The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Drew Estate Liga Privada H99 (Flying Pig) - Perfecto (3.93 x 60) is based on the journal entry dated 2025-06-30

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Good (3)

I do love the Corojo-seed Connecticut leaf the H99 uses. It’s a beautiful reddish-brown that’s oily, mottled, and has some tooth. There are a few thin veins, the seams are tight, and the cap is beautiful. It’s a dense, firm, good-looking roll.

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Average (2) / Average (2)

As is the case with these Perfectos that are tapered at both ends, the draw is tight. Then I hear a hissing noise on the draw immediately after getting good combustion on the light. It’s tunneling and already going back out, so it needs an immediate relight. 🙄 But once I get it past that tunnel opening on the taper of the foot, it seems to be okay. The burn is starting off evenly but a little wavy, though we’ll see how it is once it’s past the tapered end. Once it passes the end of the taper, it starts to track unevenly with one side moving quickly and the other not fully burning the foot. It doesn’t get close to evening out until the very end.

The ash is a light gray that browns as it cools, but I’m not seeing any oil crystals in it like the Gordo. It’s also very flaky and dropping bits all over. The burn does start to self-correct, but it’s still a flaky mess, uneven and wavy. The amount of large flakes falling off the ash is getting quite annoying. Other than being able to go the entire smoke without ashing, this was a pain in the ass. 😅

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Excellent (5)

Immediate strong pepper blast—it’s hitting a little harder than the Toro did out of the gate. I’m getting the usual suspects of baking spice, cinnamon, earth, and charred oak with a dark fruity sweetness. I’m getting that mesquite BBQ flavor between the charred oak, strong pepper spice, and some zestiness on the sweet. There’s the entry of dark chocolate and mild espresso bringing in some richness and bitter notes as well, but no real creaminess yet.

With the second half, the pepper has reduced in intensity and there’s a bit more breadiness and leather to the blend. The raisin-y sweetness has increased nicely, though. There’s a bit of harshness at the back of the throat. Otherwise, no real changes in the second half.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Good (3)

I thought I might get through this in under an hour, but it was a surprisingly slow smoke, taking closer to 75 minutes. I didn’t get a noticeably different experience from the Super Ancho, and the messy burn was frustrating as all hell. So I’m still really not sure what the appeal of the Flying Pig vitola really is. For my money, I’d just buy the Gordo again. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Review Base Rating (0-5):

3.75

Would I Buy It Again?

Outlook not so good (skip it)

Review Final Score (0-10):

5.67

Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries

While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there’s a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example!  This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo.  Below you’ll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!

The Flavor Wheel

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.