The Rebirth of Cigars
In late 1998, Jonathan Drew moved to Esteli, Nicaragua with the hopes of starting a rebirth in the cigar world. With a handful of rollers and an even smaller handful of money, the story of “That Crazy Gringo” began. Imagine, going from a NYC apartment to sleeping on a mattress above a ram shackle factory, hardly knowing a word of Spanish too!
Back in Brooklyn, Marvin was holding down the fort, a beat up office in DUMBO, begging & borrowing from anyone who’d give ‘em a chance… parents, cousins, friends, unscrupulous characters… For a year or so, things were bleak… but they were on to something, just need more money…
A Merging of Talents
In early 1999, Jonathan returned to Brooklyn with several amazing new blends for the next Drew Estate release. It was different, even shocking, and it needed something equally as spectacular to launch it. Enter Scott “ACID” Chester, an emerging artist in the DUMBO scene, whose mixing of industrial, urban, graffiti & motorcycle art would make for the perfect vehicle.1998 & 1999 were crazy… running on fumes, bank account empty, but little by little we chipped away… Some great people came to us and pointed us in the right direction… We could have easily contracted out our cigars, but we wanted to go all in, owning our own factory, making our own cigars, doing things our way, which turns out is definitely the hard way. By 2000, we were ready for Round 2 with the release of Natural by Drew Estate. The ying to ACID’s yang, Natural was equally as original and more traditional. The launch of Natural took place on a vintage yacht sailing around Manhattan with invited friends and industry folk. Natural’s alluring flavor and aroma was the perfect match for a special evening.