Short Smoke: Jericho Hill Shots by Crowned Heads

JH_shotsVitola: Shots (box-pressed petite corona)
Size: 4” x 42 ring gauge
MSPR $5.95
Purchased from Burns Tobacconist

Background

Jericho Hill joined the Crowned Heads line-up back in mid-summer 2014 at the IPCPR show. As has been CH’s M.O. to date, several months (but not a year) after the original release, a vitola has been added to the mix. This time around, it takes the form of what they are calling a “seasonal release” which is somewhat perfect: a short, fairly quick cigar for cold winter months. The plan is for 1000 boxes of 50 to be released every winter. Now they just need to come up with a compact, round package that holds six of these little beauties and call that a Six-Shooter.

To review, the Jericho Hill is made for Crowned Heads by My Father Cigars in Nicaragua. It is composed of Nicaraguan filler and binder, with a Mexican San Andres wrapper.

Notes

As I sat down to smoke my second of these and read about how they were designed to be a quick smoke for winter months, I recalled my first JH Shot…which lasted about 40 minutes while I drove home from Burns last night. I don’t generally slow-smoke any cigar, but that first Shot seemed densely packed and easily lasted most of my drive home. If this one turns out the same…that kind of shoots down the idea of a short winter smoke.

Shots fires up with a blast of dark earth and black pepper. There was some cedar on the finish and after a few puffs I got a bit of sweetness.

Jon Huber has mentioned to me a couple times that one of his “favorite” descriptions of a cigar flavor was of “gun metal.” With a name like “Shots” it was a little disappointing to not get any gun metal flavor in this little smoke.

What I did get was a continuation of earth and pepper, along with a healthy amount of cocoa powder and some raisin sweetness.

I still contend that the Jericho Hill blend is more like the Padron 1964 Maduro blend than like previous My Father San Andres blends like La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor. To me, that Padron and the Mi Amor represent about the best and worst of Mexican wrapper blends.

I could definitely get into smoking these on a regular basis in the winter. While they don’t necessarily fit my definition of a short winter smoke (I’d prefer somewhere in the 20 to 25 minute range), they are good enough to warrant the 30+ minutes I would have to seek shelter and warmth. This second Shot that I smoked for this write-up didn’t last as long as the one from last night, but it still topped the 30 minute mark.

David Jones

David has been smoking premium cigars since 2001. He is co-founder and editor-in-chief of Leaf Enthusiast. He worked as a full-time retail tobacconist for over 4 years at Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga, TN. Currently he works full-time as a graphic designer for ClearBox Strategies, also based in Chattanooga.

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14 Responses

  1. Mark VanSledright says:

    Sounds perfect for my drive home from work, especially when you align it with the 1964. The price is right there too.These just came in and I was waiting to see comments on them, thanks.

  2. shoelessjoe25 says:

    Can’t wait! Already have placed my order and now may change it to a box.

  3. Texican says:

    So you’re sayin I should give it a shot?!

  4. dale427 says:

    What’s winter?

  5. Chris Adkins says:

    I love the Jericho Hill, and pretty much anything else CH puts out. Grabbing some of these for sure.

  6. Craig says:

    Ill be checking these out.

  7. atllogix says:

    I can’t believe you placed the Mi Amor as worst San Andres blend. Either way I’ll be looking forward to a couple shots.

  8. Swede214 says:

    Well does this cigar sound like a ”keeper”? I am going to find this one and smoke it!

  9. Miguel Rocha says:

    Sounds like a great cigar! Looking forward to these!

  10. David Selph says:

    Sounds interesting to me. May have to pick up a few of these.

  11. Patrick Mulcahy says:

    Do you have a locker at Burns? How many Davy Jones Locker jokes do you get? Please tell me lots

  12. Mr Bill says:

    Great cigar and love that size once in a while.. thanks

  13. Lloyd L. says:

    I’ve been a fan of Jon Huber going back to his time with C.A.O. Cigars. I will sek out these short smokes.

  14. Christopher Brose says:

    Another winter smoke I need to pick up!