A Brief Cigar Review - Las Calavares 2016 by Crowned Heads

A cigar created to honor those who have passed, the Las Calavares was introduced in 2014 by Crowned Heads, and is rolled at the famed My Father Cigars factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. I have smoked a few of the 2014, and 2015 and enjoyed them. One thing I, and many others have noticed, is that the previous runs seemed to be rushed out of the factory before they were ready to smoke. Six months of age had done them wonders. Today I see if the 2016 Las Calavares is ready.

Prelight

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Vitola: 5 1/2 x 54
Price: $11.25

Pre-light inspection time, which is merely judging a book by it's cover, or I should say, judging a cigar by it's wrapper. I see minimal veins on the wrapper, and the pack seems fine without squishy or dense spots. Pre-light scents of cocoa and sweet coffee waft from the foot.

Flavor and Smoke

The 2016 Las Calavares begins with heavy sweet tobacco, as well as some earthy and cedar undertones. I am not picking up much else, besides a slight white pepper.

The smoke output is very sparse. While investigating the wrapper, I notice a couple tiny holes, most likely caused by a little rough handling or shipping.

A bit of donor leaf from an un-smokable cigar, and cigar repair glue always does the trick. I like to keep one or two cigars around in the humidor just for this purpose, cigars that were cracked beyond repair, plugged, or ones I know are downright disgusting.

If wrapper repair is needed and you don't have cigar glue handy, you can try good old saliva, just leave the piece of wrapper on your tongue until it is soaked and place it over the damage, some even use their unflavored chapstick. This being said, neither will work as well as the cigar glue (or pectin), or not at all with more complicated "cigar surgeries", such as a long crack at the head of the cigar.

The burn quickly becomes wonky, nothing a quick flame can't fix, but it confirms the fact that the construction is not high level on this particular Las Calavares.

The flavors really turn prior to the midway point, for the worse. Hmm, the taste is like gnawing on a cedar stick, and drinking day old Maxwell House or some other canned coffee. The cedar ramped up to a overpowering level, and the only other flavor is dark and bitter.

The nuances were never very good, but now it's simply revolting. I think it is time to put it down, and perhaps give it a try some day in the future.
😖 😫 😩

When cigar tragedy strikes, I always reach for a stick I know is going to be great, so a Padron Churchill to the rescue!

Final Thoughts

I find the Las Calavares line of cigars from Crowned Heads to be shipped out from production too quickly, this has been the case since the 2014 series. The good news is they improve six months to a year after the release date. Even with the 6 months to a year age factored in, I can't say the almost $11 price tag is worth it, there are plenty cigars more worthy of that amount of cash. I am not sure when this particular cigar was rolled, but it has indeed been over six months from the release date.

It is possible I received a bad cigar, one that was not blended correctly, it happens on rare occasion. I cannot recommend the Las Calavares 2016, if I smoke another at a future date and my opinion changes, then I will edit this post.

My emoji rating:😕
(🤢😖☹️😕😐🙂😀😋🤗😍)
Smoke time: 45 minutes ( didn't finish)
Cigar paired with: Dark rum and cola.
Price opinion: 👎
Recommend/buy again? 👎