7 x 54
Double Corona
Maduro
Drew Estate Undercrown
Since this cigar has previously been reviewed, I'll keep this one relatively brief.
I did a lot of smoking last weekend. On Saturday, I smoked a JR Montecristo #2 Alt; a Drew Estates Undercrown and a Padron maduro Churchill. Finished on Sunday with a Partagas from the island and a Oliva Serie G.
Surprisingly, the two stand out smokes were the Undercrown and the the Oliva Serie G.
After smoking a JR Montecristo Alt (good enough to buy a bundle) and a Connie #9 (OK) at the DC JR store, I drove to Bethesda, Md for a Drew Estate event.
BOTL Cabaiguan Juan has been urging me to visit The W. Curtis Draper Tobacconist in Bethesda, Md, for months. Unlike much of the DC area, parking is plentiful. W.C. Draper is a big, friendly shop with a very comfortable lounge; lockers where regulars store their smokes and bottles of booze; a plasma TV; and plenty of tables where customers congregate for cards, dominoes, talk, and BYOB drinks.
The Undercrown and Uzi's were being featured in the main area. I like big ring sizes but the Uzis just looked over-the-top and outlandish.The "My Uzi weighs a Ton" reminded me of a retail clerk I encountered at an Apple Store. He was, short, weighed 300 pounds, had purple hair and a nose ring. I couldn't take the clerk seriously and I couldn't take the Uzi seriously. And I wasn't going to buy into either one.
The Undercrown, by comparison, was beautifully proportioned, the wrapper was flawless, oily and evenly firm, the stick adorned with an elegant blue and gold band. So, I purchased the Undercrown, in the double corona.
I took possesion of one of the easy chairs and unwrapped the stick. The cold draw was mild earth-tones. Cut and light were non-eventful. The first draw and the remaining first third was very disappointing. The smoke was plentiful enough, and creamy but without enough flavor or aroma to keep me interested. What flavor there was consisted of earth and leather with the barest hint of sweet spices. Since I'd already smoked two cigars that day, my inclination was to discount the impression and blame it on overloaded taste buds. However, others who tried the Undercrown after me, agreed that cigar was nothing special at first light, and the first third was way too mild and unchanging for their tastes.
However, things got more interesting on the second and final third. The flavor profile got sweeter and spicier the longer it was smoked, the gradient increasing right up to the last couple of inches. Hints of coco powder and roasted coffee beans dominated, with an undercurrent of smooth vanillas and earth.
"Liga Undercrown cigars are a "liga privada" created by Drew Estate's torcedors for their own personal enjoyment. Their unique Mexican Otapan Negro Último Corte wrapper harvest is delayed by over 4 weeks, resulting in a higher natural sugar content and a richer, creamier flavor. Add the Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan longfillers, T52 Connecticut stalk cut & cured Habano binder, and you've got a smoke that's lush, smooth, sweet and so marvelously complex, you'll want more." From Famous Smoke web site.
The burn was good all the way through, requiring no touch-ups - and I'm very particular about burn.
- Oliva Serie G
- Size:
- 7 x 50
- Shape:Churchill
- Wrapper
- Color:Maduro
- Origin:Connecticut
- Leaf Type:
- Broadleaf
I smoked the Oliva Serie G on Sunday night and I have to say I was favorably impressed.The Serie G was a lovely box pressed smoke and I knew I was going to like it just from the cold draw. I don't have a huge pallet of tastes and I seem to repeat myself but I tasted notes of roasted nuts, coffee and bitter chocolate. Their wasn't a dramatic profile that hit me. The Serie G matured as you smoked but perhaps wasn't as complex as the Undercrown in the last third. It did have more pepper kick than the Undercrown and that wasn't a bad thing.
This story hasn't ended. I'm going to have to smoke both a couple of more times. I will say that I will likely be buying a box of the Oliva Serie G. It could easily become one of my everyday smokes and I wouldn't be ashamed to gift it to a discerning guest. The Undercrown was about $8.60 a stick while the Oliva Serie G can be had for about $5.10. I don't think the Undercrown was 50% better.
But if nothing else, I've learned that mood, environment, company and other factors affect my opinions, so I will have to go through a few more sticks before rendering my final verdict. And the final verdict can be readily determined by only one factor. Did you like em enough to put out the bucks for more. I've already purchased additional Undercrowns and expect that I will pull the trigger on a box of Serie G in the near future.
