Cigar Review Liga Privada

Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla

stogiesonthero 

Initial Thoughts

Every now and again it’s always nice to sit back and smoke a special cigar. One that you can’t find regularly and was given to you in a special place. Today was that day. I’ve been sitting watching this Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla sit and age in my humidor. I was given this cigar on my media Cigar Safari trip down to the Drew Estate factory in Esteli, Nicaragua last March. Finally, I’ve been waiting for a good reason to smoke it. Today, I was able to score a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 20 year from my local wine & spirits store so I felt like it was a great reason to light up this cigar.

This Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla has a pretty special story of it’s own. It’s always been a unicorn of sorts. Very difficult to get your hands on them and you can almost certainly not find them in retailers. Usually, you came across this cigar if you made it out to the IPCPR show, or if someone from Drew Estate handed you one personally at an event. Otherwise they were pretty few and far between. Now, according to Drew Estate’s website you can start to find some these on the shelves of ‘Drew Diplomat’ stores. Special retailers that have signed up with DE and they get these Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla as a sort of holiday promotion offer. It’s a pretty cool incentive and payoff to be a Drew Diplomat store I’d say.

Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla - Band

Overall this is a pretty unique and special cigar. It’s a bit of an odd shape, it doesn’t fall into a standard vitola category. In fact it’s listed at 158mm x 46 so after the conversion to inches it’s around 6.22″ in length. It also has quite a bit of an advanced makeup to it in terms of the tobacco used. I’m going to quote here from DE’s site to make sure that I get it right.

The Liga Privada Único Serie Ratzilla, produced at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Estelí, Nicaragua, features a Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut & Cured Sun Grown Habano Wrapper, a Plantation Grown Brazilian Mata Fina Binder, and Nicaraguan and Honduran Fillers.

Interesting make up for sure. So let’s jump into it and see what all this smoke has going on for itself. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Looks

Taking a look at this Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla and it appears very similar to the other cigars from the Liga Privada series. The band is identical in design the only difference is the hand-written Ratzilla across the front. One particular detail that I love about this cigar is the flag cap on it. I wished I had asked to have a flag cap on my cigars that I got while on my cigar safari. It’s something that is fairly unique to Drew Estate, I haven’t seen another company do it to finish their cigars, and I think it’s a nice little addition to this particular one.

Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla - Flag Cap

The wrapper on this cigar is that nice dark wrapper that I’ve gotten used to seeing on the other Ligas. It has a gorgeous texture to it, a little bit of tooth and you can even see some veins running down through there. Great looking completion to cigar overall, Looks like it was constructed very well.

Function

I wasn’t able to detect any soft spots rolling this Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla through my fingers. A nice bit of bounce back as well which I always enjoy. I love feeling that texture on the wrapper that I mentioned above on my fingers. Touch is always a nice sense to add to the mix especially when reviewing cigars.

Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla - Foot

I made quick work of the flag cap, even though I was a bit sad to cut it off. My Xikar Xi made quick work as always and soon I was taking a nice long cold draw on this cigar. The draw was excellent, a little bit of resistance, but I was able to pick up some good hints of flavor along the way as well. I actually took about 5 cold draws to really pick up on some of the subtleties this smoke was giving off.

Smoking

After I got rid of the cap it was time to get this Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla rolling and burning. Like all the Ligas that have come before it this cigar gave off a ton of smoke. It’s that rich blue smoke that you love to see in all the cigar ads out there. It just sits around and covers you with it’s presence. Absolutely love it.

The ash held of for a little bit, never more than an inch though. I think I actually only got one picture of the ash without it falling off. Even though the construction seemed great and the draw was fantastic, there was something that just annoyed me with the ash. I feel like when a cigar produces that much smoke and is that easy to draw that the ash should be able to hold together a bit more. Not too worried about it other than it’s making me have to wash my jeans now. So that’s a bit of a bummer.

Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla - 1st Third

The rest of the cigar smoked like a champ, never had an issue with the draw or the wrapper going wonky on me. Just a nice straight even burn throughout and it offered a fantastic smoking experience all the way through.

Flavor

Initially, I didn’t know what to expect when I light up this Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla. I was ready for some spice, a little bit of sweetness, but I was expecting greatness. What I got was a bit of everything in between. On the wrapper I got a good dose of spice, with some hints of hay. There was a rich earthy coffee note on the cold draw, followed by a bit of mocha.

Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla - 2nd Third

Throughout the cigar I kept moving back and forth between coffee, spice and mocha sweetness. It was a good ebb and flow all the way through. Nothing was overly powerful they were all playing along very well with one another. It was nice to see the subtleties coming through. The spice and strength of the cigar slowly built up in the 2nd third flowing into the final third.

The retrohale produced a good note of that mocha coffee that was just delicious. The spice came through on the backend as well, I’m sure there was a bit of ligero in there to add some strength and spice to the blend. Overall, I would call this a medium-full blend. It never really over-powered me and it never got too heavy on one side with the flavors.

Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla - Final Third

Would I Buy It Again?

If I could find them for sure.

Is It an Every Day Smoke?

Definitely not. Although I might wish that I could.

Would I Buy a Box?

I would buy a bundle for sure.

Conclusion

Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla - Band

Overall, really big fan of this Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla. It delivered something special. That great mix of flavors and the fantastic smoking experience that you get with nearly every Liga. Can’t say enough good things about this cigar. If you can find a bundle or a single, make sure and pick one up!

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4 thoughts on “Liga Privada Unico Ratzilla

  1. Arless

    Recently picked up a couple and looking forward to trying them. Hope to have as good an experience as yours…

  2. Cigar Inspector

    Sounds like a great stogie, and there are a few good ones you listed as tasting similar, so I will give it a go.

  3. Tarryloth

    I have enjoyed the first release of this cigar and a fan of the Liga line. I find that this new release of the Ratzilla is definitely different. Less prune/fruity sweetness and spice and more earth and coffee and less interesting. A consistent smoke but not worth the price IMOP. The first release was so different and memorable that I bought and enjoyed many of them but this rerelease is a disappointment when comparing it to the original. A GOOD smoke but just not the same. The original Ratzilla was just an outstanding cigar and made such an impression.

    1. Eric Scism

      That’s a bummer man. Unfortunately I feel like that can happen. Leaf might change over time or getting it from a different source. It’s good thing you smoked so many of those originals though!

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