This sit down with Jonathan Drew, president of Drew Estate was less about tobacco and more about the mojo that drives the originative cigar company. The world of Drew Estate is a world of cigar rollers, street artists, muralists, scratchers and neighborhood revivalists. Talking to Rob at the 2018 IPCPR trade show, Jonathan hip-hops around how this boutique cigar brand stays true to counter culture.
WATCH IN LESS TIME THAN IT TAKES TO SMOKE A DREW ESTATE KENTUCKY FIRE CURED SWAMP THANG TORO
Explore cigars, cigar life and cigar enjoyment with Rob Gagner, host of Box Press, Boveda’s cigar podcast.
Subscribe to the Box Press podcast on the Boveda Cigar YouTube Channel or on iTunes.
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- Should the best cigar brands care what’s trending? 2:45
- Drew Estate taps into the cigar-loving counter culture 4:45
- How to quietly unwrap a cigar by Sean Knutsen, Boveda CEO 5:36
- What’s hip-hop and Bruce Lee have to do with it? 8:43
- What worked for SoHo worked for Wynwood 9:15
- Investing in the artists behind graffiti and street art 9:36
- Showing off your style through boutique cigars and Instagram 12:19
- The short hop from metal to hip hop with Def Jam 17:45
- What celebrity will Jonathan Drew collaborate with next? 21:31
- Who would Jonathan Drew want to share a cigar with? 23:04
- Why Jonathan Drew values Boveda 25:50
“Drew Estate is fiercely supportive of Boveda. We use Boveda in our products we ship to people to keep them fresh and we use Boveda in our humidors at home.”
Jonathan Drew
President of Drew Estates
MORE ABOUT DREW ESTATE
Jonathan Drew and his business partner Marvin Samel founded Drew Estate in 1996, in a cigar kiosk in the World Trade Center. Today the company’s Nicaraguan headquarters, Gran Fabrica Drew Estate, produces about 100,000 cigars each day. It’s the largest cigar factory in Nicaragua.
In 2014, Swisher International Inc. purchased Drew Estate, which is run as a wholly owned subsidiary. Following the sale, Jonathan left the company but returned in 2017, to oversee the Drew Estate brand portfolio.
Despite its size and backing, Drew Estate still feels like a boutique cigar brand. Its far-out blends, tasty infusions and urban tie-ins tip into fringe territory. Both cigar traditionalists and hipsters work Drew Estate cigars into rotation, whether it be ACID, Liga Privada, Larutan or UnderCrown Shade.
