An Overview of Crowned Heads Last 10 Years
Introduction:
When you think of premium cigars, you probably think of tropical locales. Nicaragua, Cuba, and even the streets of Miami and Little Havana in Florida. You probably don’t think of Nashville. But that’s exactly where today’s brand is headquartered. Welcome to our Brand Spotlight on Crowned Heads.
Crowned Heads has been repping the boutique cigar game since 2011, releasing a strong portfolio of regular production blends, some sought after limited editions, and winning a few key awards along the way, including being named halfwheel’s Company of the Year in 2018.
Today, we’re going to shine the spotlight on this brand, the cigars they produce, and the people behind them as we move through five key releases. We’ll be covering:
- Crowned Heads Four Kicks: the blend that started it all
- Crowned Heads La Imperiosa: a move to Nicaragua, and a quick look at Las Calaveras
- Crowned Heads La Coalicion: a collaboration with Drew Estate
- Crowned Heads Juarez: the first Pichardo collaboration
- Crowned Heads Mil Dias: their most recent classic
Before we jump into the cigars, though, let’s talk a little bit about where it all began.
Before Crowned Heads:
So, how does one start a company like Crowned Heads? Well, in the case of Jon Huber and Mike Condor, it starts by working at another brand – CAO.
Huber, the co-owner of Crowned Heads, began working in the cigar industry for CAO back in 1996. This is back in the early days of CAO when cigars like the CAO Gold and L’Anniversaire were the stars of the show. From 1996 to 2010, Jon spent a ton of time smoking cigars and hanging out with his CAO co-workers, including his boss (the aforementioned Mike Condor), until CAO got acquired.
Jon and Mike decided at that point to start their own brand – they left CAO in December of 2010 and spent the next year deciding who was going to make their cigars. Which leads us to the first blend on our list.
The Cigars:
1. Four Kicks Robusto
- Body: Medium
- Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
- Price Point: $9.00
- Main Flavors: Graham Cracker, Sweetness, Black Pepper
Here we are, at the brand’s humble beginnings.
In 2011, the duo visited the Dominican Republic to meet with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. Today, Ernesto is the recipient of two Cigar of the Year awards from Cigar Aficionado. While he hadn’t taken home the trophy yet in 2011, Ernesto was already an industry legend, known for his success with the La Gloria Cubana brand. At that point, Ernesto also wasn’t doing any contract manufacturing (making cigars for other people beyond his own brand).
Jon and Mike convinced Ernesto to make them a blend, and the Four Kicks was born. Named after a song from Kings of Leon (a band that shares its birthplace with Crowned Heads – Nashville), Four Kicks was an instant success. Medium-bodied and balanced, the blend features an Ecuador Habano wrapper leaf overtop Nicaraguan binder and filler.
Smoking the Four Kicks Robusto, you’ll find a blend that still holds up ten years after release. Perfectly balanced with that type of sweet-and-spicy mixture that’s so hard to perfect, Four Kicks shows off some serious blending chops from the young brand, and is a great marker of what’s to come.
2. La Imperiosa Corona Gorda
- Body: Full
- Country of Origin: Nicaragua
- Price Point: $9.25
- Main Flavors: Earth, Leather, Citrus
Next up, La Imperiosa. But to tell the story of this cigar, we need to make a quick detour and talk about Las Calaveras.
The year was 2014 and Crowned Heads was doing well. Little did they know they were about to take the next steps towards greatness. In February of 2014, Crowned Heads announced a new limited edition cigar they were doing honoring the Dia de Los Muertos – the Las Calaveras.
Additionally, the brand announced they’d be partnering with the My Father factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. Up until then, every cigar made by Crowned Heads had been manufactured by E.P. Carrillo in the Dominican Republic. Obviously, people were excited. My Father Cigars was responsible for some of the best cigars in the business (and still is) – the result was that the brand sold out immediately.
Las Calaveras became an annual release for Crowned Heads, which they still make today, but each year featured a different blend. That’s why in 2015 the company re-released the original Las Calaveras blend in a new regular production format called La Imperiosa.
Still made at My Father S.A., La Imperiosa utilizes a dark, Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro wrapper overtop Nicaraguan binder and filler. The cigar smokes like a dream, and shows a real contrast from the Four Kicks that came before it. This is a heavier, fuller-bodied experience, rich with salt, earthiness, and a leathery component. It’s not overwhelming, though – the flavors are balanced out by nice hints of fruity and citrus sweetness.
3. La Coalicion Siglo
- Body: Medium to Full
- Country of Origin: Nicaragua
- Price Point: $13.50
- Main Flavors: Toast, Hickory, Earth
Released in 2019, La Coalicion is a collaboration between Willy Herrara (the master blender for Drew Estate) and Jon Huber. While there have been many joint projects from cigar companies throughout the years, La Coalicion was described by Huber as a “true collaboration.”
It’s an important cigar to understand the current position of Crowned Heads, and you may have noticed by now that each of the cigars we’ve called out so far has been produced at different cigar factories. If there’s one thing Crowned Heads does better than most, it’s collaboration — no matter who is creating and blending their cigars, they end up making fantastic blends.
La Coalicion is a medium to full-bodied blend wrapped in Connecticut Broadleaf and will likely draw comparisons to the Liga Privada No. 9. Underneath the wrapper you’ll find a Sumatran binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. Lighting up, you’ll find some charred, hickory-like notes, a core earthiness, and some warm, toasty notes of bread and chocolate.
4. Juarez Jack Brown
- Body: Medium
- Country of Origin: Nicaragua
- Price Point: $7.00
- Main Flavors: Cocoa, Red Pepper
At the 2019 trade show where Crowned Heads introduced La Coalicion they also opened Juarez as a regular production, nationally distributed blend. Up until then, Juarez was an exclusive cigar for just one retailer.
As we called out with La Coalicion, Juarez is yet another testament to Crowned Head’s ability to collaborate. Here, we see them working with a fourth factory. But while the rest were already established titans in the industry, with Juarez, Crowned Heads took a risk. Tabacalera Pichardo, the company producing the cigar, was a relatively unknown factory. On top of that, Juarez was introduced as a value cigar in the portfolio – the OBS size retailed for just $5.95 upon release.
So what was the result of this risk taking? One of the most successful CH blends in years.
Juarez employs a Mexican San Andres wrapper over Ecuador Sumatra and fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Lighting up, you’ll find a chocolate driven profile, with notes of red pepper and some creamy hints of peanut butter. Dollar for dollar, this one might just be the best offering CH has done to date.
5. Mil Dias Edmundo
- Body: Medium to Full
- Country of Origin: Nicaragua
- Price Point: $10.00
- Main Flavors: Nuts, Caramel, Pepper
Finally, we arrive at the “current” iteration of Crowned Heads with Mil Dias. Announced in July 2020, Mil Dias is Spanish for “1,000 days” – a reference to the time frame it took Jon Huber and the Tabacalera Pichardo factory to come together and finalize the blend.
While the companies had worked together on Juarez, Mil Dias really signaled the start of a new collaboration with a lot of significance. In addition to the Mil Dias blend, Tabacalera Pichardo began developing their own brands under the ACE Prime name – now distributed by Crowned Heads. These are cigars like the Pichardo Clasico, or the ACE Prime Luciano The Dreamer.
With Mil Dias, Crowned Heads had another instant winner on their hands. Over the last couple of years, the brand has gone on to introduce a few limited-edition sizes to the portfolio, but our recommendation is for the classic Edmundo vitola. Mil Dias features a sultry, smooth Ecuador Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. The experience is fantastic, delivering a rich, nutty flavor profile backed by thick, caramel like sweetness.
Wrapping Up
There you have it, a historical overview of Crowned Heads. With four different partner factories and a diverse flavor portfolio, Crowned Heads truly has something for everyone. If you haven’t tried this brand, our Brand Spotlight sampler is a perfect starting point – or you can shop their full portfolio here.
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts below – we’re open to requests on future Brand Spotlights, and we’d love to know what your favorite Crowned Heads cigars are.
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