La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate

Drew Estate moved manufacturing to Esteli after its New York beginnings and progressively expanded into what is now one of the largest premium cigar plants in Nicaragua. The building is heavily decorated with commissioned murals and graffiti art, an unusual choice that matched the company's early positioning against the industry's traditional visual language. The company had relocated to Nicaragua by the end of the 1990s and has expanded the site repeatedly since.

Production spans several very different products: the infused Acid line, which requires a separate handling area to prevent aroma transfer; the dark Liga Privada blends; Undercrown, Herrera Esteli and Nica Rustica; and the Kentucky Fire Cured line, which uses fire-cured leaf normally destined for other tobacco categories. Keeping these processes apart within one plant is a significant operational constraint. Leaf processing is handled on a large scale on the same site.

The factory hosts Cigar Safari, a paid consumer tour programme that predates most factory-visit offerings in the industry and has been widely imitated. Swisher International has owned the company since 2014. Public sources do not give a consistent opening date for the current facility, so none is recorded here. The tour programme has also served a commercial function, bringing retailers and consumers into direct contact with production.