Liga Privada T52 Robusto

[DrinkSmokeGolf]

BREAKDOWN

Brand: Drew Estate

Name: Liga Privada T52

Type: Robusto

Country: Nicaragua

Wrapper/Filler/Binder: Connecticut Sungrown Habano/Brazilian Mata Fina/Nicaraguan and Honduran

Date Smoked: October 3, 2012

Paired With: Macallan 12

Tasting Notes:

This cigar started out on an amazing note. Very oily and buttery. The flavour profile muted somewhat as I got through it but it was a very enjoyable cigar. Construction was perfect. Smoking time was a little over 1 hour.

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Hi all! I had some free time last night (very rare these days!) as my daughter passed out on the couch around 6:30pm! As she snored away I snuck out onto the deck for a Liga Privada T52 robusto. Here is how Drew Estate describes the cigar:

Meticulously blended over a period of two years to be a worthy humidor companion to our much heralded Liga Privada No. 9 recipe. With notes of black pepper and spice, it is our company president’s personal choice when desiring a stronger, more robust smoke. Like its predecessor, it is a complex marriage of seven distinct aged tobaccos handcrafted by only our absolute best torcedors. Each cigar is guaranteed to be flawless in construction, flavor and character…without exception.

The T52 story is about leaf, and the pursuit across continents to find it. Add in two gambling spirits willing to roll the dice & wait, patiently, for the magic to be revealed.[/font]

Well let’s get started! Here is how she looked prior to cutting. A beautiful looking cigar no doubt!

This cigar got off to a beautiful start. Right off the bat I was hammered with tons of smoke. My mouth felt coated with lush, oily smoke. Lots of butter and cedar. On the contrary to Drew Estate’s description of the cigar, I found very little spice.

One thing I noticed about this cigar is the amount of smoke it puts off! It’s almost comical. Even at rest this thing just pours out rich, oily smoke. This did not come as a big surprise as the other Liga’s I’ve tried reacted similarly. By the way, I’m pairing this cigar with Macallan 12. A beautiful easy drinking single malt.

As things progressed the initial oily, buttery profile started to taper off. This was rather unfortunate as the first third of this cigar proved to be the star of the show. Nevertheless, it remained an excellent cigar. At this point in the smoke, the strength picked up a little and I caught a nice nicotine buzz. It was not overpowering, but I could certainly notice it. The flavour profile is shifting towards some earth and cedar notes.

The cigar at this stage is burning beautifully. Flawless construction on this one. Ash is holding strong…

As I continued to work my way through this beauty, the strength leveled out and it was just an all around enjoyable smoke! The dominant flavour nearing the end is cedar. Overall smoking time was a little over an hour. I could have kept smoking it but it did start to become slightly bitter at the end so I put it down. Overall, a big thumbs up from me!

[rcarlson]

I love these. The No. 9s are really kick-ass too.

[CaptainQuintero]

I was bombed with some cigars a few months ago and a flying pig was in the package, really nice! I'm hunting the corona gorda they have and I bet the thinner ring guage would be amazing!!

[SuprHasan]

I was bombed with some cigars a few months ago and a flying pig was in the package, really nice! I'm hunting the corona gorda they have and I bet the thinner ring guage would be amazing!!

T52 has a justifiable cult following. The Feral Flying Pig is excellent as is the L40 lancero. Track them down if you can. Oh, and the Dirty Rat

[Hoshneer]

Sweet jeebus, I literally am in love with this cigar. In fact I love all the Ligas.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[CaptainQuintero]

Thought I would add a little bit of liga porn as we're all on the same page! Took this from a review I did back in the Summer!

I can see why these have their name!

Great flavours, it was always medium/full bodied.

Started off with vanilla, expresso and a nutty background flavour. Bits of chocolate coming in and a definite cow **** armoa/taste. Not in a bad way, some Monte have this, very nice My mouth was coated with oil, very ncie too!

Second thired continued with smooth and rich leather, the coffee from the first third was still present. The nuttiness was still playing in and out and there was a lovely fruity blueberry making a show.

Final third a tangy liquorice was appearing, still the rich coffee. Sweet oil is still coating my mouth, in fact the cigar in general has turned up the sweetness.

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Viva la Liga!

[nikesupremedunk]

Ligas are one of the few NC's I enjoy enough to have some in my stash. I've tried T52, No 9, FFP, and the dirty rat and love them all with the FFP being my favorite. Tastewise, it's not as good as CC's but the construction and the smoke production is what keeps me going back for more even though they're very expensive. Great review btw!

[Charltonc]

These can be good, but they put oils on the wrapper to make them sheen.

[jrb5783]

I smoked a No.9 this summer and wasn't very impressed with it. The flavors seemed muted to me. Thats my only experience with the Ligas I may have try try a few more

[Wil]

Really?

[mk05]

Dip a paper towel in hot water and wrap the cigar in it. If a lot of color runs out, you will know.

[Hypersomniac]

Every Liga Privada I have (or have smoked) has been gifted to me. I actually got a T52 Toro, T52 Robusto, Dirty Rat, and Feral Flying Pig today.

[CaptainQuintero]

Hi All,

Every couple of weeks or so I do a google search on Drew Estate, Liga

Privada, Acid, etc... and this thread was one of the new hits.

I am scoping it out and was cruising along fat and happy until I read

BrianL's contention that we manipulate the wrapper color on Liga

Privada, so I decided to reply - for better or worse.

First off, on this topic - yes some manufacturers have in the past and

still do manipulate their maduro leaf to achieve a darker, more even

color, but let me share with you some info:

Maduro is a color designation but it is also a reference to specific

varieties of air cured black tobaccos which require longer fermentation

at a high bulk temp. For example, most habano seed capas will seldom be

allowed to exceed 110 degrees in a bulk, while some CT Broadleaf will

require temps over a 125 degrees to just get it going. So while any

cigar can be maduro in color, true maduro cigars are ones wrapped with

CT Broadleaf, Penn Broadleaf, San Andreas Negra, Costa Rican Morron,

Brazilian Matafina, Aripriaca, etc. So it is important that just

because a cigar may be maduro in color, it does not mean it is actually

a cigar with Maduro wrapper.

Each variety of maduro capa has it own specific traits, for example CT

Broadleaf is a very large, elephant shaped leaf with an inherent

natural sweetness and an absolute pain in the ass to work with on the

floor, while Aripriaca is long and thin, very elastic and extremely

spicy - these are the typicals not the not always.

When you work with maduro capas on bench, they must be incredibly wet

to handle. In fact, cigars rolled with maduro capa must be done on a

metal tabla vs. the traditional wood one you see in almost all cigar

rolling photos. The also require special wicking (drying) right after

their manufacture in order to prevent flat faces and streaking before

being place in the traditonal escapartes. Another unique trait of

maduro cigars is they almost always shrink at least one ring size, ie.

you use 52 ring mold, but after 60+ days of aging the will almost

always be 51 (and sometimes 50) in gauge. Some makers use larger molds,

ie. a 54 to make 52s, while others like ourselves just list the

original mold size on our frontmarks.

As for modifying the color, there is a variety of ways of achieving this, naturally and artificially.

1) Naturally - by leaving the tobacco in the pilon/bulk longer and/or

allowing to ferment at higher temperatures before each turn of the bulk.

2) Naturally - by bale resting the tobacco for 6 months plus after

fermentation - this doesn't typically change the hue as much as it

evens the color out to the darkerest shade on the leave achieved in the

bulk.

3) Naturally - utilizing water in which tobacco stems have been allowed

to steep for sometimes weeks as the water added to the bulk for the

purposes of fermentation. This is a very time honored, Cuban practice

which not only results in a darker leaf, but also a spicier one.

4) Steaming - also called cooking or steeping. This is not achieved in

some giant vat like some of the posters have written, doing so would

destroy the leaf. Rather it is done in a small vessel typically 10

gallons in size to which steam is applied for approximately 60 minutes.

This technique is not only done to achieve a very dark color, it also

mellows the tobacco out making it much mellower and milder to smoke.

5) Painiting - this is done by typically achieved by wiping down the

cigar gently after it has been constructed with some sort of mixture.

This can be done wither Naturally or Artificially - some are recipes

that are all natural just using the oils from the stems or picadura or

the are artificial ones that contain coloring agents. Again there is a

long history of the natural methodology, the artificial stuff really

only came into practice within the premium industry during the boom.

6) Maduro-Matic - this is a name use to describe technique #5 but done

with a machine in which the wrapper is passed through roller s. Almost

always the coloring used it artificial.

There are other techniques, but the above covers the bulk of the methods employed.

Obviously the natural techniques are a-ok, so I believe the primary

concern as a consumer is the artificial ones. The question is how can

you tell the difference?

First off it is done really well, it is very hard for someone who

doesn't really intimately know tobaccos and how to manufacture cigars

to tell the difference.

Just having some dark stains come off the wrapper alone is -NOT- a fair

indicator, because all natural maduro wrappers will cause staining to

the skin with moisture due to their inherent oiliness. If you ever have

to opportunity to visit a cigar factory, just look at the hands of the

workers, unlike the manicure perfect hands shown in the pictures in

magazines and books, every worker's hands are stained, even those

working with BW color shade leaf. And those rolling maduro, their hands

are sometime near black! Everyone just stages those photos, we pick out

a pretty rollera with nice hands, she washes up, we clean up the bench,

etc. etc. just to make a pretty picture. Fwiw, it tough to even take

good pictures of people rolling cigars because they move too fast and

their hands are in the way, so 99% of the photos everyone see are

posed...

Also if you ever happen to be in any cigar factory, just because you

see someone wiping down a cigar with a sponge do not assume they are

dying the wrapper. Almost all factories regularly wipe their finished

cigars gently with water (except those with blonde wrappers which are

wipe dry with a soft cloth) to remove dust and/or any debris. And that

little water bowl's content become quite brown after just wiping a

couple of dozen sticks.

So it is not uncommon that from a really oil maduro for you to be able

to get staining while you smoke or if you were to wipe the cigar along

a sheet of paper.

However, there typically is a difference in the staining, a certain hue

and depth to it. I really cannot explain it in text, but someone with

true tobacco experience can tell.

One of the best ways for the consumer to tell if the wrapper has been artificially colored is the following:

Is the wrapper too perfect? The color is always even everywhere with no

color difference in the veins or texture, is the wrapper always extra

extra dark, does it seem to stain far more than other cigars. Now if

you think it is painted, well this is pretty easy to check.. peel the

wrapper off, look at its underside, almost all capas will be a

SIGNIFICANTLY different hue on the underside. Now don't confuse slight

difference because the oil always migrate to the exterior, so the

exterior will always be shinier - keep this in mind.

When it comes to steamed leaf the color will appear the same on both

sides, however it will always be nearly jet black and the actually

grain of the leaf will be matte. Sometimes if it is really over steamed

you will even notice a slight greyness when you reflect light across

its surface. But again, don't confuse the grey of a cigar with plume

vs. one that is due to steaming.

I hope this provides everyone with some info to assist in making your

own judgements, but at the same time I ask that people exercise

judgement when they start claiming such and such a cigar is

artificially darkened. Please understand that this is our livelihood

and false accusations not only can be parroted, but very damaging and

unjustly so.

At Drew Estate we only employ the natural #1 and #2 techniques

described above and I take issue with anyone stating differently and

please ask for others to refer them to my comments if you ever see this

accusation again - much thanks.

Hope this helps,

Steve Saka

President, Drew Estate, Inc.

[Charltonc]

Just hearsay from working at a cigar store in the states too long should not have stated. I apologize.

[Wil]

Thanks for posting QC. That was a fascinating read.

It's a shame there isn't more info like this available.

[CaptainQuintero]

No prob! I was of the same opinion about dyes and other less than honest methods used in the NC industry before I stumbled across the article about six months ago.

[kuzi16]

the T-52 IMHO is the best thing that Drew Estates has ever put out.

im not sure they add color but i do know they add oils.

During the fermentation of these cigars DE introduces more oils to the mix in a process where they wet the leaves from water that has been steeped in tobacco stems of black tobacco.

Saka himself made reference to this in the past while discussing why their cigars put out huge volumes of smoke.

[Guest RobbieG]

LP has a permanent place in my regular rotation. Most of the offerings are truly exceptional. The 9s capture that glorious earthy sweeteness only broadleaf has better than any other cigar with the exception of Tat 7th Resevas IMO. I also love the T52 leaf blends for different reasons. Very little sweetness and a very unique combination of leather and spice. What's especially interesting is the responsiveness of this leaf to subtle blend changes. The Dirty Rat is my fav with this leaf at a 44 ring but of the production T52 blend my fav vitola is actually the double corona and I am normally not a DC smoker. Remarkable how much difference there is between the 52 ring toros and robustos and the 54 ring DC. It's sort of like that cover leaf loves very small and very large rings. All lovers of the 52s should try comparing a toro or robusto with a DC from the same production batch if you get the chance. And the aroma....ahhhmanishun. Think I'll go grab one now.

[nikesupremedunk]

^The Robustos are actually also 54.

[Guest RobbieG]

^The Robustos are actually also 54.

Indeed, though the DCs smoke quite a bit cooler IME.