Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage

By Tony Casas | April 8, 2024

Another beautiful weekend, another beautiful cigar. This week I take a run at the Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage Lancero.

The Good Stuff:

The H99 was originally added to the Liga Privada line in 2018. Since the release Drew Estate has continuously expanding the line adding additional formats. In 2022 the company announced the release of a much anticipated lancero vitola dubbed the “Phineas Gage”. The name comes from an American railroad construction forman donning the same name who was severly injured during an accidental explosion. Phneas Gage went on to survice 12 more years and become a marvel of science. Created at the La Gran Fábrica Drew Estate in Esteli, Nicaragua the blend features a USA-grown Connecticut Corojo over Mexican San Andres Negro binder and filler tobaccos from Honduras and Nicaragua. The Phineas Gage comes in a single 7 x 40 format which comes packaged in boxes of 10 runnign $19 per cigar. I purchased mine over from our good frineds at Cuenca Cigars.

• Size: 7 x 40
• Wrapper: USA Connecticut Corojo
• Binder: Mexican San Andres Negro
• Filler: Honduran and Nicaraguan
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $19

Prelight:

The Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage starts off with a very dark brown wrapper with a ton of orange and red splotches all over it. The wrapper’s texture is very toothy and gritty ith a whole mess of oils coating it. The wrapper is very thick and dense while the cigar itself is a little soft and feels a bit lightly packed. The wrapper carries a huge vein running almost the entire body of the cigar leading up to tis round, double-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with the beautiful Liga Privada white band with the words “Phineas Gage” printed accross the front.

The wrapper on the Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage gives off notes of spice and cinnamon while the foot of the cigar carries a ton of sweet spice over lots of woodsy-musk. The cap cut clean and easily while the cold draw produces notes of sweet spice and raisin over oak and musk.

First Third:

The Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage starts out with a very mild black pepper punch which fades almost instantly allowing the cigar to showcase some great spice and molasses flavors over musk and oak and lighter notes of vanilla and earthiness. The draw is absolutely perfect. Each tiny puff on this little lancero kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke which really hang out for a while before dissapating while the cigar releases a ton of stationary smoke as the oils burn off the cigar while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is dead even and razon thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white ash which held on for about 3/4 of a inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage and the flavor profile remains mostly the same. The vanilla, oak, and molasses lead the charge backed by lots of dirt, musk, and oakiness with a pretty dry finish. The retrohale brings out a little of the spice and some great hidden sweetness I don’t pick up in the regular experience. The cigar does need to be hit every so often as it has the tendacy to try and go out on its own. As long as I keep a good pace it burns great. I close out the second third with only a minor little nicotine kick.

Finish:

The final third of the Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage is pretty much the same as the second. The flavor profile remains lead by vanilla, oak and molasses while backed by dirt, spice and musk. The strength has really increased however which actually pumps up the body as bit as well. It took me almost 2 hours to take this down to the nub. I experinced no harshness, nor extended heat. There was a tiny bit of sap at the end which is liekly the result of the increased smokind speed needed to keep the cigar burning correctly. I clsoe out with a suprising little nicotine kick.

Overview:

The Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 Phineas Gage was an ejoyable smoke, however as with the other H99 blends I have smoked I just wish it had a bit more “umph”. Most of the cigars in the Liga Privada lines have something extra special to it. With the H99 it’s just a bit more tame. That doesn’t mean its a bad cigar by any stretch of the imagination. I just don’t think this one speaks to my own personal palate like all the other Liga Privada blends do.