2014 marked the inaugural release of the Las Calaveras line from Crowned Heads Cigars. This limited edition cigar was released to honor those who have passed away in the year prior. The name and imagery are in reference to the Mexican holiday Dia de Muertos, The Day of the Dead. This annual release sports a different blend and line up of sizes each year. The first three releases utilized the same band, however, beginning in 2017, the bands began to appear in different colors.
I have had the 2017, 2018, and 2019 iterations of this release. I elected to skip the 2020 edition because the blend information was quite similar to the 2017 and 2019, of which I was not a fan of. I did elect to get the 2021 release, however, because I have traditionally enjoyed Sumatran wrapped cigars from Crowned Heads. Every year Crowned Heads releases three vitolas that are available in boxes, and since 2016, they offer a sampler box that contains one of each of those vitolas and a special vitola only available in the sampler. This year the sampler only size is a Petit Lancero. I elected to get the sampler box in order to do a Vitola Battle review of all four vitolas.
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra Oscuro
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Vitola: 6 ½ x 40 Petit Lancero; 6 x 48 LC48; 5 ¾ x 54 LC54; 5 x 50 LC50
Price: N/A (Only available in sampler), $10.95 MSRP, $12.95 MSRP, $11.95 MSRP
Release Date: August 2021
Company Website: www.crownedheads.com
Expectations
I anticipate the overall flavor notes to be similar with some subtle differences in the body, flavor and overall profile. These are more specifically noted below. I don’t expect much strength in any of the vitolas.
Petit Lancero - Full body and flavor with primary notes of pepper, earth, and wood. Secondary notes of baking spices and caramel sweetness.
LC48 - Full body and flavor with primary notes of baking spices and wood. Secondary notes of pepper, earth, and some caramel sweetness.
LC54 - Full body and medium flavor with primary notes of cream and baking spices. Secondary notes of wood and earth with a little pepper.
LC50 - Full body and flavor with primary notes of baking spices and wood. Secondary notes of pepper, earth, and possibly cocoa.
Prelight Characteristics
Overall, I love the sampler box idea and presentation. I am also a big fan of the color and design of this band, especially against the medium dark brown wrapper.
Petit Lancero - The wrapper veiny and blotchy with some visible seams. It is a fairly dark wrapper. The cigar is weight for a thin ring gauge, but surprisingly squishy. I like a pigtail cap on a lancero for some reason. It smells faintly of tobacco and the cold draw is cedar and raisins.
LC48 - The wrapper is more oily and lighter than the others. There is a piece of wrapper missing near the cap. It smells like slightly sweet tobacco. The cold draw is quite snug and has almost no flavor.
LC54 - This cigar has a hefty feeling. The wrapper has some rustic seams. It smells of cedar and fruit. The cold draw is like a pastry bread.
LC50 - The wrapper is very smooth and clean. This cigar is firm and densely packed. It smells like pepper jelly and the cold draw is like sour berry candy.
First Third
Petit Lancero - First light is thick, full bodied smoke with full flavors of bitey pepper, some leather, and some wood. The draw is slightly snug, but manageable. There is a subtle dark fruit sweetness, but less than the other vitolas. The pepper has calmed down ¾ of an inch in and the wood has become much more oaky. The body is down to medium, but the flavor is still full. An inch in and the cigar required a touch up to stop canoeing and it’s acting like it wants to go out. Nearing the end the sweetness is more brown sugar like on the draw and cane sugar on the retrohale.
Flavor - 3/4
Performance - 1.5/3
Experience - 2.25/3
LC48 - First light shows medium- full body and flavor with notes of savory wood and some caramel. There’s a bit of pepper on the finish. The draw is snug and it requires double puffs to get any smoke. There is some sweetness on the retrohale. The burn has been uneven but has not needed to be touched up. It is down to medium flavor but still medium-full body with the sweetness tapering off.
Flavor - 2/4
Performance - 1.75/3
Experience - 1.5/3
LC54 - First light is full flavor and medium body. Meatiness, baking spices, cocoa, and a bit of tannic wood make up the flavor profile. Double puffs are needed for good smoke output. The draw is perfect. The retrohale adds a bit of cream. It has settled into a medium-full flavor and medium body. Nearing the end of this third the profile is baking spices, a bit of wood, and some dark fruit, still with cream on the retrohale and a little breadiness.
Flavor - 2/4
Performance- 2.5/3
Experience - 1.5/3
LC50 - First light shows light body smoke with medium flavors of leather, a bit of fruity sweetness, and some pepper. It requires some double puffing to get good smoke. It’s become dark fruit and oak on the draw, and a bit of bitterness on the finish. The body and flavors come up some by the end of the third.
Flavor - 2/4
Performance - 2.5/3
Experience - 1/3
Second Third
Petit Lancero - Moving into this third another slight touch up is required. The flavors are still brown sugar sweetness on the draw, along with some oak and subtle leather. The retrohale has some pepper joining the cane sugar sweetness. Approaching halfway the oak and leather are coming up to match the sweetness. The draw has settled into a nice level of resistance. At halfway the flavors have come down to medium but remain unchanged. The end of this third sees no significant changes.
Flavor - 3/4
Performance - 2.5/3
Experience - 2/3
LC48 - The beginning of this third sees a darker fruit replacing the caramel sweetness. It’s still a light sweetness. I manually dropped the ash because the draw was still snug and I was curious if it would open up. It did not. There’s a bit of a metallic note here and there on the retrohale. By halfway it’s coming up a bit in flavor and adding a touch of pepper. Passing halfway the burn is uneven again but looks like it may save itself. Some baking spices are coming in. A drying, bitter note came out of nowhere at the end of this third. It’s like biting into an orange peel. At the end the draw is still snug and the cigar is still requiring double puffs.
Flavor - 1.5/4
Performance - 1.75/3
Experience - 1.25/3
LC54 - The ash drops to start this third. The fruits are becoming more prominent and tangier. Nearing halfway it’s mainly that fruit note, some oak, and a faint pepper and must. It is burning well and drawing well, but there is still some double puffing. There’s a little meatiness and cocoa coming back in. The end of this third sees a shift towards a drying wood in place of oak and fruits. It requires a very slight touch up from the ash dropping again. It is maybe medium strength right now.
Flavor- 2/4
Performance - 2.25/3
Experience - 1.5/3
LC50 - Starting at medium-full flavors and medium body, it is still dark fruit and oak with some leather. It is still requiring some double puffs. The burn and draw resistance is good. The fruit is becoming more distinctly cherry and the leather is stepping up near the end.
Flavor - 2.5/4
Performance - 2.5/3
Experience - 1.5/3
Final Third
Petit Lancero - Quickly in the final third there are some hints of cocoa that begin to emerge. The draw has snugged up a bit again going into this third. At the band there is a shift towards charred wood and pepper on the draw with some vegetal earth and milk chocolate on the retrohale. The pepper is picking up and the char is subtle now, but there is still wood. The pepper is washing out the palate a touch. The cigar sees a bit of a return of the brown sugar sweetness as it comes to an after about an hour and 30 minutes of smoking time.
Flavor - 2.5/4
Performance - 2.5/3
Experience - 1.5/3
LC48 - Approaching the band the drying bitterness is still present on the finish. The draw flavors are still wood with the slightest dark fruit. The retrohale amplifies the bitterness but shows more fruits. There’s an earthiness coming in. About halfway through and it’s earthy, bitter, and almost like a burning paper note. If it doesn’t pick up in another ½ inch or so, I’m calling it. I’m letting this go out at an hour and 16 minutes with about ¾ inch or so of burn left. The drying bitter earth and burning paper has just put me off to it. On the plus side, the draw loosened a touch and it hasn’t been needing the double puffs and the cigar burned even throughout this third.
Flavor -.75/4
Performance - 3/3
Experience - .5/3
LC54 - This third starts out with a bump in pepper both on the draw and retrohale. There’s still some wood and cocoa. At the band there's a nice creamy citrus note coming in. Still some drying wood on the finish and a bit of creeping pepper. The cream carries into the retrohale and joins the pepper and cocoa nicely. The strength is up to medium-full. If you let the finish settle in, then retrohale with no smoke, it’s like a Tootsie Roll. Nearing the end it’s becoming more tannic with dark fruits again. Ending with the same profile at an hour and a half.
Flavor - 2.5/4
Performance - 3/3
Experience - 2/3
LC50 - The cigar is upto to full flavor and body. It has turned to burnt caramel, still with some oak and leather. The fruit has become more like citrus. The profile is quite rich. The burn and draw are still good. There is some pepper creeping in for the first time really with the addition of chocolate and the oak is taking on a bit of char. This ending is the best part of this cigar for me. The final burn time was an hour and 20 minutes.
Flavor - 2.5/4
Performance - 2.5/3
Experience - 2/3
Overall Experience
I smoked these in the order: LC50, LC54, LC48, and Petit Lancero. By the time I got to the Petit Lancero, I was not expecting much and not really looking forward to it. However, it was the clear winner for me in terms of flavor and overall enjoyment of the experience. It did have some performance issues that kept its score closer to the others than I would rank it if I just gave arbitrary scores. The LC48 was certainly the worst. The first was on par with the LC50 and LC54, but the end was acrid. It is interesting to note that my top 2 were the complete opposite ends of the spectrum for ring gauge. Overall, I was disappointed with this year’s Las Calaveras, especially considering the only one I would smoke again is limited to the sampler pack. However, this was a perfect example of why I wanted to do Vitola Battle reviews, because this sampler had 4 very different sized cigars with differing experiences.
Petit Lancero - 6.92/10
LC48 - 4.67/10
LC54 - 6.42/10
LC50 - 6.17/10
Try the cigars yourself at Small Batch Cigars and let me know what you think! Use code “Whiskey” to get 10% off your entire order. Plus, sign up and begin earning 5% back in rewards points with each purchase.
Feel free to reach out to me with questions, concerns, criticisms, or just to talk at @guitarsandcigarsfarm on Instagram, or via email at trevor@whiskeyandwhitetails.com.