JC Newman

January 26, 2020

Undercrown ShadyXX by Drew Estate (5 x 50 box pressed belicoso)














Video review HERE.


(Description taken from Cigar-Coop.com website)
Drew Estate has released the Undercrown ShadyXX. It’s a collaboration between Drew Estate and Shady Records. While this isn’t the first collaboration between Drew Estate and Shady Records, it’s the first one that will get nationally released.

Back in 2014, the two parties collaborated for the Undercrown ShadyXV to commemorate Shady Records’ 15th anniversary. The cigar was released as a Detroit, Michigan regional exclusive and a 5 x 50 box-pressed belicoso based on the Undercrown Corona ¡Viva!. The ShadyXX returns with the same size and same blend, but some upgraded packaging. The blend features a San Andres Mexican Maduro wrapper, a Connecticut Stalk Cut Habano binder, and a combination of Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan fillers. The cigars will be packaged in ten-count petacas. Pricing is set at $104.00 per petaca. The ShadyXX will only be available to Drew Diplomat retailers.

In a press release, Jonathan Drew President and Founder of Drew Estate commented, “Eminem, Paul Rosenberg, and Shady Records have changed the world. It’s undeniable!! While selling 230 million records is impressive on its face, it’s the unique way that Shady has connected with so many of us “regular folk” that’s impacted me the greatest. Shady made it okay to be different, no matter how weird or how fucked up we might be. The conceptual space of Shady Records is connected to the Undercrown brand because UC is cut from a different cloth, and not afraid to admit it. THE Undercrown is not the king in this romantic cigar story. The Undercrown’s position is juxtaposed to the king, like a wildin out prince on some DE, homegrown shit. The UC don’t want to be king. He’s deep in the cut, robust, and got mad flavor. I love the connection to Shady Records and am very proud to celebrate 20 years with the dudes.”

Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s long-time manager and Shady Records’ President, added, “I’m honored to team up with JD and Drew Estate again on our second collaboration resulting in the stellar ShadyXX. 20 years is a huge milestone, and I couldn’t think of a better way to reflect on the label’s legacy and celebrate our achievements than by lighting up another limited edition cigar that we can share with the world. This smoke is a superb, authentic blockbuster and just like one of our classic albums I expect it only to get better with time.”



The cigar is very dark and nicely made. A box pressed belicoso is a nice looking cigar. It also has a nice feel in the hand.





The test draw after cutting the cap was very good. The initial flavors at light up were a ton of black coffee which was very close to espresso and black pepper. orange citrus with a touch of brown sugar, cream, a lot of a sweet dark chocolate, and nutmeg. You get the black coffee and black pepper immediately after tasting the orange citrus. There was black pepper rated at 7 1/2. There are a lot of dark notes in this cigar but there are also plenty of sweeter notes. The cigar is very powerful tasting. A nice dark noted start with sweetness.




At the first third (31 minutes) I noted the nice burn time. For a short cigar that's a good first third burn time. The cigar is much better now than when it started. I would call the cigar full bodied. The chocolate notes have really come out. They are not so much of a solely dark chocolate. I can get milk chocolate notes too. While there are still plenty of coffee notes they have toned down a bit. The citrus notes are not easily defined because there are a lot of nutmeg notes attached to them and there are some brown sugar notes also. What you will notice are the chocolate and coffee notes. The cream notes are not much of a factor at this point. The finish is chocolate and nutmeg with decent lingering black pepper. The cigar is very good. I rated the first third at 94.




At the second third (1 hour 2 minutes) the cigar is still very good but it's changed somewhat. The front end flavor of citrus is now cedar. There is still quite a bit of nutmeg, some brown sugar, a lot of chocolate and black coffee with hints of caramel. The cigar is full bodied. The finish is unchanged. The cigar is very smooth. Since I lost the citrus and the cedar is light I lowered the second third score to 93. 




The cigar lasted 1 hour 25 minutes. In the final third the cedar, some of the cream, and some of the caramel came back. The chocolate and coffee are sill in abundance. The cigar is very full bodied and the finish is unchanged. The cigar got back to the nice notes it had in the first third. Therefore I raised the score back to 94. This is a very good cigar and another good offering in the Undercrown line. Very impressive cigar that you can purchase HERE.


Overall Score: 93.67

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