Undercrown, the newest traditional cigar line from Drew Estate, is nearly ready for its much anticipated mid-September debut in tobacco shops across the country.

Described by company co-founder Jonathan Drew as an "inverse Liga Privada," Undercrown's blend consists of many of the same tobaccos found in Drew Estate's Liga Privada No. 9 and T52 lines, but with a twist.

As the story goes, the torcedores in the Drew Estate cigar factory were smoking too many Liga Privadas, so they blended the Undercrown for themselves after they were told to stop depleting the Liga Privada inventory. Rather than use Connecticut wrapper used on Liga Privada blend, which is always in very limited supply at the factory, the rollers turned to the equally dark Mexican San Andrés Negro.

"We have the farmer harvest the tobacco later than is common to increase the starch in the leaf so that when it is air cured, it results in higher levels of natural sugars," said company president Steve Saka. He said this practice means the harvest is delayed by four or more weeks.

The torcedores also "inverted" Undercrown's binder and filler tobaccos, too, using the same leaf in a Liga Privada blend but from different vintages and primings on the plant. For instance, the stalk-cut Connecticut used as a wrapper on the Liga Privada T52 is the binder in the Undercrown blend.

The complete line, which comes in unfinished boxes of 25 cigars, comes in five sizes: Robusto (5 by 54); Gran Toro (6 by 52); Belicoso (6 by 52); Corona Double (7 by 54) and Gordito (6 by 60). The suggested retail price runs from $7.45 to $9.95. Drew says a Corona and Demitasse size will soon join the rest of the line.

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