Cigar Preview: Crowned Heads Le Carême

Vitola: Robusto
Size: 5″ x 50 ring gauge
Price $8.25 MSRP
IPCPR Show Sample

Background

Unfortunately with all of the personal stuff I have going on this year I wasn’t able to keep up with what new releases were going to be at the most recent IPCPR show.  The FDA crap caused most manufacturers to try and release everything they could so I don’t know if anyone really has a handle on everything.  Today I’ll be looking at the new regular release from the Crowned Heads, the Le Carême.  This cigar is said to pay tribute to Marie Antoine Carême, an influential French chef from the 1800s.  The cigar is made up of a Nicaraguan filler, an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper.  The cigar is produced in the EP Carillo cigar factory in the Dominican Republic.  The cigar comes 24 to a box in four different sizes: Cosacos (5 3/8 x 42, $6.95), Hermoso No. 1 (6 1/2 x 48, $8.75), Robusto (5 x 50, $8.25) and Canonazo (5 7/8 x 52, $8.95).  This was my first experience with this cigar.

Prelight

This is a very good looking cigar, from the deep reddish brown wrapper to the simple pearlescent band.  I do remember having a hard time figuring out who made the cigar with the band lacking the brand name.  The wrapper also showed some dark mottling, oils and a slight amount of tooth.  When I gave the trunk pressed cigar a squeeze there was a slight amount of give without any soft spots.  When I put my nose to the wrapper I got the aroma of sawdust, with barnyard coming from the foot.  After clipping it and taking a cold draw I got an ok draw with some cocoa flavors.

Flavor

The cigar starts off with a good amount of spice on the retrohale and tongue.  After a few puffs I got some flavors of coffee, and wood with a sweet finish coming through.  The cigar starts off at the upper end of medium strength.  As I moved into the second third the spice mellowed quite a bit.  The flavors changed a bit to wood, coffee, earth, leather, all with a sweet creamy finish.  The cigar stayed at the upper end of medium.  Once I got into the final third the spice started to come back which caused the strength to reach medium-full by the end.  The final third was the most flavorful with notes of wood, earth, leather, sweetness, salt and marshmallow coming through.

Construction

The draw started off slightly tight but an application of the bleeder tool from my MTX fixed things.  After that the draw was great and the burn was pretty good.

Value

I’m glad to see them keep this regular release under $10 MSRP.

Conclusions

I enjoyed this cigar.  It wasn’t super strong or spicy, but it wasn’t as sweet and chocolaty that I would expect out of a CT Broadleaf maduro.  That could have been my palate or that this cigar was a show sample.  I’ll definitely be picking up some when they show up to give them a try.