Quick Cigar Review: Undercrown | Dogma

*Note: This is not a blind review, this is just to give a quick take on a cigar that was provided to us by the manufacturer.

The Undercrown Dogma is a special release made by Drew Estate to celebrate the Cigar Dojo community. They are sold in bundles of 10 and sold exclusively through Smoke Inn. The MSRP on the cigar is $9.95 each, and as of this moment is showing as out of stock. The cigar is based on the Drew Estate Undercrown Maduro Corona ¡Viva! blend. The original Undercrown was created back in 2011. The story goes that the crew of factory and rollers Liga Privada all day. Eventually, that became a problem as there simply wasn’t enough tobacco for them to smoke, so they came up with a blend that used similar tobaccos and had a similar flavor profile, but readily available.

Initial Impressions:

I received two samples, and as Halfwheel mentioned, I also received one that had a noticeably darker wrapper than the other. The one that I am smoking for this review is the darker of the two. The wrapper is a deep milk chocolate brown. Veins are quite visible along with some that are raised. The seams are nice and tight. I would categorize this as a soft box press. I get a very faint cocoa aroma from the wrapper. From the foot I get a slight raisin type sweetness.

The Smoke:

Nothing much to note from the pre-light draw other than a slight tobacco sweetness and a hint of spice on the lips. After lighting, I am immediately greeted by a blast of spice and wood with a hint of chocolate that I would liken to a spicy chocolate mole sauce. Almost immediately, those strong flavors fade away and settle into a peppery wood note with the pepper really coating my tongue. In typical Drew Estate fashion, the

cigar puts out lots of smoke while resting. At about ¾” in, the pepper has really mellowed with the wood taking over as the dominant flavor. Some creaminess has made its way in to mix with the woodiness and a subtle spice continues to linger on my tongue. The ash held on for almost the entire first third.

The second third continues with the same woodiness. A slight spice has come back in and rests on the back of my tongue. Woodiness pretty much dominated the remainder of the third with slight notes of cream and spice.

In the final third, the pepper came back and made its home on the roof of my mouth and my tongue. Shortly thereafter the pepper faded and gave way to the woodiness again. The creaminess is maintained on the retrohale even though the flavor doesn’t present itself on the draw.

Overall Impressions:

The draw was good. A little tighter than I prefer, but perfectly acceptable. I would describe the burn of the first third as wandering. It was all over the place, but never got too far out of whack that it couldn’t catch up with itself. It never required any attention other than to set the cigar down on different sides to keep the slow burning portion on the bottom while it rested. After the first third it really straightened out and stayed pretty sharp the rest of the way.

The cigar was firm along the entire length. The wrapper didn’t quite make it all the way down to the foot as you can see just a bit of the binder. No construction issues presented themselves during the smoking of the cigar.

I really dug the flavors I got right off the bat as well as the pepper that was there for the first inch or so. After everything mellowed out, it became a little less interesting. Slight transitions of creaminess went along with the wood. Not a bad cigar when wood was the dominant flavor, just not as desirable as the previous flavors. As others have said, I would rate this above the standard Undercrown, but below the original Corona ¡Viva!. I will revisit the second sample I received in a couple of months to see how the cigar performs with a little bit of rest.

This cigar lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes for me.

I would give the Undercrown Dogma a personal score of 88.

-Aaron

Quick Cigar Review: Undercrown | Dogma