Punch tries a new release from Crowned Heads — sorta.
Please excuse the lack of clarity of this photo. The smart phone I usually use to take these photos is out for repair so I took this picture with a brick to which I taped a piece of broken bourbon bottle for a lens.
Jon Huber has been doing an almost “stealth” release of this Las Mareas by dribbling it out to select retailers without a lot of fanfare. When I say “release” I mean “pre-release” — not to be confused with the pre-pre-release which some stores got back in September which had Xeroxed bands — this “pre-release” was sent out in November. It is scheduled to be “released” at this year’s IPCPR in July.
Here is what I know about this stick: It is a Nicaraguan puro with a Corojo 99 wrapper and it has a light turquoise ribbon around the foot, and is made at the My Father factory. That’s it.
I picked up mine in mid-December from my favorite local shop, Big Sticks Fine Cigars in Mesa, Arizona. At that time the cigar was clearly freshly made and spongy wet. After letting it rest for around three weeks I’m going to give it a try.
The wrapper on this one is quite toothy and has multiple large veins giving it a lot of character and a rugged look. Yeah — I could see John Rambo working one of these in a jungle behind enemy lines.
The big punch gives a medium-tight draw which has a bit of wintergreen with leather and chicken gizzards. My tongue got pepper sting just from contact.
After an ⅛ inch warm up the first impression is a medium intensity hardwood and leather with pepper — the name of a rock band I played in back in college. Pepper was the lead singer, and man was she hot. My first touch-up doesn’t count, since I may not have given it a fair start. Stick around — let’s see where this goes …
… A serious profile — what I call classic, with an extra measure of white pepper.
… Pizza crust.
At 1‑½” in a rich vegital complexity drops in for a visit with some cardboard tagging along.
Skunk.
By the second third it has crossed over the top in both intensity and complexity. After ½” of that the intensity drops back to medium while the complexity remains full — chlorophyll, wintergreen and spruce.
The last third is a steady decline in both intensity and complexity, shifting back to the original profile of woody leather minus the pepper.
Summary: I really enjoyed this Crowned Heads Las Mareas. It started with a classic hardwood/leather/white pepper character which ballooned around the first third mark to an intense complexity of vegital chlorophyll, wintergreen and spruce. From there it rolled out to a mild woody leather ending. The construction and burn were great, contributing to a very pleasant smoking experience, well worth the $9 price. This is not for the cigar neophyte, but rather for the experienced smoker who is looking for some pop in a cigar without fatiguing the palate.