don’t contain many actual flavors. There’s flavor, it’s just not changing much for large stretches of this short cigar. Towards the final third, the toastiness completely exits the profile, which allows for the woody notes to shine a bit more, though it ends up being temporary. As the final third gets going, the flavor profile gets much more compact, which ends up restricting the individual flavor sensations and makes the profile just taste a lot like the exterior shell of a hard baguette, earthiness and roasted nuttiness. The finish begins to bitter out the profile, making for the first time I’m ever turned off by the flavor profile. Retrohales have slowly been fading, providing fewer flavors and morphing into a fairly simple mixture of earthiness and toastiness with some liquid smoke. The finish is distinct, reminding me of the feeling of mouth after I just finished eating some greasy fried chicken with some harshness and white pepper mixed in there. For better and worse, flavor picks up to full, body is medium-full and strength remains medium. Again, I find myself needing to touch the cigar up to help with combustion. Other than those touch-ups, my only complaints about the Undercrown Flying Pig’s construction are quite minor: it burns slow and the ash is flaky.