Sneak Preview: Las Mareas from Crowned Heads

• Vitola: Olas
• 6.125” x 46 ring gauge 
• Price $9.49
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

Jon Huber and the rest of the Crowned Heads crew surprised virtually no one when they announced that they would be bringing a new regular release line to market in 2016…after all, that’s what they’ve been doing every year…one new regular release, plus some new vitolas of previous regular releases, and some limited editions to keep everyone on their toes. They did surprise some people when they gave a couple sneak preview opportunities, though. First, seven different shops received a box each of the 4 different vitolas. Then a few weeks after that, all CH partner stores received about 10 boxes each of 2 of those vitolas. That’s how I got the opportunity to try Las Mareas (Spanish for “the tides”) and offer you a sneak peek at what is coming down the pike.

Crowned Heads teamed up again with the My Father Cigar factory in Nicaragua for Las Mareas. The artwork on the boxes seemed finished, but the cigars currently have no really bands, just foot band ribbons, similar to the releases of Tennessee Waltz, Yellow Rose, and Paniolo Especiale. It would surprise me if that is the way they ship when the final release is made…but it could happen.

There was no definitive information about the blend, although someone on a message board referred to it as “totally Nicaraguan” so we’ll roll with that for now. I’ve had the Olas (“waves”) size once before this evaluation stick and I paid for both of them.

Notes

If this is a Nicaraguan wrapper leaf, it is surprisingly light in color, with a reddish, almost orange-tinted hue. It had a couple prominent veins and a nicely oily feel to it. The aroma from the wrapper was really just natural tobacco and hay, while the foot had more earthiness than anything else.

The cold draw was excellent, featuring flavor notes of citrus, hay and cedar. When I lit up Las Mareas, I got a mix of creamy and spicy textures and flavors…hay, cedar, red pepper. Earth was in the background and there was a nice underlying sweetness.

Las Mareas is strictly medium in body, at least at this point. It has an interesting and unique flavor in the Crowned Heads line, although it does seem like I’ve tasted something like this in other lines that My Father has worked on. I said “medium in body, at least at this point” because I’ve had other early release cigars that seemed medium or even mild in body, but once they had a chance to rest and marry flavors, they turned out to have more body to them. That’s also why I’m not doing anything in the way of a real review at this point…while I like this stick now, I may find that I love it a few month down the road.

Las Mareas is available in 5-packs of Olas or Rebeldes vitolas from our site sponsor, Burns Tobacconist. Quantities of the sneak preview release are limited.