Cigar Extra: Drew Estate Liga Privadas Único Series, UF-13

Originally published at Tiki Bar Online

Robusto-ish, 5.5″ x 52 ring gauge / ~$16.00

Keith gave this cigar the “full review” treatment last week, so I decided to pair my last UF-13 with some Chattanooga Whiskey 1816 Reserve and do a short write-up in the Cigar Extra format.

I can’t claim to have had every Liga Privada release, or every Único Series release…there are quite a few and some are very hard to find…plus I have not been accused of being a “Liga Whore” like some people I know. I do enjoy LPs, especially T-52s, but they are pricey and my budget is too often limited. It was a great joy this time around to find out I would be receiving some review samples from Drew Estate, so I do thank them for that.

I do love the way this cigar is presented (although I have to say the same is true for other Único Series releases): the dark, oily wrapper, the fantail with the “tobacco twine” wrapped around the base…even the hand-written designation on the band (well, originally hand-written…probably…or maybe just a hand-written-looking font…whatever, it’s cool). From the wrapper, I got rich earthy and leathery aromas; the foot had more pungent earthiness with a bit of manure. The prelight flavors had the expected LP mix of earth, cocoa powder, coffee and a little bit of pepper spice. And once I lit, I got plenty of semi-sweet chocolate, earth and espresso on the palate, along with a powerful hit of spice on the nose.

Each Único release is supposed to bring something unique to the table (thus the name)…basically each one is a release-worthy blend in a certain vitola. After about 15 minutes, this one to me seemed to bring more sweetness to the table than most Liga Privada releases I can recall. Is it due to the darker, higher-priming wrapper leaf? It very well could be. All I can say for sure is that I loved that aspect of it and thought it went quite well with my Chattanooga Whiskey. The pepper spice was fairly relentless on the retrohale…and I loved that, too. All in all, I really liked the UF-13. I’m not crazy about the price, but the fact that it was so good might persuade me to buy one or two when they show up at Burns (these are slated to be occasional and limited in production).

Full Disclosure: Drew Estate is one of the companies that “gets” new media and does much to support it…they sent these samples and they are bringing a bunch of bloggers, including myself (Keith was scheduled to go as well, but work has prevented that from happening), down to Nicaragua to tour their operations next week. Regardless, though, we are committed to telling the truth about our opinions on whatever cigars we feature on this blog…if we love it, like it, or loathe it, we will say so (of course, because we have a pretty good idea of what flavor profiles and companies we already like, we more often than not review cigars we like). I look forward to bringing our readers words and pictures (and maybe even some video) from the trip.