The Crowned Heads Angel’s Anvil 2015

By Tony Casas | June 29, 2015

Still battling the 100+ degree heat I took a break from my crazy weekend to relax in my backyard with a Crowned Heads Angel’s Anvil 2015 and a bottle of Adelbert’s The Traveler.

The Good Stuff:

Starting last year, the Crowned Heads have released “Angel’s Anvil” which is a cigar created exclusively for TAA retailers. As with last year’s release, the 2015 Angel’s Anvil is rolled by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. at the Tabacalera La Alianza S.A. factory in Dominican republic and will only be available at TAA, or Tobacconists’ Association of America retailers across the United States. The Angel’s Anvil 2015 is based off of one of my personal favorite Crowned Heads releases, the Mule Kick (see my quick draw here) and features more body and strength than last year’s release. The cigar features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan Fillers. The Crowned Heads Angel’s Anvil 2015 is only offered in a single 6 x 52 toro format which differs form the 7 1/8 x 49 churchill offered for the previous release. Like the 2014 release, the Angel’s Anvil 2015 will coming in boxes of 20 with only 1,000 boxes released. Again, you can only get these at TAA retailers. I purchased a nice handful over from our friends at Smoke Inn who still had some in stock last time I checked.

Size: 6 x 52
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Full
Price: $10.50
Pairing: Adelbert’s The Traveler (Belgian IPA 7% ABV)

Prelight:

The Crowned Heads Angel’s Anvil starts out with a beautiful, medium brown wrapper. The color on the wrapper is insanely consistent while the texture features some slight tooth, slight oils, and a whole lot of silky smoothness with some smaller veins, and a round double cap. The Angel’s Anvil feels very, very hard and firm in the hand and has absolutely no give as I squeeze it between my fingers. This is a heavy cigar. The cigar is polished off with a band similar to what we found on the 2014 version with a color tweak which now carries red, black, gold and manilla ink.

The wrapper on the Crowned Heads Angel’s Anvil gives off a great molasses and brown sugar aroma while the foot of the cigar carries a very earthy, grassy, natural tobacco mixture of scents. The cap cut very clean, and extremely easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produced a spicy, dirty, musky flavor mixture.

First Third:

The Crowned Heads Angel’s Anvil 2015 starts out with a strong black pepper blast that I wasn’t quite expecting. The pepper was strong enough to leave my lips and tingling a bit, but quickly started to fade out leaving behind some great musky flavors with some honey, molasses, a bit of sweetness and lots of grassy/earthiness. The draw is slightly tight on this particular cigar, but not enough to really damper the experience. As I continued towards the second third of the cigar the draw really started to open up as it pumped out some pretty decently thick, white smoke. The burn line has some slight waves, but nothing concerning as it leaves behind a tightly compacted, bright white and light gray trail of ash which held on for a little over an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Crowned Head’s Angel Anvil 2015 and I’m surprised that the black pepper is still holding on in the flavor profile. It’s not very bold, but it’s still present as it backs the molasses, honey, cedar, musk, and earthiness. The flavors haven’t switched up a whole lot but they have continuously ramped up since I lit this bad boy up. The retrohale is very bold pepper/spice and musk which is a bit too sharp for me to continue doing. The burn line is completely solid and razor thin now, the draw is absolutely perfect, and I am feeling only a slight nicotine kick as I close out the second third.

Finish:

As I venture into the final third of this Crowned Heads Angel’s Anvil both text body and strength have really jumped up to a whole new level as it kicks out strong cedar, spice, and musk flavors backed by the molasses, honey, and soft sweetness. Towards the final inch the black pepper had made a full force return and carried through down to the nub. It took me about an hour and a half to take this guy down to the nub and I experienced absolutely no harshness nor unwanted heat. It did however leave me with a nice little nicotine kick.

Overview:

Has Crowned Heads made a bad cigar? Seriously. Every cigar I’ve had from them has been exceptional, they are on a roll, and I don’t see them stopping any time soon. The Angel’s Anvil 2015 is a bold, strong, and solid cigar which had good dimension, without being overly complex. This cigar is great for the seasoned cigar smoker who wants a bold/strong experience that isn’t overruled by the strength in the cigar, and it’s great for the novice smoker who is looking for a solid, strong cigar with great flavor. The price is a bit steep, but I didn’t mind paying for it especially knowing that it helps support the TAA retailers who support our cigar rights. I haven’t had a chance to review the 2014 Angel’s Anvil so I can’t give a strong comparison between the two but I do still have some hanging out in my humidor a promise to pull them out and give them a go soon.

Pairing:

I don’t often pair cigar with IPA’s as it’s a bit tough to find one that marries up well, but the first time I smoked the 2015 Angel’s Anvil I knew this beer would fit the bill perfectly. Brewed in Austin, Texas Adelbert’s The Traveler is a Belgian inspired IPA. Coming in at 7% ABV this IPA leads with some soft hop, sweetness, citrus, and caramel before finishing a bit malty with more sweetness and a sharp bitter aftertaste. The citrus and sweetness is what drew me to this pair as they added a great extra layer of complexity with the existing flavors in the Angel’s Anvil. I think this cigar would also pair great with some strong, black coffee, A malty porter, or some sweet black tea.