Which ACID Cigar Is Right for You? Kuba Kuba, Blondie, Cold Infusion & More

ACID Cigars by Drew Estate are easy to recognize, but difficult to generalize. There are many different expressions of the brand. Light Kuba Kuba and you'll get one impression. Pick up a slender Cold Infusion and it's totally different. Go with a green-wrapped Candela and it changes again. Blondie, one of the smaller and more familiar ACID cigars, has a personality of its own.

That variety is part of what makes ACID interesting. Drew Estate built the brand around infused cigars, but that doesn't mean every ACID is a variation on the same sweet, aromatic theme. Different wrappers, tobacco blends, sizes, and ACID families can push the experience in noticeably different directions.

So, no matter what kind of experience you're looking for, there's probably an ACID worth considering. We'll help you figure out which one to try.

Why ACID Cigars Can Taste So Different

ACID has always done things differently. The cigars are handmade at Drew Estate's factory in Nicaragua using premium tobaccos combined with the brand's proprietary infusion and curing processes. Exactly how Drew Estate creates those aromas and flavors is part of the ACID formula, and not something the company discloses.

It's not just the infusion that impacts the cigar, though. Wrapper, filler, size, and the particular blend all contribute to the experience. Drew Estate also divides ACID into families including...

• Blue
• Gold
• Green
• Purple
• ACID 20
• Subculture

Those families provide a useful roadmap through a portfolio that can otherwise look a little chaotic.

Kuba Kuba: The Benchmark

If one cigar has become shorthand for the ACID experience, it's Kuba Kuba. At 5 x 54, Kuba Kuba has enough size to let the blend develop without turning into an all-afternoon commitment. It belongs to ACID Blue, the portion of the portfolio Drew Estate characterizes by sweetness, smoothness, and pronounced aroma.

That makes Kuba Kuba a useful place to start and a good reference point for the rest of the brand. The infusion is hard to miss. Sweet and aromatic qualities arrive early, but there's enough Nicaraguan tobacco underneath to keep the experience from being all about the infusion.

Kuba Kuba isn't the only way into ACID, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what made the brand famous. Once you know it, the differences in the rest of the lineup become much easier to appreciate.

ACID Blondie: Smaller, But Not Just a Shorter Kuba Kuba

It would be easy to look at Blondie and think of it as the quick version of the ACID Blue experience. At 4 x 38, it is certainly compact. But cigar dimensions affect more than how long you'll be smoking.

A smaller ring gauge changes the proportion of wrapper to filler tobacco, which can noticeably change how the blend comes across. Blondie still lives firmly within ACID Blue territory, with the aromatic and sweet qualities that make the family distinctive, but its smaller format gives it a different presence than the chunky Kuba Kuba

If you want to settle in and get a fuller introduction to ACID Blue, Kuba Kuba is the natural starting point. If you want something compact, aromatic, and unmistakably ACID without committing as much time, Blondie can be a great choice. The Blondie name has also been used across different ACID expressions, including Maduro and Candela versions. Once you know the original, those variations become an interesting way to see how much changing the wrapper and blend can change the experience.

ACID Cold Infusion: When You Want More Complexity

Cold Infusion looks different before you ever light it. Its 6 3/4 x 44 dimensions make it noticeably longer and slimmer than Kuba Kuba, and it belongs to ACID Gold rather than the Blue family. Drew Estate positions Gold around complexity, which makes Cold Infusion a natural next move for someone who already knows the sweeter side of ACID.

The slimmer format creates a different balance between wrapper and filler. There's still plenty of aromatic character, and nobody is going to mistake Cold Infusion for an uninfused traditional cigar, but the experience is more nuanced. For someone who has already had one of the better-known cigars in the lineup, Cold Infusion shows just how far ACID can move from the familiar Kuba Kuba experience without losing its identity.

ACID Green: What Does a Candela Wrapper Change?

There may be no easier ACID cigar to spot across the room than one wearing a Candela wrapper. Candela gets its distinctive appearance from the way the tobacco is processed, with the leaves dried rapidly enough to preserve the chlorophyll that would normally disappear as tobacco cures. The result isn't only visual. Candela wrappers are often associated with grassy, herbal, and vegetal qualities that are less common in other wrappers.

Drew Estate leans into those characteristics with ACID Green, describing the family in terms of grassy and earthy flavors with a mellow, smooth character. Put that together with ACID's aromatic personality and you get something genuinely different from the rest of the lineup.

For someone new to Candela, ACID Green is also an unusual introduction to the wrapper. You get those fresh, grassy characteristics in a setting that already embraces unconventional flavor. If you've already enjoyed a standard Kuba Kuba or Blondie, trying its Candela counterpart makes the differences even easier to pick out.

ACID Purple: The Richer, More Aromatic Side Purple takes another turn.

Drew Estate positions this family toward a richer, more aromatic side of ACID, making it worth exploring if you enjoy the brand's distinctive character but want something with a little more weight behind it. Extra Ordinary Larry is one of the memorable names associated with ACID Purple, and it's a memorable cigar in size as well. At 6 x 60, it's a much bigger format than Kuba Kuba, Blondie, or Cold Infusion. Purple isn't only about large cigars, though. The family also includes other sizes and blends, so the more useful distinction is its richer approach to the ACID experience. If Blue is your introduction to the sweet and aromatic side of ACID, Purple gives you somewhere to go when you want to turn up the richness without leaving the brand's unconventional personality behind.

Where ACID 20 Fits

ACID turned 20 in 2019, and Drew Estate marked the anniversary with ACID 20. That's how the line gets its name, but the blends stand on their own even without the anniversary story.

ACID 20 comes in Connecticut and Maduro expressions, giving you two distinctly different directions to explore. Both remain recognizably part of ACID, with sweetness, spice, and aromatic character playing a role, but the wrapper choices give you another way to move through the portfolio.

You certainly don't need to work through every Blue, Gold, Green, and Purple cigar before trying ACID 20. But if you already know Kuba Kuba or Blondie, the line gives you another perspective on just how much variety Drew Estate has built under the ACID name.

Which ACID Cigar Should You Choose?

If you want the signature sweet and aromatic ACID experience, Kuba Kuba is the natural starting point. However,

• Blondie puts that Blue character into a smaller format
• Cold Infusion moves toward the more complex family
• Green is the direction to explore if you're curious about the grassy, herbal character of Candela.
• Purple heads toward a richer aromatic experience
• ACID 20 gives those who already know the brand Connecticut and Maduro directions to explore.

There isn't one best starting point. Pick the characteristic that sounds most interesting and work outward from there.

A Few Questions Before You Choose

Are ACID Cigars Flavored or Infused?

"Infused" is the more useful description. ACID cigars are made with premium tobacco and undergo proprietary processes that introduce their distinctive aromatic character. The result is different from thinking of them as traditional cigars with a single added flavor such as vanilla or cherry.

The distinction also helps explain why describing an ACID with one flavor word usually doesn't tell you much. Aroma, sweetness, tobacco, wrapper, and the particular blend all contribute to the experience.

Should ACID Cigars Be Stored Separately From Traditional Cigars?

It's a good idea, especially for longer-term storage. ACID cigars are highly aromatic, and storing them alongside traditional cigars creates the possibility of those aromas influencing neighboring cigars.

You don't necessarily need an elaborate second humidor to solve the problem. A dedicated storage setup that maintains appropriate humidity while keeping infused, and traditional cigars separated can do the job.

Final Thoughts

The interesting thing about ACID isn't finding the one cigar that represents the entire brand. It's discovering how different the premium handmades can be while still unmistakably belonging to ACID. Start with the profile that sounds good to you, then try something from another family. Kuba Kuba followed by Cold Infusion or a Candela-wrapped Blondie will tell you more about the range of ACID than any single description of the brand can.

Explore our various selection of ACID Cigars by Drew Estate here at Cigars International!