The Pope of Greenwich Village by Drew Estate

• Vitola: Panatela
• 6” x 40 ring gauge
• $8.50 per stick
• Provided by Drew Estate.

Background

Early in 2015, Drew Estate announced that they would be working with Smoke Inn to release another in the store’s very popular Microblend series. This new cigar would be called “The Pope of Greenwich Village.” It shares a name with a 1984 film that starred Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke and Daryl Hannah, but I can’t tell if there is any other connection besides the strange name as DE’s press release doesn’t say.

As is typical for the Microblend series, one size one released, this time a Petite Lancero or Panatela (depending on who you’re talking to, I guess). It was blended by Willy Herrera and shares some characteristics with Liga Privada T-52 (Connecticut Stalk Cut Habano) and Undercrown (Mexican San Andres), among other blends. Willy says, “Anyone who has smoked cigars that I’ve blended knows I like spice, but I didn’t go overboard here. The blend is balanced, bold, and just really good. The small ring gauge definitely amplifies the flavor, and I think this is a winner.”

The cigar uses the aforementioned Mexican and Connecticut leaves as wrapper and binder, respectively, then uses Nicaraguan and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers. They were packaged in 10-count soft packs for $85.00 and when I was writing this they seemed to have plenty left. This is my first time smoking this cigar and it was provided by Drew Estate.

Prelight

This Pope does have a funny hat…at least on the sticker that seals the cellophane shut. The band is simple with a dark red background and dull gold foil type that approximately handwriting for the long name of the cigar. It’s honestly a little hard to read in normal lighting, the the band doesn’t stand out that well from the wrapper leaf.

I noted that the milk chocolate shade of brown and oily smoothness of the wrapper did not look much like Mexican San Andres. It did have a rich, ripe earthiness to it, though, that did make me think “Mexican” when I held it to my nose. The foot of the cigar had more earth and some coffee and cocoa powder notes.

Once clipped, the Pope had a good draw with a very sweet overall flavor profile, featuring chocolate and berry notes and an undercurrent of coffee and earth.

Flavor

When lit, there wasn’t quite as much sweetness in the Pope as was indicated on the cold draw. What I got was loads of earth and espresso bean, a bit of unsweetened cocoa, and dull red pepper spice. The retrohale was almost exclusively red pepper, with a bright and sharp quality to it. As I continued to puff along, there were notes of dried fruit and anise in the mix as well.

The second third saw an increase in body from medium, where it started, to full. I got more earth and espresso flavor, with the bitterness that goes with that, along with a mild sweetness that balanced it pretty well. The pepper spice hung on in the background.

During the last third, I got more dark chocolate flavors with a corresponding decrease in coffee and earth, all the while the pepper spice hung in just barely.

Construction

I had an excellent draw, very even burn line and solid ash up to almost an inch at times.

Value

This was a very good cigar at a very fair price.

Conclusions

The Pope of Greenwich Village is a very good cigar that is different enough from anything else Drew Estate has produced to be called “unique” and yet familiar enough to definitely appeal to those who like the Liga Privada, Undercrown or Norteño lines. I particularly liked the vitola and the fact that it was expertly crafted to give a fantastic draw and smoking experience. To top it all off, the price was very good. I’ll definitely be ordering some of these when money is available…if they are still available at that time, that is. You’ll probably need to act fairly quickly on these as they surely won’t last indefinitely.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10