Crowned Heads
Las Calaveras El 2015
I originally order this having no idea what it was. I liked the Name the Box and the purpose of it's creation.
I had no idea what I was in store for.
Las Calaveras EL 2015. The total production (90,000 cigars)
sold out; in FOUR HOURS. Crowoned Heads OVER sold the production and had to go
back to retail partners and cut back on many orders. As you would imagine, this
annual release is very important to Crowned Heads. With limited edition
t-shirts, hats, prints, and even jewelry in commemoration of the annual Las
Calaveras release.
The story from Crowned Heads blog is Below
"Crowned Heads Las Calaveras was inspired by “La Calavera
Catrina,” a zinc etching by Mexican printmaker and illustrator, Jose Guadalupe
Posada.
The image depicts a
female skeleton dressed only in a hat, and has become an icon of the Mexican
Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
The holiday focuses upon gatherings of family and friends to pray for
and remember those who have died.
Beginning with the Edicion Limitada 2014, Las Calaveras became
an annual release that is a respectful homage to those who have passed away in
the year before, and is intended to be a celebration of their lives and
remembrances, rather than a mourning or a symbol of sadness and death. Each year, we all lose a friend or loved one,
or know of someone who has endured that same loss. In today’s fast-paced world,
it is all too easy to forget the fragile nature that is life. Often, in the race to gain material success,
we lose sight that our true legacy are the lives we touch and the love we leave
behind once we pass on. It is in this
spirit that Las Calaveras pays tribute to those who have touched our lives and
shared their love.
With each year’s
annual limited release, the blend and presentation of Las Calaveras will be
altered. What will remain the same,
however, is the spirit behind the cigar.
We hope that with this annual remembrance, we will choose to
celebrate–rather than mourn–the lives of those who have so graciously shared
their legacies with us.
Las Calaveras were
produced at the My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, under the
supervision of Jose “Pepin” Garcia and Jaime Garcia. The Garcia family has garnered a reputation
as makers of some of the world’s finest cigars, including Cigar Aficionado
magazine’s “Cigar of the Year 2012.”
Being of Hispanic decent, I regularly celebrate Dia De Los Muertos, or Dia De Muertos, Whichever you prefer, So these had a particular closeness to me.
What I did not know was the sheer rarity and quality of this Cigar
I got them just before fathers day and allowed them to age a bit before taking them up to the top of Mount Baker in the Adirondack mountains of NYS with my father. This added even more special meaning to these fine sticks:
Craig and David Staszak, saranac lake NY
I had no idea what was in store for me when I lit it up. The pre-light draw was smooth flavourful and wonderful. I could have done that for an hour. It was ever so slightly sweet with a hint of a bite, I tasted bits of vanilla, woody, dried fruit possibly an apple.
.............Then, I lit it
The aroma that the lit cigar emitted was amazing like fresh leather, light hay, and amazing tobacco, I could still smell what seemed to me like vanilla and apple, but just lightly. It smelled like I could have just walked into a room with 2 people one smoking a Great cigar and the other a pipe with special blend tobacco; the 2 aromas colliding to make one incredible smell.
The First draw:
The first draw had a good bite and a lot of flovour, I was getting a bit of a peppery taste but nothing major it still stayed in the medium range.
By the third draw it had smoothed out completely. It kept just enough bite to keep it interesting.
The Rest of the Stogie:
The flovours developed as I went on and the ash stayed long and tight. When it did ash the bite intensified and the flavours popped. The aroma while I was drawing combining with the taste really made this cigar what it is. I caught my wife, who was enjoying another cigar at the time moving closer to downwind from me just to catch the aroma from the Calaveras.
Graded on a scale of 0-100
RATING : 87
1. Appearance and construction (15 Points)------ 10
Apperance was good, but somewhat veiny. The construction could have been better I had a bit of stem on the draw end that luckily did not affect the draw and it wasn't as tight as it could have been.
2. Flavor (25 Points)-----------------------------------------25
If you like a Mild to medium with a complex smooth flavour like I do this is for you
3. Smoking characteristics (25 Points)-----------------------22 I would have preferred a bit more smoke, and a longer smoke, but it was an even burn, perfect coastline and never got too hot.
4. Overall experience (35 Points)-----------------------------35
To me the small construction issues and the length of smoke were fairly irrelevant to me. The story, the aroma, the flavour and the thought that if it wasn't for the stem, everything else would have made this my perfect smoke. It really made the moment up on the mountain on fathers day at sunset.
Photos and Review By: Craig Staszak
