Drew Estate Blackened M81 Robusto Maduro (Full Box 20 Cigars)

• Length: 127mm
• Gauge: 50
• Flavour: Full
• Wrapper: Mexican San Andres
• Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
• Filler: Pennsylvania & Nicaraguan
• Hand Rolled

Drew Estate BLACKENED M81 Maduro to the Core Robusto A single BLACKENED M81 Robusto makes its intentions fairly clear. A box of twenty rather suggests you've agreed with them.

BLACKENED M81 was developed by Metallica co-founder James Hetfield, BLACKENED American Whiskey Master Distiller Rob Dietrich and Drew Estate founder Jonathan Drew. It is a genuine collaborative blend rather than an existing cigar dressed up with a famous name, with Hetfield and Dietrich actively involved in developing the tobacco profile.

The result was christened M81 Maduro to the Core. M81 references Metallica's formation in 1981, while the second half of the name tells you considerably more about what is inside the cigar.

A dark Mexican San Andrés Maduro wrapper covers a Connecticut River Valley Broadleaf Maduro binder. Beneath that sits a formidable mixture of Nicaraguan Maduro and Pennsylvania Broadleaf Maduro fillers. Even by Maduro standards, they've been rather thorough about it.

The Robusto measures 5 inches by 50 ring gauge, concentrating that heavy blend into a substantial traditional format. Each cigar is handmade at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Estelí, Nicaragua.

Expect a rich, full-strength character led by espresso, dark chocolate and leather, accompanied by black pepper, earth, toast and the darker natural sweetness associated with heavily fermented Maduro leaf. The Pennsylvania Broadleaf brings considerable muscle to proceedings, while San Andrés adds its familiar earthy richness.

Presentation is appropriately sombre. The dark Maduro wrapper carries the understated black BLACKENED band, while a larger black and copper foot band bears the M81 – Maduro to the Core name. Twenty Robustos are presented together in the original BLACKENED box.

For anyone already fond of M81, the full box is the sensible way to buy it. It also gives the cigars the opportunity to rest together under stable humidor conditions; a little patience with Broadleaf-heavy blends is very rarely wasted.

Celebrity collaborations come and go. This one rather inconveniently turned out to be a seriously good cigar.

Twenty of them should keep the neighbours awake.