Vitola: Corona Gorda- 5.75” x 48 ring gauge
- MSRP $13
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
After running Miami’s El Titan de Bronze factory since the ‘90s, Willy Herrera joined Drew Estate in 2011. Under his stewardship—and in the years since—Titan has built a sterling reputation as one of the last factories in the U.S. that deals with hand made, premium cigars, employing only top-quality rollers who use the Cuban entubado and triple-cap styles.
After acclimating to the Drew Estate factory in Nicaragua, Willy introduced the original Herrera Esteli in 2013 and the Norteño in 2014. Now DE’s Master Blender, he has been at the helm of several other projects since then, including the Undercrown Shade and TAA-exclusive Herrera Esteli Maduro. He also decided to combined his past and present with a new Herrera Esteli-branded project blended and rolled at Titan de Bronze.
When asked about the new cigar, Drew Estate Master Blender Willy Herrera stated, “The journey at Drew Estate has taken me to new countries, and almost every state in the union. After 5 years, it was time to come home and work on a project where it all began for me. Going back to my roots and in my home where I was brought up has been such a blessing.”
The Herrera Esteli Miami comes in a since Corona Gorda vitola, in boxes of 10. It uses Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, and an Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro wrapper.
I bought a couple Herrera Esteli Miami sticks at Burns Tobacconist, where I work, smoking one immediately and holding onto the second for review purposes.
Image courtesy Drew Estate
Prelight
The Herrera Esteli Miami shares basic packaging looks with the rest of the line in various ways. The box is a simple flat display box with a flip-up lid, as seen in the Norteño line originally, as well as the Herrera Esteli TAA 2016. The band is a variation of the original band, with red and white reversed, and it’s been used on multiple “special” HE releases, including the TAA 2016, Tienda Exclusiva, and Inktome releases. Those also all had the secondary band in the same color scheme with more information designating the release; this time it’s “Miami” and “2016.” It’s basic and effective, not straying far from the look and spirit of the original release, even though a lot of these special releases share very little besides “spirit” with the original.
The wrapper leaf was a milk chocolate brown with a decent amount of oils and relatively small veins. It had an aroma of earth and leather to it, with just a tinge of cocoa powder in there, too. The foot had notes of wood and earth and black coffee.
It is unusually dry in the Southeast as I write this review. We haven’t had significant rain for over two months and the humidity has been way down to practically California levels, which has caused an outbreak of wildfires in East Tennessee and North Georgia. It also caused the wrapper to start getting dry on this cigar with it only being out of the humidor for 30 to 45 minutes before I cut it. So when I cut it, it cracked fairly badly.Not a “construction” issue…something to think about if you are in a dry environment, too.
The cold draw had flavors of wood and earth, a light touch of graham cracker and just a hint of pepper.
Flavor
The first third started off with plenty of cedar flavor up front, with some mild sweetness riding underneath with notes of earth. Pepper spice was at a medium level on the palate, but very strong on the nose. As I worked my way through the first third, the wrapper cracked a bit more near where I was smoking. I hoped it wouldn’t cause me to abandon the review, but that would be a possibility. The flavor continued to be quite woody, although as I got nearer the end of the first third, some Dominican earth and graham notes started coming more clearly into the profile.
The second third had thick Dominican earthiness with the graham notes tapering off a bit. Pepper spice and cedar were still prominent in the mix, and every now and then I would get a touch of citrus.
In the final third, the citrus notes picked up a bit, taking on a mix of orange sweetness and lemon zing. There was still a good amount of earth and cedar sticking around, as well as a touch of coffee in the background.
Construction
The cigar held together very well, despite the cracking from the dry weather. I had a great draw, solid ash and even-enough burn line.
Value
I always struggle with cigars rolled at Titan de Bronze because the cost of “American made” makes them so much more than Nicaraguan-rolled sticks. That being said, with the exception of the La Palina Goldie, this is probably the best blend I’ve had from the factory, so I’m calling it good value.
Conclusions
I found the Herrera Esteli Miami to be one of the best entries in the HE line from Drew Estate so far. It had a medium-plus body with a lot of nuance and subtlety, while most of the rest are fairly straight-forward flavor profiles. A couple of people have asked me if I prefer this to the TAA Maduro stick and I have to honestly say, “No,” but I do really enjoy this stick as it does represent a totally different experience. A very good addition to the line-up and a great win for Titan de Bronze.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
