The Crowned Heads Las Calaveras 2021

By Tony Casas | October 11, 2021

Today’s review is a series I haven’t missed reviewing since it’s inception. The Crowned Heads Las Calaveras 2021.

The Good Stuff:

Each and every year since 2014 The Crowned Heads have released the “Las Calaveras” which is a cigar created to pay tribute to those who are close to us which we have lost and each year has been special to me as I lost so many great people in my life over the past few years. If you want to catch up, you can reach each of my reviews on each different release below:

• Las Calaveras 2014
• Las Calaveras 2015
• Las Calaveras 2016
• Las Calaveras 2017
• Las Calaveras 2018
• Las Calaveras 2019
• Las Calaveras 2020

Created at the My Father Cigars S.A factory in Nicaragua, this year’s version utilizes an Ecuadorian Sumatran Oscar wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The cigar is offered in 4 sizes: the LC48 (6 x 48), the LC 50 (5 x 50), the LC54 (5 3/4 x 54) and the Petit Lancero (6 1/2 x 40). All of which are offered in boxes of 24 with the exception of the Petit Lancero which is only available in a 4pk sampler which includes one of each format. The Las Calaveras 2021 runs between $10.95 and $12.95 a stick. I purchased mine over from our friends at Cigars International.

• Size: 6 x 48
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatran Oscuro
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Body: Medium
• Strength: Medium
• Price: $10.95

Prelight:

The Crowned Heads Las Calaveras 2021 starts out with an extremely consistent, milk chocolate brown wrapper. The wrapper itself feels decently thick, dense and hard while the cigar as a whole is a little on the softer side. The wrapper carries some slight tooth and a good amount of oils coat the body. There are some very mild veins and nice tobacco webbing covering the cigar’s long, slender body leading up to it’s round, double-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with the standard band we have come to expect from this release, only this time in yellow containing the year: “EL 2021”, the “Las Calaveras” crest, and “Esteli, Nicaragua” on the front. There is also a gold and black foot band that carries the Crowned Heads logo embossed across the front.

The wrapper on the Crowned Heads Las Calaveras gives off only some slight cocoa and sweet herbal scents while the foot of the cigar is much more earthy with lots of musk, dirt, spice and moss aromas. the cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some great black cherry, cocoa, nutmeg, and musk flavors. Note: There will be no pairing on this review as well. I am on antibiotics and don’t want to mix the two.

First Third:

The Crowned Heads Las Calaveras 2021 starts off with a very subtle cayenne pepper punch which is only really noticeable on my lips, while the rest of the cigar showcases some great cedar, dark chocolate, black cherry, light coffee and vanilla notes. The draw is great as each puff releases a decent amount of thick, gray smoke which dissipates very quickly while the cigar itself releases almost no stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is a little wavy, but not concerning at all and very thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted dark gray ash which held on for almost an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of The Crowned Heads Las Calaveras 2021 and the flavors have balanced out a bit with dark chocolate and cedar at the forefront backed by vanilla, black cherry, cashew, and light coffee. The retrohale is great and brings out an awesome spice and citrus zest that I don’t really pick up during the standard smoking experience. The burnline is now dead even and I close out the second third with nothing in terms of nicotine.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Crowned Heads Las Calaveras 2021 and the only real change up is the black cherry has turned into this nice tart woodiness. Outside of that the dark chocolate and cedar still lead the charge backed by cashew and light coffee over a ton of musk. It took me an hour and a half fo some this cigar down to the nub and I experienced no harshness, nor any extended heat. I never once had to break out my torch to touchup or relight the cigar and I experienced only a minor bit of nicotine.

Overview:

Not a year passes that I don’t look forward to the release of the Las Calaveras. Not only do I love the blends, but also the meaning behind it as I have lost so many loved ones over the past few years. This year I felt the blend took a little different approach by creating a lighter body experience, yet still delivering some great, complex flavors. While it wasn’t my favorite Las Calaveras blend due mostly to the subjective flavors (I normally gravitate to something a bit more full-body), the cigar still delivered and provided an excellent experience.