Cigar Review: Nica Rustica by Drew Estate

Originally published at Tiki Bar Online

Toro, 6” x 52 ring gauge / ~$8

It’s fascinating to trace the line of “regular” cigars in the Drew Estate portfolio. Of course, one of their very first offerings was La Vieja Habana, a non-infused cigar with a bargain price tag (and it’s still available today, although mostly online). Drew Estate really made their mark on the industry in the early ‘00s, though, with Acid and Natural and Ambrosia…infused or otherwise “non-typical” tobacco blends. Next up was Chateau Real, which wasn’t bad, but wasn’t all that memorable, either. Then the big gamble: Liga Privada No. 9. How would the maker of Acid fare with super-premium full-bodied blends? Very well, thank you very much. Soon No. 9 was joined by T-52 and the Unico Series, then Drew Estate took a hard right turn toward something not just “regular” but completely traditional…even Cubanesque…with Willy Herrera’s Herrera Esteli. (And let’s not forget the MUWAT and Undercrown lines.) So while the non-traditional, infused cigars remain DE’s best sellers, they are increasingly joined by lines that aren’t employing essential oils, spices, coffee or other flavor enhancements. Which brings us to their newest blend: Nica Rustica.

I was first given a Nica Rustica when I visited the Drew Estate operation earlier this year for the “Blogger Cigar Safari.” I smoked it a couple weeks after coming home and I found it very interesting, quite unique and practically unsmokeable. From what we were told, the blend used a bit of wild, native tobacco from Nicaragua and that bit of leaf was so potent that it thoroughly kicked my butt with nicotine content. The wild, unrefined flavor sent my palate for a spin, too, but I think I could have hung with that if the nicotine content wasn’t so high. I was told that the blend would be changed somewhat before release and, sure enough…the final product has no mention of “wild tobacco.” Or maybe they domesticated some of the wild tobacco a bit through further cultivation…I don’t know. Bottom line is they are proud to say this is a rustic, un-polished, un-refined blend that is made for hard core leaf lovers. The fillers are “Grade A” Nicaraguan tobaccos from Esteli and Jalapa, the binder is Mexican San Andres Negro, and the wrapper is a Connecticut Broadleaf. Drew Estate sent me several samples of this for reviewing purposes; I’ve smoked at least 3 of them before this review sample. The blend is being offered currently in a single size.

The presentation of the Nica Rustica is very well done. The box is attractive and unique, with the large “El Brujito” design on the lid; El Brujito is the local Shaman would would use tobacco in ceremonial and medicinal rituals and the pictographic representation of him has become the mascot for this project. The banding has the pictograph on the reverse side, while the front has Nica Rustica in an early 20th century type of font, rendered in a dark red on a yellow-orange background (along with some art and minor type in black). I didn’t get the feeling they tried to ape some old Cuban band with this, but it also doesn’t look like anything DE has produced before, so…original, which is always difficult. On further inspection, the foot is closed (“fold-over” as I like to call it…like a bald man has a comb-over) and the cap is simply finished with a closely clipped pigtail. The wrapper was dark chocolate brown with some lighter mottling and it seemed like the larger veins of the Broadleaf wrapper had been flattened a bit before rolling. The leaf was oily to the touch; when held to the nose, I picked up notes of leather and manure as well as some cocoa powder. The prelight draw was very good and I picked up plenty of earth, as well as semi-sweet cocoa and some coffee bean flavors.

Image from the Drew Estate webiste

After lighting the Nica Rustica released a deeply earthy flavor with touches of anise, black pepper and wood. There were some sweeter notes as well, but the darker, rougher flavors held sway at the beginning. The retrohale had more pepper and wood. Like some other notable Drew Estate cigars, this stogie chugged out smoke at a prodigious rate, making it a great cigar to bring out to share second-hand smoke with others…not so good if folks around you object to massive amounts of smoke. By the end of the first third, the pepper had died down quite a bit and mostly I was getting dry, barely sweetened cocoa powder and dark roast coffee bean flavors. There was a distinctive flavor that I remember from the pre-release blend, as well as a bit of the harshness that cigar displayed, though not nearly so much as before.

The second third was heavy with flavors of anise and cedar, although the underlying earthiness remained strong as well. There was no pepper to speak of by this point. Construction was mostly very good, with a straight burn line, solid ash and great draw. The only drawback was when the cigar went out on me mid-burn. Nothing to do but re-light and it didn’t seem to adversely affect the flavor.

As I got into the final third, the earth flavors became deeper and more prevalent again, with a bit of espresso note as well. As billed, this was a medium-to-full bodied smoke and the nicotine strength was at a medium-plus level, making it possible to finish easily. The only thing I wished for was more sweetness to balance the earthiness, but even the presence of a Maduro wrapper and binder didn’t get that going in this case. I will say, though, that this was a very good example of Nicaraguan flavors and a very worthy addition to the Drew Estate catalog. And with the very reasonable price tag, it will be one that finds a place in my humidor often. Perhaps in the coming years they will expand the line with a thinner ring gauge vitola so we can see what happens when the wrapper flavor comes through more strongly.

Body: 8/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 7/10

AFP Scale

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10