Rare Tobacco: Drew Estate Cigars in Bangkok
Greetings Stackers, and apologies for this post if you’re not into cigars. But I made an astounding discovery in my local tobacco shop here in Silom last week, and I’m so excited I couldn’t not Stack about it. So here goes…
First, a little background info…in case you didn’t know, the best cigars on Earth are made in Cuba. And ever since the communist revolution there, the US has had a trade embargo against the country, which means that shipping and selling Cuban cigars is illegal in the US. Does it still happen? Of course. Smuggling stogies and hawking them behind closed doors ain’t the same as shipping dirty bombs, but still—it takes some backdoor shenanigans to buy them. Usually a long-term friendship with a single proprietor will do it. But the truth is, that shop owner does 99% of his business selling non-Cuban cigars.
And because there are 350 million people in the US, it’s a huge market for the non-Cuban makers. One of these is Drew Estate, who recently took the smoke scene by storm by churning out dozens of brands, all of which are absolutely stellar. I first learned of them when I tried and instantly loved their Liga Privada No. 9 and for a decade, I wouldn’t even try their other brands. I smoked Ligas, Padron Anniversarios, or Cubans, and nothing else. That all changed on my last visit to The States, where my younger brother recently took up the hobby of smoking and collecting cigars. He said he’d tried a few of the Acid line from Drew Estate, and he really liked them.
And so I decided to try as many DE sticks as I could get my hands on, which turned out to be a harder chore than it should’ve been in a city like Los Angeles, but there you are. By the time I boarded the plane back to Thailand, I had samples of Tabak, Java, Kentucky Fire Cured, Nica Rustica, 3 Undercrowns, 3 Herrera Estelis, 3 Deadwoods, and 20 Acre Farm. It took me six months to go through them all, and when my humidor was empty, I felt more than a little heartbroken.
Then two weeks ago, I was in Session in Silom Complex, where I get my Cuban H Upmanns and Romeo y Julietas, and the lady behind the counter casually mentioned she had new Nicaraguan cigars. I had zero interest and proceeded to open the Cuban cabinet when out of the corner of my eye I spotted what looked like an Acid Blonde. I pulled back the glass, and sure enough it was. And right next to it was what remained of a box of Fat Bottom Betty—one of the Deadwood line. I immediately cleaned out their stock of both and hurried to Shenanigan’s Pub in Patpong to sample a FBB.
You can find detailed tasting notes on this cigar elsewhere on the interweb, so I won’t waste your time with that. I wanted to see how it tasted when paired with different cocktails, so through the course of smoking it, I ordered red wine, then a Guinness, then a white russian. Here’s how it shook out:
As you may or may not know, cigars smoke in thirds. The first third of the stick smokes one way, with one set of flavors. The 2nd third smokes a different way with sometimes varying flavors, and that last third is its own experience, with still different flavors. So perhaps if I’d reversed the order of cocktails, the result might’ve been different but that research must wait for a different day. On this day, I started with a claret (cab-merlot blend). Now, in case you didn’t know, tobacco flavors and wine flavors overlap, and when they are brought together, they accentuate one another. For example, there were pepper notes in both the stogie and the wine, and so pairing them together at the start was a peppery delight. Betty’s tips are sweet-dipped, so the sweetness of the fruit in the wine, which would normally be barely detectable, leaped to the front of my palate like a song. Finally, faint hints of leather in the nose of the wine and the back end of the cigar pirouetted round each other like a Swan Lake libretto.
The 2nd third I paired with a pint of Guinness, and this was simply an explosion of coffee and chocolate. In fact, if I had any sense at all I would’ve cancelled the Guinness and ordered a Car Bomb. Imagine what Bailey’s and whiskey would add to the mix. But I digress. The stick and the stout melded together in a taste tapestry like something out of a Tolkien storyline. Imagine Frodo sitting under a tree, foot-bare and fancy free, but instead of a pipe, he’s puffing away on Fat Bottom Betty, singing a song while swigging the black stuff, and time stands still.
The final 3rd came with a white russian—which was served to me as a black russian with a side of cream, and I stupidly added too much cream (see the photo). And yet, it all turned out well. The rich complexity of the cigar as it neared its end was a perfect complement to the lulling sweetness of the cocktail. In fact, ‘twas almost too heady for my taste.
Overall, the cigar held its own from start to end, and left me with the kind of lilting buzz and happy, relaxed demeanor that makes this particular vice so utterly satisfying.
Next time, I’m going to substitute port for the wine, a Car Bomb for the Guinness, and brandy for the white rusky. I’ll let you know how it turns out.