Drew Estate Dirty Rat
Today’s Featured Cigar:
Liga Privada Dirty Rat
The Cigar:
This cigar features a Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut & Cured Sun Grown Habano Wrapper, Brazilian binder and Nicaragua & Honduras fillers. The size only comes in the classic 5x44 corona and produced by Drew Estate Cigars in Nicaragua. This might be the longest name for a single tobacco leaf in the industry, but it is filled with a lot of great information. The Connecticut River Valley is a region in Connecticut USA where the Liga Privada tobacco was born 20 years ago. Stock cut and cured just means they do not pick individual leaves off this plant they chop the entire stock off when the plant is ready and start the curing process completely intact to that plant. This actually intensifies the tobacco because of all the remaining nutrients from the stock being poured into the tobacco during this process. The sun grown Habano means it was a Cuban seed That was grown in Connecticut, but this blend uses the top of the tobacco plant due to the higher exposure to sun rays. Sun grown also intensifies the flavor profile because it is the strongest tobacco on the plant.
The Pairing:
The flavor profile of the cigars truly magnificent. It is one of the most complex and interesting cigars I’ve ever experienced. The majority of flavors you get on the back half of your palate with dark cocoa, leather spice and hints of cedar. The nuances of the flavor profile come and go at first you start to get a little creaminess that pairs well with the dark chocolate flavors. But as you smoke the cigar the silkiness starts to fade and the charred oak notes start to shine. The brew comes from our friends up at Eighth & Roast and is one of my favorites to drink with a cigar. This bean is the Willows from Costa Rica. Notes fill your palate with citrus, cocoa and honey. This coffee is actually lighter roast than you would normally pair with such a full body scar. But the flavor profile is loud enough to cut through some of the notes of the blend, and the intensity of the coffee balances out some of the richness of the cigar. This brew and blend hair so well together it is an amazing way to start any day you get the chance.
The Story:
The Dirty Rat is part of the Liga Privada series but in a different way. The most famous has been the original No. 9 blend but Drew Estate has made a few unbeilable variations usuing this these tobaccos. "At this point, we have made 200 or more Liga Privada blends…There are probably nine or 10 of them so far that are exceptional….They’re cigars that work as a particular size, such as a lancero or Corona, with the blend being unique to that particular vitola. The Dirty Rat is a great example of this, so we have decided to introduce this as the first cigar in the Ünico line." - Steve Saka (President of DE at the time.) Liga Privada Unico Serie – a home for these unique ones. All of the cigars within this series are not only different in size and blend, but they are extra special, extremely limited and exceptionally delicious.
