Norteno by Drew Estates

The cigar industry is just like any other industry with companies being bought and sold and executives hopping to different operations. In this case, Willy Herrera had left El Titan de Bronze to become the master blender for Drew Estates. While at Drew, Willy developed and Drew launched the Norteno – at the 2014 IPCPR. Several months after the show, Swisher International purchased Drew Estates. Who is next? In any case the Norteno did obtain good reviews after the launch. Drew Estates gave me a 5 ½ X 54 robusto grande Norteno to review.

The Norteno is a box pressed cigar with a San Andres maduro wrapper around a Honduran binder and Nicaraguan filler. The pre-light aroma was hay and the there weren’t any blemishes or hard spots. The San Andres wrapper provided the expected sweetness and the initial flavor profile was pepper. The smoke was above average in volume and rich and creamy. The ash was excellent as was the draw. The second half of the cigar had cocoa and coffee as the primary flavors.

The Norteno is very flavorful and well constructed. However at almost $11 a piece the Norteno is a little on the high side. While I enjoyed this full bodied cigar for the entire hour and 15 minutes it took to smoke it, the price drops the rating to 4 out of 5.