Drew Estate / Liga Privada
Founded in 1996 by Jonathan Drew and Marvin Samel, first known for infused cigars and later for the Liga Privada line; acquired by Swisher International in 2014.
Jonathan Drew and Marvin Samel started Drew Estate in 1996, initially selling cigars from a kiosk in New York before moving operations to Nicaragua. The company's early identity was built on Acid, a range of infused and flavoured cigars that sold in volumes no traditional premium brand matched and that were treated with suspicion by much of the established trade.
Liga Privada changed that. Released in the late 2000s, the No. 9 and T52 blends were dark, oily, Connecticut broadleaf and stalk-cut wrapper cigars aimed at the traditional core of the market, and their scarcity built a following that carried into Undercrown, Herrera Esteli, Nica Rustica and the Kentucky Fire Cured line, which uses fire-cured leaf normally destined for chewing tobacco.
Swisher International acquired Drew Estate in 2014; Jonathan Drew has continued in a leadership role. The Esteli factory is among the largest premium operations in Nicaragua and hosts Cigar Safari, a long-running consumer factory tour that has been widely copied. The company also runs a large leaf-processing operation in Esteli and has invested in Nicaraguan farming, and its output places it among the largest premium manufacturers in the country.