The other day, a neighbor of mine asked me to stop by because he had a cigar for me. When I arrived at his house, he told me he thought of me immediately when he saw a coffee flavored cigar. My friend knows of my coffee roasting hobby and my love of cigars. Once he mentioned coffee and cigar I knew before he even showed me that the cigar was going to be a Drew Estate Java.
For those of you who may not know, the Drew Estate Java is a collaborative effort between Jonathan Drew and Rocky Patel. I had never tried one of these smokes before and I was curious to see what it was all about.
The Drew Estate Java is available in four vitolas: The 58 (5X58), Corona ( 5X42), Robusto (5 1/2 X 50) and Toro (6X50). They are all presented in boxes of twenty four cigars.
The blend consists of a Brazilian wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos.
The DE Java Maduro has a square box press shape with a flat cap. The band is a simple dark brown background with Drew Estate Java in gold along with two thin gold lines. The foot band is similar in design with the word Maduro between the gold lines.
The wrapper leaf was a shiny, rich brown with black striated highlights. The cigar was firm to the touch and had a good look to it.
I cut the cap and gave the cigar a pre-light draw. The draw was easy and I picked up on a very strong, sweet cocoa flavor. It reminded me of Cocoa Puffs cereal. I recognized the flavor right away because Cocoa Puffs are one of my childhood cereals that I still enjoy to this day. The draw was very easy with no resistance at all.
The cigar produced a good amount of smoke and the ash was very firm that held on for a good two inches before it dropped. While the cigar started off firm to the touch, by the final third it became quite spongy.
While smoking the Drew Estate Java Maduro the phrase “would you like a little coffee with your cream and sugar?” came to mind. The flavors that I picked up on are what I imagine a cup of coffee with an abundance of cream and sugar would taste like. The sweetness of the wrapper dominated the cigar. Once I got past the powerful flavors on the cap, I could detect a flavor that reminded me of coffee beans roasted to an espresso level.
The Drew Estate Java Maduro is a well constructed cigar. It burned well and held a great ash. I would consider the cigar to be mild in strength and medium in body. While the flavor is not something I would enjoy regularly, I could see picking one up on occasion. I know for a fact that this is a very popular cigar. At Clearwater Cigar Company, they sell these out quite frequently. Most of the purchases are made by women and younger cigar smokers but, the Java could make a good change of pace for any cigar smoker.
The Drew Estate Java Maduro can be found at these fine Tampa Bay tobacconists:
Clearwater Cigar Company - 2454 McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater, FL 33759 (727) 726-2442
Tampa Humidor - 1418 E. Busch Blvd #105, Tampa, FL 33612 (813) 990-8535
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