Liga Privada T52 Robusto (5 x 54)

 

 

Video review HERE.


(From the Famous Smoke Shop site)

Liga Privada T52 cigars are luxurious, full-bodied smokes designed for cigar smokers who appreciate robust, complex cigars. The core is blended with Nicaraguan, Dominican and Honduran longfillers bound by a zesty Brazilian leaf. But the piece de resistance is the U.S.-grown stalk cut Habano-seed oscuro wrapper.



(Jonathan Drew via the Drew Estates website)

“On a regular trip up to Connecticut for the purposes of purchasing a barn of Connecticut Broadleaf, we stumbled upon a farm that was growing a very unique looking “Stalk Cut Tobacco” in addition to the Broadleaf. The farmer called the wrapper leaf “American Habano.” After a few hours of inspection, we were impressed, but we tried to keep our composure, as this beautiful leaf had the exact color and thickness qualities that we had been flying all over the damn world looking for. Lucky for us, (and for you too!) the farmer was complaining that this experimental tobacco would be the last year of crop unless he found a buyer who was willing to look past this one crop and make a real committment. He said that others had loved the tobacco, but they didn’t want to pay the high price which is required to grow it the right way. Needless to say, we spent a pretty penny, but damn it is worth it. All this, just for the wrapper leaf! Wait ‘til you get the story on what’s inside….

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!”


The cigar is very well made. Everything about this cigar is dark, even the filler at the foot.

The test draw after cutting the cap was absolutely effortless. I lit the cigar and the initial flavors were nutmeg with light cedar, earth, and coffee notes. It took until the 1/4 inch point to nail down the initial flavors.



About 1 inch in the cigar has settled down into one of a combination of cedar and nutmeg which is not overly sweet, coffee, earth, and charred oak. The finish is a very pleasing sweet cream with some toasted notes. The pepper is black pepper and rated between a 7 and 8. The cigar is medium to full bodied and I expect it to reach full bodied status at some point.






2 inches in the cedar is sweeter and it has cocoa notes mixed with it. There are also earth, coffee, and wood notes. The cocoa also filters over to the finish. So you now have cocoa and cream with some nice lingering pepper. The pepper is now rated at an 8. The cigar is still medium to full bodied. There are hints of richness in the cedar and cocoa but it's not there yet. I hope it gets to that point.





About 2 inches remaining the flavors are about the same. On the draw you get a nice, sweet cedar and cocoa with a hint of richness. Then you get a little earthiness and some nice coffee notes. The charred oak notes are faint at this point. The finish remains very good with the combination of cocoa and cream. The cigar is still medium to full bodied. The flavors are very tasty.

 

 

This was a fast cigar. It took 55 minutes to smoke! Here at the end the charred oak notes really came back. They are right behind the cedar and cocoa combination. The richness never got "full blown" as I had hoped. The earth and coffee notes are still around. The finish is the star of this cigar. The cocoa and cream combination was fantastic and it lasted a long time! The cigar never reached full bodied. It finished at medium to full bodied. The only negative I can say about the cigar is it never reached a total richness in the cedar and cocoa on the front end. I was also surprised at how fast the cigar burned and it burned evenly throughout. This was a very good cigar that I would purchase again.

Score: 91

Liga Privada T52 cigars are available at Famous Smoke Shop.