Crowned Heads
- Founded in
- 2011 — Nashville, Tennessee ; sans usine propre
- Factories
- Roulé chez My Father et Tabacalera La Alianza
- Countries
- Nicaragua
Crowned Heads has no factory, and that is the subject. Jon Huber and his partners founded the house in Nashville after CAO was bought by a large group, with a model that has since spread: compose blends, then have them rolled at existing factories — My Father in Estelí, Perez-Carrillo's La Alianza in Santiago, others besides depending on the range.
The atlas has to state that relationship, because it has become common and it blurs the reading of flags: a brand can be of a country without manufacturing anything there, and the cigar you hold may come out of a workshop whose name appears nowhere on the box.
The model has one happy consequence: the house chooses its roller according to the blend rather than the other way round. Four Kicks, its founding range, is Nicaraguan and full-bodied; Le Carême, born of a collaboration with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, is Dominican and rounder. Two cigars with nothing in common but the house that thought them up.
The names come from songs and literary references, and the box texts are written with a care that is rare in the trade — a detail, but one that says who the brand is addressing.
Range Depth
Four Kicks
The founding range, rolled in Estelí at My Father. Full-bodied, peppery, tightly built — the Nicaraguan style as seen by a house that has no factory and therefore chooses its roller.
Corona Gorda · Robusto
Le Carême
Born of a collaboration with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo and rolled at his factory, in the Dominican Republic. Dark broadleaf wrapper, cocoa and coffee — nothing to do with Four Kicks, and that is the point.
Toro
Headley Grange
2013 — the manor where Led Zeppelin recorded; at My Father.
Jericho Hill
2014 — a Johnny Cash lyric, San Andrés wrapper; at My Father.
Las Calaveras
Annual edition since 2014, a band for the year's dead.
La Imperiosa
2015 — the regular line drawn from Las Calaveras; at My Father.
Mil Días
2020 — a thousand days of development, at La Alianza, at E.P. Carrillo.
🥃 Pairings
Rye whiskey
On Four Kicks, the spice of the rye joins the Nicaraguan pepper.
Espresso
On Le Carême, the roast extends the cocoa of the broadleaf wrapper.
Source : cigaraficionado.com et halfwheel.com (Jon Huber et Mike Conder, 2011, Nashville ; production chez My Father puis à la Tabacalera La Alianza d'E.P. Carrillo) ; crownedheads.com (Headley Grange, 2013 ; Jericho Hill, 2014 ; Las Calaveras, édition annuelle depuis 2014 ; La Imperiosa, 2015 ; Mil Días, 2020) — les quatre premières chez My Father, Mil Días à La Alianza