Background

Following on the heels of the Tennessee Waltz, Crowned Heads announced in 2015 that they would make a cigar available exclusively to Texas retailers: Yellow Rose

“The Yellow Rose of Texas” is a traditional folk song that dates back to circa 1836.

The song became popular among Confederate soldiers in the Texas Brigade during the American Civil War. General John Bell Hood introduced it as a marching song to the Army of Tennessee in July 1864. It is in the spirit of this song that Crowned Heads presents, “The Yellow Rose,” a cigar created exclusively for the great state of Texas.

The cigar is basically the same blend as the Waltz, using Nicaraguan filler and binder along with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, and made in the My Father Cigars factory in Nicaragua. MSRP is about $9.50 and it is a box-pressed torpedo measuring 6.25” x 54 ring gauge.

Someone said “Nicaragua filler and binder with a Broadleaf wrapper made by My Father” and I was immediately in. Seth Baxter, one of our regular customers at Burns, recently received a box and gifted me the one I’m talking about today.

Notes

Like the Tennessee Waltz, this cigar is adorned with a simple ribbon footband, this time yellow, while the Waltz was Orange (same as the University of Tennessee primary color).

Broadleaf isn’t really a pretty leaf to look at and this is no exception. It’s rugged, veiny and rough…but knowing what kind of flavor it imparts makes it beautiful in my eyes.

From first light I wasn’t disappointed. I got deep, dark chocolate notes along with earth and plentiful pepper spice.

I paired the Yellow Rose with some Maker’s Mark Bourbon, as I am wont to do.

The cigar was excellent. The whiskey was great. Together they were even better. As expected, this smoked very much like a larger version of the Tennessee Waltz. That’s both good and bad, though. Good, because it is a great blend and it’s good for other people to experience it. Bad, because the Waltz is at the upper end of the ring gauge sizes that I favor and this is slightly fatter.

Really, the Yellow Rose was very good, whereas the Waltz is great. I have a feeling that the Hawaiian version (same blend in a Corona Gorda) is probably even better. Again, that just plays into my predilection for smaller cigars, though. Thanks again to Seth for gifting me a stick to try.

6 Responses

  1. I liked the Tennessee Waltz and I agree that it is getting a little on the fat size of what I prefer to smoke.

  2. I paired it w/ a DP & loved it! I too prefer a smaller RG & can’t wait to try a Tenn Waltz.

  3. I loved the TN Waltz… but to be honest I think the Yellow Rose is better, and I have not idea why… normally i really don’t enjoy box pressed torpedos, in fact Torpedos in general don’t lite my fire… but something about this smoke works better for me in this size. Either way I think we can all agree its a great blend.

  4. I smoked one of these while I was in Texas a few months ago, seemed appropriate at the time and I was not disappointed.

  5. Another great Crowned heads. Identical to the Tennessee waltz other than the vitola. A wonderful smoke by Mr huber