Cigar Review: Las Calaveras by Crowned Heads

Vitola: LC550 (Robusto)
Size: 5” x 50 ring gauge
Price ~$9.00
Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

Let’s get something straight right from the start…”Las Calaveras” has nothing to do with Mark Twain, a frog-jumping contest, or a county in California. Instead this cigar is inspired by an etching by Jose Guadalupe Posada; the image is of a female skeleton dressed in a hat. The art has become part of the Mexican Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a holiday where families gather to pay for and remember the dead. For Crowned Heads, this cigar is the first collaboration with My Father Cigars; the 2014 edition is the first annual release under this name, although each year should bring a different blend and possibly different sizes. 72,000 cigars were produced for this release, 24 cigars per box, 3,000 total boxes, 3 sizes, so 1,000 boxes of each size).

I got a chance to try this cigar before it was officially released, While I “liked” it when I smoked it that day, it wasn’t the best possible circumstance, as my palate had been fairly abused earlier in the day. I smoked another a few weeks later when they showed up at Burns…but it didn’t have much impact on me. It actually wasn’t until my 3rd smoking of the blend that it clicked for me…it’s a more subtle blend and works best when you have a clean palate. And that’s why it took me some time to get around to reviewing it. We have plenty of them left in all sizes at Burns Tobacconist, so if you haven’t gotten your hands on them yet, call 423-855-5200 and we’ll fix you up.

Las Calaveras is made with Nicaraguan filler and binder, along with an Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro wrapper leaf. (Research for the above sections was done on the Crowned Heads website.)

Prelight

The box of Las Calaveras has the Mexican “Day of the Dead” skull prominently on display. The band of the cigar itself has virtually no adorning and honestly could be Crowned Heads’ least impactful band. White background, some pale yellow and orange trim, black type and a bit of gold foil. I think the thing that I noticed first was how shallow the embossing was; on previous releases like Four Kicks and Headley Grange, the emboss quality was deep with sharp detail. With this one, it’s hard to tell any detail in the coins on the sides of the band. I’m not trying to be a hater here and I think overall the band is fine, but it’s a bit of a let-down after the extraordinary quality of the earlier bands. On to the parts that will make more of a difference after you buy the stick…

The wrapper leaf was really oily under my fingertips. It had a milk chocolate brown coloration with a bit of darker mottling and obvious construction elements like the seams and cap were flawless. Giving it a good sniff, I got notes of earth and leather from the wrapper, while the foot gave off earth, aged tobacco and pepper notes. My Xikar Xi rendered a clean straight cut with an excellent draw; I got cold flavors of hay and cedar, with a spicy tingle left on my lips from the wrapper.

image from Crowned Heads website

Flavor

At the outset, Las Calaveras had a strong cedar note with a solid undercurrent of aged tobacco and hay; under that was some earthiness. I got a solid amount of black pepper on the palate, with a good residual of it on the finish. The retrohale was equally peppery. There was some undefined bready note in the mix, as well as a subtle sweetness. Of the 4 or so samples of this cigar that I’ve smoked, this one definitely displayed the most flavor right off the bat. Is that down to it being my first cigar of the day? Partially, I’m sure, but I think these cigars might just now be hitting a really good spot in terms of flavor intensity. The rest of the first third was dominated by cedar and pepper spice flavors, with lesser notes of hay and earth.

The second third saw a greater sweetness come through, in the form of both citrus and graham cracker, while the pepper spice diminished a bit.

The last third was mostly the same, but with a slight return of black pepper toward the end.

Construction

Construction was excellent, as you would expect from the My Father factory. The burn line was even enough, the ash was never flaky and the draw was perfect.

Value

Expect to pay about $9 for a Robusto, and more for the other sizes. Not a bad price for a very good cigar that has improved in the 4 months or so that it’s been available.

Conclusions

Early samples of this smoke were good, but didn’t capture my imagination…or palate. A few months of extra aging, though, seems to have done wonders for Las Calaveras making it a must-smoke cigar, different from anything else in the Crowned Heads catalog. I found it to be a very pleasant medium to full-bodied smoke with very good flavors and a nice amount of complexity, never allowing the experience to get dull. If you haven’t tried these yet, it’s definitely time.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10