Undercrown Gran Toro

This week's review is of the new cigar from Drew Estate, the Undercrown! I first heard about this cigar in February when I was visiting the DE factory and it was released at this years trade show. The story behind Undercrown is that DE asked their rollers to smoke less Liga Privada because there weren't enough to keep up with the demand for them, especially with how many the rollers were smoking. Undercrown was the rollers response to being asked to stop smoking Liga. A lot of the same rare tobaccos used in Liga Privada are used in Undercrown, but different primings and vintages. This makes for a more sustanable blend than Liga, making Undercrown a bit more available but still very high quality. This wrapper on Undercrown is a unique strain of San Andreas maduro that they call Otapan Negro Último Corte. Otapan is the name of the farm and Último Corte means last cut, as this wrapper is left in the field at least 4 weeks longer than normal. This extra time in the sun means there are more natural sugars in the wrapper. The binder is the famous T52 Stalk Cut Habano and the filler is Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan Tobacco. I am smoking the Gran Toro vitola, which measures at 6x52. Being a huge fan of Liga Privada I was very much looking forward to Undercrown being released. 

The Undercrown is a dark and oily cigar with a flawless wrapper. This has the same great construction that I expect to see in Liga Privada. I love the new band/artwork for this brand. (especially how easy the bands come off!) The aroma at the foot is of pungent barnyard and nicely aged tobacco. The prelight draw shows a perfect draw with flavors of earth and some dried fruit. Once lit the Undercrown starts off with thick and creamy smoke with some earth, leather and some sweetness on the finish. like Liga, this cigar puts off an insane amount of resting smoke. They should have called this the Drew Estate fog machine. I would put this down as a full flavored/bodied cigar with a medium amount of strength so far. This cigar is really smooth with absolutely no bite to it. The burn has been fairly even and the snowy white ash holds on for about an inch.

Closing in on the halfway point and I am really enjoying this Undercrown. The aroma coming off of this cigar is really interesting and difficult to explain. I could probably tell if someone was smoking this cigar in a room full of cigar smokers without even seeing the cigar, just by the aroma. I would say that the aroma is very much like what comes off of the Liga Privada T52. Some coffee has joined the leather and earthy flavor profile, and that sweetness is still on the finish. I am guessing that the sweetness comes from the Mata Fina tobacco. The strength has moved up to a medium/full as I reach the band. This cigar is still putting off an incredible amount of smoke, the exhaust fan in my cigar room can barely keep up! The flavor profile has remained consistent and tasty so far. This isn't one of those overly complex cigars, but every draw delivers a huge amount of rich, velvety smooth flavor. 

The Undercrown is a downright fantastic cigar! I love the bold, creamy flavor profile and how smooth it is. With the backstory to this cigar it will obviously be compared to Liga Privada, but it definitely stands on its own. There are some Liga-esque characteristics to it for sure, the room aroma being the big one for me. It doesn't have the spice or the strength as Liga but I like the change of pace. For me, this is a cigar that I can smoke early in the day or as the last cigar of the night. The price point on Undercrown is great as well, this Toro sells for about $7.95. So far I have smoked the Toro, Robusto and Double Corona and they have all been great. As long as Drew Estate is making these, I will be keeping a box in my humidor! 

My Uzi Weighs a Ton

Today's review is of the new cigar from Jonathan Drew, the My Uzi Weighs a Ton! This is a cigar he blended at Joya De Nicaragua using some of their tobaccos as well as some of his own from the Drew Estate factory. I taste tested the blend over the last 6 months and after some changes to the blend, it looks like JD is pretty happy with the end result. At Burning Leaf last week we did the pre release party for the Uzi with Jonathan. Right now it is only available in bundles of 10 in the 6x60 vitola, but after the trade show he is planning on releasing it in a 5x60 and 7x60 as well. As of now the only place to get the Uzi is at Burning Leaf. The blend consists of a Mexican San Andreas Negro wrapper, Connecticut binder, and a filler of Brazilian Mata Fina, Nicaraguan Ligero Estelí, Viso Condega and Seco Jalapa. This is really out of the box blend wise for something coming out of Joya De Nicaragua, who has always blended strictly Nicarguan cigars. People are going to gripe about this cigar only coming in a 60 ring gauge, but thats what JD wanted to do for the Uzi (at least for now) and there is definitely a market for cigars in that size. I am not normally a fan of 60 ring gauge cigars either, but I am always interested in what JD comes up with. The Uzi will be banded when it is officially released, but for now it comes sans band in cellophane. 

The Uzi is a monster of a cigar, this is a lot of tobacco! The wrapper is dark and oily with a ton of tooth and a few smaller veins running the length of the cigar. This is a hefty, solid cigar with a very evenly rolled feel to it. There is a great barnyard aroma at the foot with plenty of sweetness coming off of it. The draw is just right for this size and has a sweet chocolate flavor on the prelight draw. With a cigar this size its pretty important to take the time to get it lit evenly, which does take a little patience. The Uzi starts out with plenty of sweetness (a characteristic of all that Brazilian Mata Fina tobacco in the filler) and some leathery flavors. There is a mild amount of spice on the finish. From the get go this is a solid medium body/strength cigar with a very full flavor. I am getting pretty used to the size of this cigar as I smoke it. The smoke is very smooth on the palate with some cedar showing up in the flavor profile after around half an inch into it. The burn has needed a few touchups starting out, but I have noticed that isn't unusual for a cigar of this size, its a lot of tobacco to get burning evenly! The balance of flavors is really nice in this cigar, the ligero from Esteli (woody spicy characteristic) balances out all of the sweet Mata Fina. The sweetness is almost like a molasses, a darker sweet flavor. The ash holds on strong for 2 inches easily. I have found a lot of large ring gauge cigars tend to have crumbly ash, which isn''t the case with the Uzi. This is the third Uzi I have smoked and I must say they are very consistent. If you are curious about what Mata Fina tastes like, this is a great cigar to try. 

At the halfway point the flavor has stayed consistent with more of the same balanced sweetness. This is far from being boring, which is good because there is a lot of it to smoke! There is a touch more of that woody characeristic to the flavor profile at this point. The burn has needed a few touchups but it hasn't caused any issues and hasn't been out of control at all. These might be just a touch on the wet side as well (they did just come in from the factory this past week). At the end of the Uzi it is still a solid medium strength and full flavored cigar, right down to the nub. 

Even if you aren't a fan of 60 ring gauge cigars, give the Uzi a shot, you might be surprised! Even though I may not smoke a lot of 60 ring gauge cigars, I really enjoy smoking the Uzi. I am glad I have some of these in my humidor for those occasions that I want to spend a solid 2+ hours with a cigar. A lot of people at the release party weren't fans of large ring gauge cigars, but everyone that I talked to really seemed to enjoy this cigar. You do get used to smoking it after a few minutes and kind of forget how massive it is. At around $10 for the 6x60 I think it is very reasonably priced considering how large the cigar is and how well it smokes. So, even if you don't like this format in a cigar, give the Uzi A shot when they are officially released a little later this year. If you don't want to wait until the official release to try it, there are still some available at Burning Leaf in Plainfield, Illinois. I know I will be keeping some of these in my humidor, the flavor profile is pretty unique. The Uzi provides enough flavor for those who enjoy a fuller bodied cigar, but won't be too strong for those who prefer a more medium bodied cigar as well.