drew estate liga ferral flying pig
so i splurged on a box of these after I was forced to buy a new car a few months ago. they were my favorite stick from the 2013 era, and i got them based on that memory alone. I was disappointed after smoking the first one as I thought they were a little too strong for me after all these years, or perhaps the quality had gone down by a bit, I couldn't tell. They weren't "bad," and I smoked 4 of them in the first month trying to make myself like them, but just couldn't get there.
I tried to sell the remaining cigars and I would have sold them for a steal. A few ppl offered me extreme lowballs or expressed interest and then ghosted me, and to them I offer my sincere gratitude because I just fired one up yesterday and these are friggin amazing. I wanted to see if a few months of age impacted the flavor before listing them on the trade forum that I now have access to, and to my surprise there was a complete change. No longer for sale, you snooze you lose.
I think I've just seen my first case of cigars that needed a "few months to rest." I've heard this mentioned before and I don't understand the mechanics at play. Isn't the tobacco aged at the factory? And ppl who age cubans let them sit for years, not 4 months. What does letting them sit for a few months accomplish exactly?
Whatever it is, these cigars seen to be a perfect example of that phenom. At first they were just a little too edgy, with ripe burnt espresso/coffee flavors all the way down. They are still intense, but more mellow and complex at the same time. The flavors play nicely together and aren't clashing like they did 4 months ago. At the price these cost, it would have been nice if they would have been a home run right out of the box, but that's life.
I also have to wonder how many other sticks that I haven't liked would have been great with a few months of rest... the world may never know.
There aren't a lot of transitions with ligas, and this one is no different. Just balls to the wall grassy, earthy, musty flavors the whole way down. I got a bit of leather and nuts here and there. Didn't get as much coffee as I did a few months ago when they were "too young," but it's there faintly. There was a pepper blast initially, but it faded after a few minutes.
Glad to see these are still a smoke bomb. At times I could see clouds of smoke hovering over by my driveway from this beast (20-30 feet away.) Just be warned that your eyes can be a little irritated the next day after smoking one of these.
I will also add that these are spirit cousins to the Dunbarton Mi Querida, and it would be hard to choose between the two in the future.
Body - Full+
Strength - Average
Rating - 9/10