Tag Archives: Crowned Heads

by Craig Vanderslice | February 13, 2024 · 9:17 pm

Crowned Heads Mother Church a JR Cigars Exclusive and a Contest

Mother Church is a nickname for Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium, the “Mother Church of Country Music”, and it’s the name of an exclusive cigar by Crowned Heads for JR Cigars. This is a Churchill, I just got it…Church…Churchill? andyway, I like Churchills a lot. It seems like maybe the wrong time of year for large cigars in the Northeast, but I have the time and a warm enough smoking area, so I’m good with taking an hour and a half or so for a smoke. The Mother Church is 7″ x 48, has an Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and Nicaraguan fillers, made in the Pichardo factory in Nicaragua.

I found this to be a woody and nutty cigar, I didn’t get any real sweetness, but there were some mild spices here and there. The burn and draw were excellent, it was a very well made cigar. I’d like to share some of these with someone, so let’s have a giveaway! I have a five pack of Mother Church, and I’ll add five other cigars to go with them for a total of ten cigars. Usual CigarCraig rules apply, leave a comment on this post to enter, you must be 21 or older to be eligible, and I’ll select a winner on Sunday, February 18. The links in this post are affiliate links, any purchases thought those links may put a couple dollars towards my expenses!

That’s all for today, until tomorrow,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Crowned Heads, JR Cigars, Mother Church, Pichardo

by Craig Vanderslice | December 24, 2023 · 9:16 am

Mule Kick, Metropolitan, Maria Lucia and the Contest Winner!

It only just occurred to me that that the last three cigars I smoked started with M, must be fore Merry Christmas! Of course, today is Christmas Eve, so it’s time to start your Christmas Shopping guys! It’s also the day I’m announcing the winner of the contest sponsored by Cigars.com, but I’ll get to that later! In the spirit of the season, I smoked some gifted cigars this week, the first of which was from Steve from Tampa, who was up visiting on business a few weeks ago. He gifted me a Crowned Heads Four Kicks 2023 Mule Kick LE, a 5 7/8″ x 52. Funny, I thought it was a toro, but I was off by an eighth of an inch. This one has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper over a Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, and is made in the Tabacalara La Alianza factory by Ernesto Carillo. I think this is the seventh iteration of the Mule Kick, and probably the first I’ve had, the Crowned Heads stuff isn’t ever really on my radar, I don’t see them in the stores near me that often. This was a great smoke, loaded with dark chocolate and spices. Ernesto has been a master of Sumatra for as long as I can remember, which, in this case, is a long time (my memory is suspect, short-term and names is terrible, long term isn’t so bad). Many thanks to Steve for the opportunity to smoke this, I look forward to your next visit, who knows, I may get to your neck of the woods before you get back here!

Next up were a couple of selections from my Secret Santa this year. Quick bit of housekeeping: If you participated in the CigarCraig Secret Santa (The CCSS moving forward), and have not fulfilled your obligation, please do so. I know of one package that’s in transit. Everyone that’s been involved has done it multiple times, so I don’t worry, and I try to be hands off and just a participant. Feel free to let me know if you have comments of concerns. My CCSS was a fellow Craig and in my area, so much so that I ran into him while out shopping Friday! So I selected the Nat Sherman Metropolitan Host Maduro Hampton, a 7″ x 50 cigar. You might be saying, “Craig, Metropolitan is a Ferio Tego brand now” and I’d say you are correct. You also might not know that Nat Sherman closed their doors in 2021 and Michael Herklots bought the rights to the names and kept the brands alive. This particular cigar is one of the older ones, purchased at the Nat Sherman Townhouse in NYC. I believe it has a Broadleaf wrapper, over Honduran fillers, made by the Eiroas if I’m not mistaken. This was milder than I imagined it would be, but it was loaded with sweet cocoa flavor and very tasty. Perhaps any strength it had was tempered by time, but it was very good. I enjoyed the crap out of this and it’s one that I’ll likely never see again. Thanks for the opportunity Craig!

Another cigar in Craig’s CCSS pack was the Luciano Cigars Maria Lucia, another Broadleaf wrapped cigar. This is a tribute to Luciano Meirelles’ mother, who passed when he was twelve, and has the artwork of his daughter on the band. The cigar is 5¼” x 54 with the Broadleaf wrapper, double binder of Ecuadorian Sumatra and Ecuadorian Habano 92 tobaccos, and a fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Peru. This is going to sound strange, especially given the source, but the flavor was bready to me, like a dark bread, a pumpernickel or the brown bread that comes in a can. It was on the heavy side, which I liked, even though I smoked it before dinner (after a nap). I have met Luciano a couple times, and have enjoyed his cigars. I would like to explore more of his work, I think. Good stuff.

Let’s give some stuff away! You might recall, Cigars.com has provided me with a really nice Montecristo travel humidor, along with a RoMEo cap and a Romeo y Julieta can cozy. I am going to add some cigars to the humidor before I ship it, they will be Cigars.com exclusives from my humidor, more or less. The sponsor doesn’t know I’m doing this, but I can’t send out a package without cigars! Anyway, I’ve consulted the Google Random Number Generator and Tim McCabe is the winner! Please send me your address so that I can get this stuff out to you! Remember if you buy from Cigars.com, or JRCigars.com, please use the affiliate links on the left sidebar, I could use the cash!

That’s all for now, enjoy the Holidays! I guess I need to scrounge up some goodies for a New Years Giveaway! Stay tuned! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, CIgars.com, Contest, Crowned Heads, Four Kicks, Host, Luciano, Maria Lucia, Metropolitan, Mule Kick, Nat Sherman

by Craig Vanderslice | February 5, 2023 · 10:02 am

Oliva Serie V, Cuba Aliados and La Patissier Cigars

Last Sunday I was out and about and came across a couple cigars that I hadn’t tried yet, so I bought them. I smoked a couple this week, although by Saturday it had gotten ridiculously cold, so I opted for a shorter smoke so as not to over-tax my propane heater. I started off with the Oliva Serie V 125th Anniversary Edicion Limitada. I thought this would be priced higher, but it was reasonable $10, and well worth it. It wasn’t all that long ago that I felt like I was really going top-shelf spending $8-12 on a cigar. Times have changed. Still, what else could I do for an hour and a half or more that costs less than $10? This is an interesting figurado, it’s tapered at the foot, once you burn past the first inch and a half it may as well be a parejo. It measures 5½” x 54 overall and is Nicaraguan filler and binder wrapped in a Sungrown Ecuador Habano leaf. That narrow foot not only makes it easy to light, but seemed to make the opening few puffs pretty sharp and powerful. It settled into leathery and earthy with some cocoa sweetness. Overall I really enjoyed this cigar. I haven’t smoked a lot of Serie Vs lately, they have to be priced higher than this one. It’s highly recommended. By the way, the 135 refers to the anniversary of when Melanio Oliva started in the tobacco business, Oliva cigars has only been around for about 30 years.

Next up was another cigar connected with Oliva, from the recently acquired Cuba Aliados brand. I smoked a bunch of these in the ’90s when they were made by Rolando Reyes and existed alongside Puro Indios in their lineup. I can’t say I remember too much about them, but I know the Cuba Aliados brand was a favorite of Steve Saka back then. This one is made by Ernesto Carillo, it has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. Ernesto is kinda famous for using Sumatra, and I like Sumatra. The cigar I smoked was a 6″ x 54 torpedo, and I probably selected that because it was the only vitola the shop had available. This was a really nice tasting cigar with a sweet spice. It’s burn and draw were perfect and I quite enjoyed it. It was closer to $15, so I don’t think I’ll smoke a lot of them, but it was worth the money. I’m a fan if EPC from way back, so that probably worked in the cigar’s favor.

Like I said, Saturday was super-cold, and I know we weren’t along in this weather pattern, a lot of the country seems to have had a cold snap. below a certain temperature, my propane heater doesn’t do as good a job. This is the perfect time for shorter cigars, so I had a La Patissier No. 50 from the PCA show that would fit into this scenario perfectly. It’s 4 3/8″ x 50, not tiny, but not huge. I don’t smoke a lot of Crowned Heads cigars, and this particular one was made at the Pichardo factory before they had the falling-out. I don’t recall where they will be having this made, it might be made by Ernesto Carillo which would connect all three of today’s cigars in some circular way. Anyway, this cigar has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Jalapa binder, and fillers from Costa Rica, as well as the Ometepe and Pueblo Nuevo regions of Nicaragua. My guess would be that future iterations of this cigar will not have the Puebla Nueva tobacco, as that seemed to be a favorite of Luciano Marielles. This cigar was really good, although I’m a little surprised to see it was Broadleaf, it didn’t smoke that way to me. It started out bold, and had an exotic spice that I couldn’t put a label on. It was very good, I may see if I can find some of these older ones so I can see if it changes.

A week or so back I smoked a La Gloria Serie S, their new San Andrés offering, and I guess I bought a couple of them and forgot that I had, because I couldn’t remember where it came from. Last week I got some samples of these and smoked one yesterday. I’m going to set them down for a while, lets just say that I had pretty much the same experience the guy who smoked one on Dojo’s last Smoke Night Live show had. I like San Andrés and I love La Gloria, so I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. More to come on that. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 135th Anniversary, cigar, cigars, Crowned Heads, Cuba Aliados, EP Carillo, La Patissier, oliva, Serie V

by Craig Vanderslice | August 21, 2022 · 10:11 am

A Couple PDR Cigars and a Las Calaveras

I’m working on something a little different, should be announced any day now. I found myself with more gear from the Barnsmoker than I know what to do with, so I’m going to have a fundraiser raffle for a worthy charity. I’m still working out the details, but the prizes are pretty cool. I felt the need to do something more than just the usual pick a random comment giveaway. We’ll see how it goes, stay tuned. I did manage to smoke some cigars this week, funny that there were several that I just didn’t enjoy, but here are a couple highlights! Let’s get the Las Calaveras from Crowned Heads out of the way. This was the first Las Calaveras I’ve smoked. A friend commented that he was surprised by this, but I don’t fall all over myself for Crowned Heads in general. I did, however pick one of these up a week or two ago when I saw them, out of curiosity. The one I smoked was the Las Calaveras Edición Limitada 2022 LC46 (5¾” x 46). It’s a Nicaraguan puro made at the My Father factory in Esteli. It has a dark Corojo wrapper, I believe, and packs a punch. I enjoyed the rich, espresso flavors, but. I thought it was stronger than I’d have liked, the strength overpowered the flavor at times. Perhaps a few years in the humidor would settle it down, but I’m not inclined to go out of my way to find out. I did enjoy it, and it was not, by far, the worst cigar I had all week.

PDR Cigars has been sending samples to me on a regular basis. They could save a lot on shipping by combining shipments, but that’s their business. One of the first cigars they sent me, maybe 6 weeks ago now (this summer has gone by far too fast for my liking), was the Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada. I smoked one on or around my wedding anniversary and quite enjoyed it. It’s a beautiful perfecto, 6½” x 52, but it’s also available in a Robusto, Gran Toro and Wide Churchill. it has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Dominican Olor binder and 7 year old Dominican Seco and Piloto Cubano Ligero, as well as Viso from Jalapa, Nicaragua. The filler tobaccos aren’t specifically named, but they taste great! The cigar burned perfectly and had nice sweet, nutty flavors. This may have been the best cigar I smoked all week (starting the week on Monday, of course, the bar was admittedly pretty low!). It’s a fairly sophisticated cigar, befitting of a milestone anniversary.

Another PDR cigar I smoked was the El Trovador Rosado, in the Corona Gorda (6″ x 46) size. Again, PDR isn’t very specific with the varietals, but it has an Ecuadorian Rosado wrapper, double binder described as one Nicaraguan and one Nicaragua Corojo, and fillers described as 2 Ligero Nicaragua, 1 ½ Viso Nicaragua. I really loved this cigar, second best of the week. It was pretty strong, without sacrificing flavor. It had some dark flavors, with some leather and spices. I dug it, and, like the other PDR cigars I’ve smoked recently, it burned perfectly. I have a few more to get to, and another package due this week, so watch for more PDR cigars sneaking into my rotation in the coming weeks.

That’s all for today. I need to get to work on that fundraiser thing. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Crowned Heads, El Trovador, Flores y Rodriguez, Las Caleveras, PDR

by Craig Vanderslice | March 13, 2022 · 10:55 am

Memento Mori and CHC Serie E Cigars and a Short Rant

Friday evening I got back to working at Son’s after a two week hiatus, and the new Memento Mori from Black Works Studio had just come in. Of course, I had to sample one, so I selected the Lonsdale. This cigar has a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers and starts out smacking you on the face with a load of pepper. This is a fairly heavy cigar, it’s rich, decadent, and loaded with flavor. I think it’s quintessentially Black Label, if that makes sense. I really like this cigar. I’ll certainly be picking up some more of these, they hit my palate just right, although I wouldn’t recommend smoking one on an empty stomach! One of my goals working at Son’s is to smoke more BLTC cigars, since they have a large selection and a great relationship with the company.

I had a whole Op-Ed piece written on the “responsible marketing” stuff that’s been in the cigar news lately, actually it was fairly short. I’ll summarize it here. I think , probably cynically, that the government doesn’t really care about cigars, they just want to see tobacco eradicated. To the brand owners who insist on “having fun” with their marketing by using names and images that could maybe in some way appeal to a child, think about all the people that will be displaced when the government shuts down the industry for a minute. When manufacturers family legacies are destroyed, and their employees families are starving, you can think of all the fun you had selling childishly branded cigars. That will be a pretty cool feeling, I imagine. Not really. By the way, I think “Self Regulation” means be responsible adults and do the right thing, not that there’s going to be a cigar industry rulemaking committee with Jorge Pardón, Carlito Fuente and Pepin Garcia sitting around telling everyone what to do. Let’s resist the urge to draw attention to ourselves, maintain the traditions of this 500 year old art form and not say f*ck the FDA every chance we get, or they are going to f*ck the cigar industry.

Another cigar I picked up was the Crowned Heads CHC Serie E Hermoso No. 2. While I have not typically been enamoured with Crowned heads cigars, or marketing (tho not irresponsible), I have been impressed with cigars made by Tabacalera Pichardo, so I thought I’d give this one a try. This is the cigar with the Eddie Van Halen theme on the band and box, the E in the name stands for Eruption, one of Van Halen’s famous guitar solos. I’m a musician, I’ve never made the connection between cigar flavors and music, but good for Jon Huber for conceptualizing cigars in that manner. Some people smoke in color too. This cigar has an Ecuador Habano oscuro wrapper, a binder from Jalapa, and fillers from Jalapa, ometepe and Pueblo Nuevo. They say where the tobacco is grown, but not the varietal. Pichardo likes using the Pueblo Nuevo tobacco, perhaps that’s a common denominator in cigars I like from that factory. I found this cigar to be thoroughly enjoyable, even delicious. There’s a sweetness, like warm breakfast rolls of some sort, along with some leather and spice. Despite not liking a lot of what Crowned Heads does (even though I like Miguel Schoedel!), I really liked this one.