Herrera Esteli Cigar Review

Today I smoke and review the Herrera Esteli from Drew Estate. I’ve been wanting to smoke one of these since they were released and the moment I placed them in my humidor they have been calling my name (it’s tough to sleep at night with all the voices in my head). These bad boys are the first release from the man himself, Willy Herrera, under the Drew Estate umbrella. The vitola I have up for review is the 5.5×52 robusto and I must admit I LOVE the appearance of this cigar, it features an understated, classic look with a simple (yet well designed) white, gold and red band. The wrapper is a gorgeous tan Ecuadorian Habano, the binder is Honduran and the filler is Nicaruguan.

The cut, toast, and light, sent a strong white pepper spice “ZING” across my tongue awakening every taste bud in my mouth. I was a bit shocked at first as I wasn’t expecting something so powerful so it took me a moment to gather my senses. After the first quarter inch or so the intense pepper zing subsided and the smoke began to take on it’s true form and flavor profile which was more mellow and balanced. With full disclosure in mind I must report that at the start of my Herrera Esteli it developed a bulge and a crack in the wrapper near the foot. After I worked past that oddity the cigar burned perfectly the rest of the way.

This cigar put out a huge amount of satisfying smoke and the flavors were of pecans, walnuts, and a warm carmel. These flavors reminded me of being at a baseball game and ordering a cone of those fresh roasted nuts, it was very pleasant. Typically I am not effected by the nicotine strength of most cigars but for some reason this cigar was kicking my butt!

Some folks have commented that the wrappers on these are very delicate and while I did have the initial crack near the foot I didn’t have any further issues. When you look at the Drew Estate premium line you have several with the dark chocolatey cocoa flavors such as the Ligas, so this Herrera is a nice edition because it’s firmly in the nutty, caramel, and leather, profile so it’s markedly different yet still really tasty.

Would I smoke this cigar again? Yes, I lan to smoke several more especially to compare and see if they kick my butt like this one did. These come in at just under $9 per stick and I can tell you that you will get every pennies worth.