ACID Remi Kuba Kuba by Drew Estate – Cigar Review

I’ve had many ACID Kuba Kuba cigars, but I have yet to do a review on one. Since it is one of the higher referring searches on my blog I decided to light one up this week and kick out this review.

Drew Estate ACID Kuba Kuba

The Good Stuff: The ACID Kuba Kuba is the most popular infused cigar in the ACID line, and the first ACID infused cigar fully embraced by the United States. It is part of ACID’s Remi, or blue banded selection. Accordingly, The Remi line is Drew Estate’s most popular line if ACID cigars holding cigars such as the Kuba Kuba, the Kong, the Blondie, Krush, and my personal favorite, the 1400cc.

Size: 5 x 54  –  Wrapper: Natural Sumatra  –  Flavor: Medium – Full Bodied

Prelight: The ACID Kuba Kuba is a chubby, toothy robusto cigar. The first characteristic I noticed was the dark, very oily, sumatra wrapper. In infused cigars 60% – 70% of a cigars taste comes from the wrapper alone. VERY floral scents, mixed with spices, coffee, and tobacco could be smelt even through the cellophane wrapper, and only increased in strength once the Kuba Kuba is removed from the wrapper. The cigar is very soft, and loosely wrapped. There were no signs of defects. The Kuba Kuba had very little veins. My only complaint is the wrapper seems a bit thing although, I haven’t had problems with this cigar in the past I could see some future un-wrapping complications.

First Smoke: The ACID Kuba Kuba is a VERY flavorful cigar, more so than most people prefer. The first tastes are that of floral arrangements mixed with soft spice, clove, cinnimon, and even a mist of mocha. The draw is extremely large, and very very thick. This may annoy most traditional cigar smokers, keep that in mind when choosing the right time to light one of these up. This Kuba Kuba carries such thick, infused oil that the wrapper even looked a bit sticky, although it didn’t feel that way in my hand. The cigar lit right away, and had a very even burn. I got about an inch of loose ash before it gave out.

Drew Estate ACID Kuba Kuba

Halfway There: An earlier concern of mine was the thin wrapper. As you can see on the top image it became a problem. Luckily it was near the burn and it only happened for a short period of time. The cigar is still burning evenly, and the draw is still just as huge as it was when I started smoking the cigar. The taste is still pretty much the same, its just hard to nail down. Thing about getting a Hawaiian tiki dancer in full uniform, throwing her in a boiling pot, add a couple of green tea bags, some ground coffee, and some cinnamon for good measure. That didn’t sound too enticing but you get the jist of it. It is a VERY great tasting cigar, just a bit over-powering at times.

Finish: The finish of this cigar is always a bit rough. Since the Kuba Kuba isn’t wrapped very tight (personally, I prefer this) the tobacco towards the end of the smoke is always a tad bitter, and strong. I didn’t have any other problems with the unwrapping of the cigar, but I could see that as a trend in the Kuba Kubas. The Kuba Kuba is a bit strong for a medium bodied cigar, and very flavorful.

Overview: The Kuba Kuba is a great cigar for anyone looking for infused selections. It carries with it a great balance, not too strong, not too smooth. The flavor is a bit much, but that’s what makes the Kuba Kuba such a popular cigar. I would steer clear of these if you don’t enjoy smoking aromatics, but if you are looking to start, or already enjoy them the ACID Kuba Kuba would sit well with you.

ACID – Atom Maduro by Drew Estate – Cigar Review

Up next is Drew Estate’s ACID Atom Maduro from the Gold ACID line.

Drew Estate ACID Atom Maduro

Following the Cold Infusion Tea and the Earthiness The Atom Maduro is the third installment (outside of the Krush tins) to the ACID gold line.

The Good Stuff: The Earhiness is a VERY dark maduro wrapped infused cigar. Drew Estate is good at keeping the oils, herbs, and botanicals they use on their infused blends so its no surprise the the Atom Maduro has none listed whatsoever although, they’ve been said to contain high fruit flavors as well as Floral.

Size: 5×50  –  Wrapper: Maduro  –  Flavor: Full  –  Origin: Esteli, Nicaragua

Prelight: This was actually the first time I have had this cigar, I have tried the Cold Infusion Tea (you can check that review out here) many times and just love the cigar, but I had yet to get my hands on the Atom. The first noticeable characteristic is the extremely dark, oil wrapper. This guy should produce some sweetness. Upon unwrapping I had to say, this was the best smelling ACID cigar I had smelt yet. It took me quite a while to start nailing some of the scents but the ATOM Maduro sports a very, almost perfume line scent with notes of Flowers, Tea, Roasted Cashew, Coffee hints of brown sugar and even Mint. Imagine all that mixed together in a very light infused cigar. Needless to say I was anxious to get going on this guy. The cigar was perfectly constructed with no soft spots. The Atom Maduro carries a nice rounded cap, big thick shape, and a very distinct foot where the wrapper is carefully folded over the filler as you can see here:

Drew Estate ACID Atom Maduro

First Smoke: What a remarkable cigar. Hands down this shot itself up to one of my all-time favorite aromatic cigars just off the first smoke. The cigar is very strong and all the flavors are just hinted on the palette as to not overpower the smoker with the infusion flavor. The draw was just right, not to tight, not too loose and it carried with it REALLY thick smoke, much like the 1400cc. The more I burned the more the flavors combined. The burn itself was very consistent. The smoke smelled very similar to a ladies perfume, but not strong. Don’t let that shy you away, just be aware that it may bother other people around you. The Atom let a little over an inch of ash collect before letting go.

Drew Estate ACID Atom Maduro

Halfway There: At this time I am still sifting through some of the flavors. This is such a great tasting cigar, the strong Nicaraguan tobacco carries itself really well. The flavor hasn’t increased nor decreased but it has morphed a bit. I lost the coffee flavor instead it is now replaced with a minty Cinnamon arrangement. This is a VERY sweet cigar. The burn is still very consistent and I have yet to have to relight, or touch it up. The strength of the cigar seems to be increasing a bit, which is totally fine by me. One note, the cigar had so much oil you could actually see it burning off producing its own smoke. You can see this in the picture above. This isn’t a bad thing, I just found it quite interesting.

Finish: The Atom Maduro finished very strong. The infused flavors lasted all the way through the smoke, as well as the strength of the cigar. The strength actually increased quite a bit towards the end. I felt a bit light headed after the cigar’s finish. I didn’t have to relight the cigar, but I did touch it up one or two times towards the end. No signs at all of any mis-construction or unwrapping. The Atom finished off just as sweet as it started with, I’m quite surprised that with a cigar as strong as this, the infused flavors lasted the length of the cigar. It did leave a big aftertaste, it wasn’t a bad one but it lasted a while.

Drew Estate ACID Atom Maduro

Overview: I feel dumb for waiting so long to try this cigar, as it was right up my alley for what I look for. The taste was intense and very pleasing. While the strength was strong and held its own again the infused flavors of the Atom Maduro. I’d recommend this cigar to an aromatic smoker but not one who doesn’t like infused cigars. Its flavor would be a bit too much for them.