The King Street Emporium

Undercrown Maduro

By Drew Estate

In 2009 the rollers at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate were told to stop smoking the Liga Privada No. 9 off the production line. Demand had outpaced supply and the cigars needed to reach the people who had paid for them. The torcedores responded by building their own blend, using the same tobaccos that went into the Liga Privada binder and filler but from different vintages and primings, then covering the whole thing in a dark Mexican San Andrés wrapper rather than the rare Connecticut wrapper the Liga required. Drew Estate called it born on the factory floor. The name Undercrown acknowledged that the blend lived in the shadow of the Liga while standing entirely on its own merit. The wrapper is Mexican San Andrés Maduro over a Connecticut River Valley T52 stalk-cut and stalk-cured Habano binder, with filler from Brazil Mata Fina and Nicaraguan Cuban seed leaf. Rated 91 by Cigar Aficionado, Top 25 of 2017. Multiple sizes. Medium to full in body. Made at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Estelí, Nicaragua.