Crowned Heads - Juarez Chihuahua

For most of its existence, Crowned Heads has made cigars at two factories. Primarly at Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr.’s Tabacalera La Alianza S.A. in the Dominican Republic and also at My Father Cigars S.A.

Drew Estate became the third factory, and late last year, the company added a fourth factory to the list in the form of Tabacalera Pichardo, which is tasked with producing a line of cigars called Juárez originally as an exclusive for Thompson Cigar Co.

“The challenge was put forth to us by Thompson Cigar Co. to create a value-conscious alternative to our Jericho Hill brand,” said Jon Huber, co-founder of Crowned Heads, in a press release. “We had been working behind the scenes with Tabacalera Pichardo in Estelí, Nicaragua on some blends since 2016, mostly just for fun, but as time passed and more and more samples were delivered, we became very impressed with the quality and felt there was certainly potential in working with that house.”

The cigar uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

The Juárez starts with an interesting mixture of raisin, earthiness and a touch of bitter cocoa, i.e. none of the flavors from the cold draw. While the start is medium-full, the cigar is pretty quickly full or near full in just about every category. The core mouth flavor is earthiness, pita bread and some lemon sweetness. Retrohales produce a very subtle honeydew-like sweetness that never has a chance to stand out thanks to much the stronger initial flavors and finish. As for the finish, there are a lot of nuts and pine notes and perhaps most importantly, a lot of salivation. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is close to full. Construction is excellent