Vitola: Churchill- 7” x 48 ring gauge
- MSRP $14.00
- Provided by Drew Estate
Background
The Norteño made its debut in late 2014 as the second cigar from Drew Estate to wear the Herrera Estelí branding, which is associated with their master blender Willy Herrera. They introduced it with six vitolas, which were very hard to find in my home store for the first few months, but are much more readily available now. The price points of the Norteño sizes were several dollars a stick more than the comparable Herrera Estelí cigars; on the one hand, it makes sense because this is a richer, more flavorful blend; on the other, it makes them hard to move in quantities as large as the HE tends to sell…but maybe that’s by design.
As with the original HE, several months after the introduction of the Norteño, Drew Estate announced the impending release of a Limited Edition size (with HE, it was a Lancero…and it was pretty spectacular). For Norteño, the special size turned out to be a Churchill…well, a very flattened Churchill, but it is supposed to have a 48 ring gauge before it’s turned into a flat oval.
The blend features Nicaraguan fillers, a Honduran binder, and San Andres Mexican Maduro wrapper leaf. I received a couple of samples of this cigar from Drew Estate in their “care package” a few weeks ago, although I had purchased a smoked one or two when they first came into Burns.
Prelight
The overall appearance os this Norteño LE is the same as the others in the line, with the addition of a secondary band that proclaims “2015 Edicion Limitada” in the same green and cream colors as the primary band. The wrapper leaf was dark chocolate brown with a velvety and oily texture and the cigar itself is pressed into a flattened oval shape. The shape is odd at first glance, but I’ve come to love it as it will never roll off the table or ashtray, and it fits very comfortably in the mouth.
The wrapper leaf had an earthy, slightly sweet aroma; the aroma from the foot was more earth and cedar. I clipped the end and tested the draw; I was satisfied with air flow and got flavors of semi-sweet cocoa, coffee and earth.
Flavor
The only drawback of the shape of the Norteño is getting it lit evenly at first. It took some doing, but once I got it going, I got a strong coffee note, with lesser earth, cedar and anise notes. Pepper spice was in the background on the palate, but right up front and fairly powerful on the nose.
As I cruised into the second third, I noted that the pepper had died off a bit on the tongue, while the bittersweet chocolate notes had increased. The notes of coffee, earth and cedar all continued on about where they were at the beginning.
The pepper diminished further in the final third, leaving a creamy smoke with rich coffee and chocolate notes, along with very pleasing counterpoints of bitter and sweet.
Construction
As you would expect in a cigar this pricey, construction was top-notch. I had a great draw, very even burn line and solid ash for up to an inch.
Value
The Norteño LE is a pricey stick. It’s also a very good one. If you are comfortable with the price of the rest of the vitolas, this won’t seem too much money to pay for a Limited Edition version.
Conclusions
Hands down, this is one of the finest Mexican Maduro wrapped cigars on the market. It stands right up there with the Jericho Hill by Crowned Heads and the Padron 1964 Anniversary Maduro (which I still believe is a Mexican leaf, even though some people don’t believe it). Norteño mixes bitter and sweet flavors—earth, coffee and chocolate—in a way that is very pleasing to my palate. And this Churchill vitola is among the best available for this blend. Get them before they are gone, folks.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
Site sponsor Small Batch Cigar has Norteño LE 2015 available to order.
if I see this I will try it.. nuff said
Ill keep my eye out, love a good box pressed cigar.