Herrera Esteli by Drew Estate Robusto Extra

The Herrera Esteli is Willy Herrera’s (And Drew Estate’s) attempt at a “Cuban” cigar. It’s rolled with traditional “entubado” bunching, in which each leaf is rolled into a little tube, which is supposed to help keep a better draw. I’ve had a few of these in the past, and though I found them delicious, I did have the wrapper split on about 50%, which was an issue with first release of this stick. I don’t find that it’s much like any Cuban cigar I’ve had as far as flavor profile, but perhaps in presentation and rolling style. One interesting note, the band is based off an obscure Cuban Bolivar band (which can be seen in some of the lower pictures here). Let’s dive in!

Statistics

CotM: September 2013



September 2013





Shape: Parejo







Chosen by: Axemen911







Size: 5 1/2″ x 52







Country of Origin: Nicaragua







Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano







Binder: Honduran







Filler: Nicaraguan







Color: Colorado Claro

Colorado Claro





Strength: Medium







Price Paid: $9.35

$9.35





Smoke Date: 9/20/13

9/20/13





Age: 2 weeks

Accessories Used

Cuban Crafters Perfect Cutter (Silver & Carbon Fiber), Silver & Chrome Vector Stratos single-flame torch lighter, Handmade English walnut ashtray made by wedgewoodrings. [Ignore the yellow Bic in the background. That,… uh, doesn’t belong to me.]

Pairing

Uji Gyokuro Karagane loose leaf Japanese green tea in a Japanese blue dragonfly teapot and white china cup with blue accents and pink orchid. The tea was truly exquisite–my favorite green tea. It’s sweet, buttery, vegetal taste was a delicious counterpoint to the cream and pepper of the Herrera Esteli. The tea was so good, it almost made up for the shortcomings of the stick.

Appearance/Nose

The Habano wrapper was smooth and brown, with a little bit of chocolate-caramel mottling. A Cuban-style triple-cap topped it off. The gold/white/red band is printed on a slightly textured paper that gave it a bit more of an “old-world” feel. The cold stick gave off scents of Eastern spices and cereal grains.

Construction

At first glance, the contruction appeared to be excellent. The wrapper was smooth and uniform. The triple-caps were on mostly-straight. There were no major soft or hard spots evident to a squeeze. The burn was straight and even the whole way through, except for some trouble in the end of the first third when I ignored the cigar for a couple minutes and it began to tunnel. The ash was white and firm, though it fell off unexpectedly while attempting to fix the tunneling issue. It continued to drop unexpectedly and flake off. The wrapper cracked and split in the final third.

Cold Draw

The wrapper cracked a teeny bit when I cut the head. I was hopeful that this would not turn into a full-blown split. The cold draw was very similar to the nose,with Indian spice, cereal grains, and pepper. The draw itself was smooth and even.

Smoking

First third

The first few puffs were fairly mild. There was a bit of black pepper on the retrohale, but the flavor was mostly bread, cream, and a bit of sweetness. The draw was perfect. The sweetness began to intensify as the smoking continued.

About a centimeter in, the pepper began to intensify as well. This was definitely black pepper, and not he curry spices detected on the nose and cold draw. The burn was very even and straight.

The flavor at this point was definitely on the mild side of medium. So far, the crack near the head has been playing very nice and not causing any trouble. I got distracted and let the stick sit for about two minutes without puffing, and it began to tunnel.

Once I realized what was happening, I gave it a good purge to get the wrapper re-lit, and The ash tumbled off at about an inch-long.

Second third

Moving into the second third, there was no major change in flavor. There was a bready, cereal base with some sweetness and black pepper evident mostly on the retrohale.

Smoke production, which was at medium in the first third, ramped up to thick, full, clouds in the second third. The flavor remained on the mild side–noticeably milder than the Herrera Esteli short coronas I’ve had in the past.

Just when I thought I was going to get through this stick without a split, a large, inch and a half crack appeared out of nowhere running from the head to the band.

Final third

The flavor hadn’t changed a bit since the middle of the first third. It’s alright, but not very complex or special. When it came time to remove the band, I was very apprehensive about worsening the large crack. The band came off very easily, but the ash, only at about a half inch, topped off again while I was removing the band.

The band came off very easily and did not do any further damage, but the crack had already gone underneath it. When the burn line reached the crack, it began to split and peel.

The flavor and draw were not affected by the split, as the binder stayed intact, but it was still annoying and unsightly.

Notes

Draw: Perfect

Perfect





Body: Mild-medium

Mild-medium





Primary Flavors: Cream, white bread, black pepper

Cream, white bread, black pepper





Smoke Output: Full

Full





Smoke Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Overall

The presentation was excellent, but the construction had tons of issues: tunneling (which can most likely be chalked up to operator error), the ash that just didn’t want to stay on, and then there was a big crack that appeared suddenly in the final third. The flavors, while still tasty, were muted in comparisons to the short corona (which has a smaller ring gauge, allowing for more wrapper prominence in the flavor profile). With the milder flavor and the multiple construction issues, I didn’t enjoy vitola as much. If it weren’t for the wrapper issues, I would have rated this stick a “LIKE” since the flavors are good, but nothing spectacular or complex. This cigar had so many issues with the wrapper and ash though that should not be present in a $9+ cigar.

Rating