Liga Privada T52 Robusto (5 x 52) Cigar

Liga Privada translates to "private blend" — the line began as then-president Steve Saka's personal, not-for-sale blends, and T52 is the fuller-bodied follow-up to Liga Privada No. 9. Its defining element is an exclusive Connecticut River Valley stalk-cut sun-grown Habano wrapper, a leaf Drew Estate dubbed "stalk cut habano" because the entire stalk is cut and hung to dry in the barn rather than the leaves being primed individually. The blend took Drew Estate seven attempts and roughly two years to settle, with the wrapper the hardest piece to pin down, and the Robusto was one of the two original formats the line launched with.

A Connecticut River Valley stalk-cut, sun-grown Habano wrapper over a plantation-grown Brazilian Mata Fina binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan long-fillers drawn from seven different fields. Handmade at Drew Estate's La Gran Fabrica in Estelí, Nicaragua, with the finished cigars resting a further year before release. Robusto format. Box count: 24 cigars.

Bold and layered, with black pepper, cedar, leather and espresso riding over a warm, charred-oak earthiness. The stalk-cut wrapper gives it real depth and a rich, lingering finish, and the spice is balanced by a dark, sweet core rather than running away with the cigar.

Alcoholic: Bold bourbon or Scotch. Non-Alcoholic: Strong dark roast coffee.

Afternoon or evening — the most popular T52 vitola.