When Drew Estate teams up with Metallica’s James Hetfield and BLACKENED Whiskey’s Rob Dietrich, you know the result isn’t going to be a dainty smoke... The Blackened M81 cigar is a full-throttle, all-maduro blend forged in the overlap of music, whiskey, and premium tobacco—a cigar that leans hard into its heavy-metal roots without losing the finesse Drew Estate is known for. Named after Metallica’s founding year (1981 + Metallica) and the BLACKENED whiskey that inspired the blend, the M81 cigar is a collision of passions that plays louder than most in your humidor.
Crafted at La Gran Fábrica Drew Estate in Estelí, the blend took two years to finalize, with Hetfield, Dietrich, and Jonathan Drew personally sampling and tweaking along the way. The result is a triple-maduro composition: a dark Mexican San Andrés wrapper, a Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and a gutsy core of Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania Broadleaf ligero. This last component is drawn from the boldest leaf in Drew Estate’s arsenal—fitting for a cigar that was never meant to whisper.
What does the Blackened M81 by Drew Estate cigar taste like?
This is a cigar that doesn’t pull punches. From the first draw, you get brooding flavors of charred oak, espresso, and black pepper, backed by a deep earthiness and bitter cocoa. As the smoke develops, notes of burnt caramel and dark stone fruit emerge, giving just enough sweetness to balance the strength. Medium-full to full in body, the M81 cigar burns like a slow-building power chord: rich, layered, and impossible to ignore.
