Liga Privada T52

Liga Privada T52 was the tremendously successful followup to Drew Estate’s groundbreaking Liga Privada No. 9 cigar. The cigar was the result of Drew Estate’s gambling on a unique “American Habano” leaf, which was an experimental project for a farm in the Connecticut Valley, US. The tobacco incorporated a stalk-cut and curing process typically used for Broadleaf tobacco—where the plant is cut at the base (instead of harvested in multiple primings) and hung upside down in curing barns—allowing the leaves to feed on the stalk during the curing process. As this farm was set to cease production, Drew Estate was able to secure and continue growth of the tobacco through purchasing the entire crop.

Multiple blends were crafted over the years, with the final blend being released to the public in 2009. In layman’s terms, Liga Privada T52 is the Habano to Liga Privada No. 9’s Maduro. Or, as Jonathan Drew explains:

This was a blend that was in a holding pattern for a very long time, as we were working with a new stalk-cut capa since September of 2006. To be blunt, this leaf is a pain in the ass and I thought we might have pissed away $400k on it. Luckily, we didn’t and the result is phenomenal in my opinion. Anyhow, there were seven base iterations of the T52 blend. As fate would have it, #3 and #4 again turned out to be the best, even though the T52 #3/#4 differ from the Liga Privada No. 9 #3/#4 – and again the #4 was the stronger of the lot. For months, I was sold on the #3, then the #4, then #3, and so on – we even put the #4 into real production, to change our minds yet again – in the end, the final blend is actually between the two… so #3.5 is the official Liga Privada T52 blend. Ya got all that!

—Jonathan Drew