Cigar Dojo is a popular cigar blogging site that has built a large community around cigars. The Drew Estate Undercrown Dogma Sungrown was released in 2020 and is developed by Cigar Dojo and Drew Estate as regular production vitola. I was a big fan of the Undercrown Dogma Maduro so I was excited to get into this cigar.

OVERVIEW

VITOLA: Box-Pressed Robusto
SIZE: 5″ x 54

ORIGIN: Nicaragua
FACTORY: La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate

WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Sumatra
BINDER: USA Conneticut Habano
FILLER: Nicarguan

STRENGTH: Medium

SOURCE: retailer

ENVIRONMENT

WHERE:
Front Porch

WHEN: November 2022

DRINKS: Bittermilk Whiskey Sour w/ Redwood Empire Emerald Giant Rye

WEATHER: Warm and Breezy

HOW MANY CIGARS SMOKED: 3

PRODUCTION

RELEASE TYPE Regular Production

ORIGINALLY RELEASE DATE September 2020

TOTAL PRODUCTION
Typical Box Size: Boxes of 24
Production Totals: Unknown

VITOLA BREAKDOWN
o Box Pressed Robusto (5″ x 54)
o Flying Pig (3-15/16″ x 60)
o Coronets (4″ x 32)
o Robusto (5″ x 54)
o Corona (5-5/8″ x 46)
o Gran Toro (6″ x 52)
o Belicoso (6″ x 52)
o Gordito (6″ x 60)
o Corona Doble (7″ x 54)

BAND DESIGN

The Undercrown bands are bold and eye catching. The Maduro has the best colorway in my opinion but the red found in the Sungrown is a logical choice. The design is clean and looks upscale. The Dogma band is huge and while it falls below the main band my eye gets drawn to that. The foot band is doing foot band things, I get the functionality of foot bands and the presentation looks nice. It’s not nice enough for me to care that a foot band there.

PRE-LIGHT OBSERVATIONS

CONSTRUCTION

The cigar has a slight box press and has just a touch of give when squeezing the body. The wrapper has minimal veins and a slight oily sheen. The little bit of give in a box pressed cigar is normal because there is less tobacco being used so that when the cigar gets pressed it can actually take the box-pressed form without having a restrictive draw. This is why box-pressed cigars are so hard to get right. You could take a box of my favorite box-pressed cigars and I guarantee at least a few will have some wonky burns.

AROMA

The aroma on the pre-light is not the best. While it is pungent the cigar simply smells like tobacco and cedar. I did get an slight after smell of urine but that might be because I am outside .

COLD DRAW

Offers a lot of cedar and flint stone vitamin minerality. There is a slight pepper taste on the lips. There really is not that much going on in the cold draw.

SMOKING EXPERIENCE

LIGHT & DRAW
Cut: Straight Cut
Fire: Torch

The draw is perfect and the smoke output is what I would expect from Drew Estate (big plumes of smoke and smoke pouring off the foot). I always enjoy smoking cigars like this. I remember smoking Drew Estate cigars when I first started on cigars, the surplus of smoke made me feel like I was lit and smoked the cigar right.

SMOKE

On the palate, you get a sweet tobacco and mild earth at first. Then an mild peanut note followed by some char. I don’t like the char on the end, but it does make the smoke interesting. The retro is peppery but completely manageable for a novice smoker.

FIRST THIRD
>> Oak, Nuts, Baking Spice

Getting into the first third this cigar offers a straight burn and a great draw. Oak and nuts dominate the palate, it is not so different from light up. On the retro you get a mix of pepper and baking spice. The finish tastes like ash mixed with cream. The ash falls off in one inch chunks. I took the Dogma band off at the end of this third.

SECOND THIRD
>> Leather, Earth, Cayenne Pepper

The second third begins with the burn going a little wavy, but nothing of concern. Leather and earth take over while the nuttiness takes a back seat. Leather also moves into the the retro hale with pepper following closely behind. The finish lasts a while and has more of the same leather with the inclusion of spicy cayenne pepper. Towards the end of the second third I noticed that the smoke seemed hot.

FINAL THIRD
>> Leather, Earth, Cayenne Pepper

The heat in the smoke subsides, as well as the spicy pepper on the palate and retro. The leather in the second third is gone and you get a lot more earthiness. There is also a rustic bread note mixed with natural tobacco. On the retro, it is a more mild pepper mixed with cedar. The finish is a nice buttery toast with a little cracked pepper on top smoothing out into oak.

RATING & FINAL THOUGHTS

FLAVOR PROGRESSION

There is not a lot of transition in this stick but the progression of flavors is what is to be expected. From the cold draw to the last third there is nothing special in the way of flavor. With the exception of the ash note early on the rest of the flavors were enjoyable but lacked depth.

BURN EXPERIENCE

I had absolutely no issues with the burn in this cigar. Even though the burn got semi wavy in the second third and the smoke got a little hot towards the end of the second third, I never had to touch it up. The burn always self corrected and the smoke cooled down.

RATING BREAKDOWN
0.75 / 0.80 … Craft & Aesthetic
0.65 / 0.50 … Pre-Light Characteristics
0.50 / 0.50 … Lighting Process
6.00 / 7.70 … Smoking Experience
0.30 / 0.50 … Personal Enjoyment

COMPLIMENTS & CRITIQUES

A Medium Bodied Stick, Nothing More Nothing Less.

The flavors were just ok and appropriate for someone who likes medium bodied sticks. There wasn’t enough deeper and bolder flavors to keep me interested the entire time. There are a ton of other medium bodied sticks I would reach for before buying this again. The Maduro Dogma is a much better choice in my opinion.

SIMPLY STOGIES RATING: 8.2 / 10.0

Cigar Review: Drew Estate Undercrown Sun Grown Dogma