The Rise and Fall of the Kahlua Cigar

A good friend of mine sent me an e-mail last month regarding one of my favorite cigars, the Kahlúa Delicioso from Drew Estate…It just so happened to be about 6 months after the fact, that Drew Estate announced they had discontinued the premium brand flavored cigar…I often wonder to myself, “just how good a friend is he?”.

The announcement is as follows:

“Richmond, VA — General Cigar and Drew Estate announce today that Kahlúa Cigars Delicioso by Drew Estate will be discontinued. Pernod Ricard which recently purchased the Kahlúa brand has exercised its right to not renew the licensing agreement with Drew Estate. On March 31, 2008 all production of Kahlúa Cigars Delicioso at the Drew Estate factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, will cease. General Cigar will continue to sell the brand until all inventory has been depleted.”

I couldn’t believe it! I was frantic and since I’m on deployment in Iraq, I did the only thing a sane man could do…I made a mad dash for the cache…I started rifling through my gorilla box looking for the humidor, “Aah, there it is!!!” I tossed aside a  Monte Cristo No.5, next was a couple of Fuente Opus X, (where did the second one come from?), no matter, “keep looking!”, I said to myself…Macanudo Maleros, Heaven Cherubs, Cohiba Hibana, Viva La STFU, I kept digging…Finally, I found one, “ONE! Only ONE!!! ” Where the hell are my Kahlúa Delicioso’s”, I yelled???

Kahlúa was introduced to America in 1962 and soon became its leading imported liqueur. Kahlúa flavored cigars became a reality after a cigar-manufacturing company named Drew Estate was formed in 1995…All Kahlúa cigars were crafted by hand with an elegant Connecticut Shade wrapper, a rich Indonesian Sumatra binder, and a superb blend of the best Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. Those fine tobaccos were combined with the unmistakable coffee-liqueur flavor of Kahlúa to create an unforgettable smoking experience.

Kahlua flavored cigars by Drew Estates were called “Cigars Delicioso” (Delicious Cigars) with good reason. Incredible flavor! Exotic flavor from a finely aged premium cigar infused with a secret formula! Kahlúa cigars have inspired experienced smokers to reach for adjectives such as sensual, exotic, even hypnotic to describe them. Some smokers prefer to express their feelings with a single Spanish word: delicioso…To ensure the quality of the cigars, they were crafted and aged by the most experienced artisans in the famous cigar-making city of Esteli, Nicaragua.

I cranked out the lighter, “WAIT!!!, I need to get more Kahlúa’s before I burn my last one…I headed to the MWR and quickly typed in cigarsinternational.com I looked up my brand, gone, sold out, nothing, nada, niet! Damn! I was pissed…I did an open-ended search and browsed through every Cigar Store online…Hell, I even looked on E-bay…I finally found a store that had Robusto and Tubos in stock at bonitas I ordered two boxes, 20 each robusto and grabbed a box of five tins with 10 each for about $150.00…Man, I was so relieved…

The rest of the announcement went on to state: Dan Carr, senior vice president of sales and marketing for General Cigar commented, “While we regret the loss of the brand, General Cigar remains committed to the flavored premium cigar category.” According to Steve Saka, president of Drew Estate, “Although we were proud to be the manufacturer of this internationally renowned brand, we were also well prepared for this eventuality. We here at Drew Estate are very excited to now be able to dedicate production capacity to new coffee infused products that will not only fill, but overflow any void left by Kahlua’s departure.”

I stared at my favorite flavored premium stick for about 30 minutes before I could bring myself to toast the Kahlúa…I carefully peeled off the label, flicked the bic and sat back in my hooch thinking about my new incoming arrivals and how I planned on saving them for special occasions only…I’m also looking forward to see what Drew Estate promises for the near future. “Gentlemen, you may smoke.”

The Expat Rockstar Crew Buys Cigars from the Thompson Cigar Company

Chase Smith is a Civilian Contractor specializing in Tactical Medicine working in the Middle East. He has traveled extensively throughout the world and spends his off time in Thailand.

Social Bookmark This Page: