Found some old La Vieja Habanas I need help identifying. Anyone got connections to find their names and if they are related to Drew Estate, the current maker of La Vieja?

The longer version of the maduro I found in Smoke mag winter 1999/2000 (page 124) as "Series A Torpedo #1" but doesn't list Drew Estate as the manufacturer. This is part of my smoking-all-of-Drew-Estate challenge. Could really use any help/connections.

Dan (JustDanD)
Doty-HQ at woh dot rr dot com

Dan, bad news... It looks like those may have some mold on them. I have a patented test to detect and eradicate mold. You'll have to send a few this way in order for the tests to be failsafe...

Yeah, I concur with Robby.... that's sad, but better to test a few and be sure than lose the whole collection.... :0)

So let me know how this all comes out Robby....

Dan,
I found this on Smoke Mag`s site. It should explain clearly what you have!!!

SMOKE: What was the first cigar you put on the market?

JON: The first one wasn’t even put on the market. We created it just for our own store, a house brand. It was called La Vieja Habana, named after the Old Habana in Cuba. We weren’t even looking for a “Cuban” taste. We were just looking for a special-tasting cigar, and we wanted to use Cameroon. We had it made in Manhattan, by Antonio Almanzar, a Dominican who’d been working in Manhattan for 30 years as a master blender and roller. He had a little shop with just him and one other cigar roller. I remember going in there in a business suit and he’s back there - there’s cockroaches running around, and he’s rolling cigars - and we said, “Sir, we have a proposition for you.” We became friends and he started to blend us some cigars. I became his personal apprentice for over a year, until he could no longer purchase quality materials. Unfortunately, he died in a car accident in the Dominican a few years later. He was a great cigar guy, a fantastic mentor, really involved in the leaf.

SMOKE: What kind of a blend was in the cigar?

JON: Dominican filler with a Cameroon binder and Ecuadorian wrapper, all torpedoes. People really liked it, but we couldn’t fill the demand because this guy was just a local tobacco retailer in New York City. All the good tobacco started going to the big companies.

So we got in touch with Nick Perdomo of Tabacalera Perdomo. Big Nick had his factory in Miami at the time, and I started going out there and worked with him. He had about 150 rollers at the time; it was packed. I would stay over there for like 30 days at a time, just learning what was going on in their factory. Finally we relaunched La Vieja Habana, with new, unique packaging and Nick as the manufacturer. People loved it and we promoted the hell out of it. We stayed with Nick for about two years, and then after Hurricane Mitch, we realized there just wasn’t sufficient space in the factory for us. He was getting so successful with La Tradicion Perdomo Reserve, there simply wasn’t room in the factory to make our products anymore. He couldn’t fulfill our demand at the time.

Dan,These are the original brand made by Perdomo. BTW,both of these are XLNT smokes

I'll buy in that they are the Perdomo version, but there are two different version of bands. AND Smoke mag lists another company ( don't want to get Slim slapped ) and not Drew or Perdomo in the 1999/2000 issue. A search of reviews for 3.7 rated cigs will take you to the issue. Sorry, but I research the he!1 out of things when I start. Database Analyst.

Need a name and a connection or it'll drive me nuts. Can't enter the 'gars in my database and Palm app as "unknown La Vieja Habana unknown size."

Robby. You're a true Brother of the Leaf to help me out with the mold test. What does this patented test involve??

Uh, I think Robby is going to use "the fire test" on those smokes. After an hour or hour and a half, you'll have your answer!

The light band is the Natty version. X

I've smoked both of these in the past. Thought they were prettey good. Haven't had the "new" version yet but got one resting in the humi.

Low

Ah, don't you just love when the wise old sages come out and hit the nail on the head! WTG!

Both were produced for Jonathan Drew. The more detailed band may not have been produced by Perdomo. They could have been from the original limited release. It's difficult to know how many bands and boxes were remaining from the first release that went to Perdomo for the secondary release. The light bands with the gold lettering are definitely Perdomo mades. There were two dominant wrappers made by Perdomo for Drew Estates, a rich rosado and a doble maduro that was almost oscuro. I was fortunate to be able to buy several bundles of each when they were on closeout. Regretfully, they are gone. IMHO they are the best cigars that Nick Perdomo has produced.