Drew Estate Liga Privada 10 Aniversario

By Tony Casas | March 27, 2023

I have been itching to get this review in for some time now. This week I am finally taking a look at the long awaited Drew Estate Liga Privada 10 Aniversario.

The Good Stuff:

It’s no secret that I am a Liga Privada fan. When the H99 and 10 Aniversario dropped I went hunting, however it took me way longer to acquire both of these blends as the release was so limited they flew off shelves. Created to celebrate the Liga Privada’s 10 anniversary the 10 Aniversario arrives in style. The blend features a Connecticut Criollo wrapper over a Mexican San Andres Otapan Negro Ultimo Corte binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Pennsylvania USA. The cigar comes in a single 6 x 52 format that features the same unique fan-tail style cap as the UF-13 and a covered foot. The cigars come packed in boxes of 10 running $17.90 per stick with only 10,000 cigars have been released. I purchased mine from our good friends over at Cuenca Cigars who offered them in singles and boxes at the time.

• Size: 6 x 52
• Wrapper: Connecticut Criollo
• Binder: Mexican San Andres Otapan Negro Ultimo Corte
• Filler: Pennsylvanian and Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Funk
• Price: $17.90

Prelight:

The Liga Privada 10 Aniversario starts out with a very consistent, very dark brown wrapper. The wrapper carries some slight grit and a whole mess of oils that come off on your hands and you handle the cigar. The wrapper itself feels very hard and dense while the cigar as a whole is extremely heavy and well-packed. There are a few smaller veins running from the cigar’s covered foot up to the pigtail/fan-tail styled cap. The cigar is finished off with a first that I’ve seen, a black version of the Liga Privada band featuring the Lion crest with a number 10 on the back and the standard Liga Privada script on the front in silver. There is also an added secondary band with the word “Aniversario” on the front.

The wrapper on the Liga Privada 10 Aniversario gives off mostly coffee and cedar-forward aromas. The foot is much of the same with a little bit of earthiness and spice leaking out. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces notes of coffee, sweetness, musk and cedar.

First Third:

The Liga Privada 10 Aniversario leads with a black pepper punch that left my lips tingling. After the first few draws the pepper fades and the cigar left me with bold cedar, sweet brown sugar, espresso, plum, and musk over lighter floral and earthy flavors. The cigar really starts off with a bang. There is a certain floral flavor that I pick up in only two other blends, the Dirty Rat and Undercrown Corona Viva. It’s one of my favorite flavors I have ever had in a cigar and the 10 Aniversario carries a ton of it. The draw is perfect as each little puff kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke while the cigar just unleashes a massive amount of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. I seriously have never seen a cigar spill this much stationary smoke. The burn line started out a bit wild, likely due to the covered foot, but it corrected itself after the first few draws leaving behind a very tightly compacted trail of white ash which held on for about an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

I am just absolutely loving the Liga Privada 10 Aniversario. I’m not even going to be shy about it. That unique floral flavor is still banging into the second third backed by vanilla, espresso, musk, and espresso over some great maltiness, cedar, black cherry, and earthiness. The retrohale really brings out the sweetness and a bit of spice as I find myself doing it quite often. The cigar is still burning perfectly. I close out the second third with a decent little nicotine kick already.

Finish:

I can’t believe that awesome floral flavor is still rocking from start to finish of this Liga Privada 10 Aniversario. Backed by bold espresso, vanilla and musk with lighter raisin, pecan, and cedar. This cigar has been a flavor bomb from the get go. It took me a little over two hours to smoke this cigar down to the nub and I loved every second of it. No harshness, no extended heat, and I never once had to reach for my torch to touchup or relight the cigar. I close out with a pretty heavy nicotine kick and a smile.

Overview:

This is by far one of the better cigars I have smoked in recent memory and one of the best Liga Privada blends I have had to date. The flavor profile in the 10 Aniversario is just something to behold. Bold, complex, and extremely enjoyable. The cigar burned flawlessly from start to finish and at a slower rate with made the $17.90 price tag well worth it. I just wish these were easier to come by. Hopefully the success of the cigar makes Drew Estate realize how big the want is for these suckers cause I’d really like to stock up!