As I have stated before, Drew Estate fans are a dedicated bunch.    They have good reason to be.  The Liga Privada line is amazing, the MUWAT line is terrific, and the Nica Rustica is amazing. Anyhoo...the cigar on deck for review today is one I have been dying to try.  After letting a Christmas gift card fester in my pocket for a while, I decided to break it out and snag a tin of the Papas Fritas.  So, without further bluster, let's get cracking....

Construction: The Papas has a nice rustic look.  Red-brown mottled wrapper leaf, nifty rat  tail cap.  No complaints or grievances for me here.  Then again, this is Drew Estate's flagship line, so anything terrible in the construction zone would be a sin and it shows.

Pre-light Aroma and Draw: Out of the groovy aluminum case and cellophane, the Papas Fritas gives off a rather powerful set of aromas.  I get cedar, cocoa, earth, and some coffee beans. 

Light and Burn: The draw is spot on perfect for such a small cigar.  Not too wide open but certainly not tight.  First of all, I should state that this is a smoke bomb.  It comes out in a deluge.  A creamy, thick ,aromatic cloud that is just awesome. I even noticed it smoked itself on the ashtray.  Non-stop smoke.

Tasting: Because of the size, I am going to cut this review into two halves.

The first half starts off with a very powerful blend of cocoa, leather, coffee, and earth.  There is a really nice salty sweetness on the finish.  Performance is rock solid too.  More notes come through too.  A very slight touch of red pepper, a mild oak, and cedar.

Hold on a sec....

It seems we cigar reviewers say the same series of flavors over and over....cocoa, cedar, coffee, earth, leather, pepper....cigars always have some combination of these same core flavors.  While you might think it would get boring tasting these same things over and over, it most certainly does not.  What totally rocks is experiencing the difference in these core flavors in different cigars.  They may come from the same country and even the same factory, but the flavors change from label to label.  It's pretty amazing when you think about it.  All cigars are the same thing....tobacco leaves.  Yet we get so many different flavors.  Incredible.  But I digress.  What the Papas Fritas gives up in the first half is awesome no matter how you look at it.

The second half unloads a lot of the same cocoa, coffee, and earth notes while pumping up the leather a tad.  There is an added mineral note along with that salty sweet note too.  For a cigar comprised of the discarded bits from the rest of the Liga Privada line, how the heck could it be anything but good?  Performance is rock solid here as well.  All the way to the very tiny can't hold it anymore nub, the burn is slide ruler sharp.  Outstanding little cigar.

Value: A tin of four of these little bastards will run you a shade under $30.  So incredibly worth it....

Final Thoughts:  I could say the Papas Fritas is the same as the Liga Privada Number 9, I mean, it does use the same wrapper leaf and trimmings from that  highly regarded cigar.  While it does share a lot of the same characteristics, I think the smaller ring gauge helps deliver a completely different experience that its big brother. It definitely has that Liga flavor, but in different quantities. To be honest, after the T52, I would say the Papas Fritas is my second favorite in the Liga Privada lineup.  Bold sentiments indeed, I know.  The bottom line is that I highly recommend this cigar.

Wrapper: Connecticut broadleaf ligero maduro
Binder: Brazil
Filler: Honduran/Dominican/Nicaraguan

Strength: Medium-full

Size: 4.5 x 44

Tiny little fried potato

That groovy tin.  Great packaging...