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Cigar Review: Crowned Heads La Imperiosa Magicos

24 Jul 2019

It may sound obvious, but it’s a big decision. If you’re a brand owner that doesn’t own a cigar factory, you have two choices: (1) partner with one factory/cigar maker to produce your cigars exclusively, or (2) produce different cigars at different factories. There are clear pros and cons to each strategy.

In the former, you have a partner who, if times get tough, you can work with knowing your businesses rise and fall together. In the later, you get the variety of experience and diversification to make particular blends at a factory where each style excels.

For the first few years after Crowned Heads was launched in 2011 by CAO veterans John Huber and Mike Conder, the company partnered exclusively with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s Tabacalera La Alianza S.A., and seemed content doing so. That changed with the introduction of Las Cavaleras in 2014, made at the Garcia Family’s My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

The cigar proved so popular it became a regular offering in 2015, in part due to demand from cigar retailers. La Imperiosa features the same components: a dark oscuro Ecuadorian Habano wrapper around Nicaraguan filler and binder.

The sizes are different from Las Cavaleras, with a Dukes (5.5 x 54), Corona Gorda (5.75 x 46), Double Robusto (6.4 x 50), and Magicos (4.5 x 52), the latter being the subject of today’s review. Suggested retail is $9 to $10 per cigar, though you may be able to pick up a five-pack for $20 to $25 if you search around online.

The short robusto starts out with a burst of spice but quickly settles into a more medium- to full-bodied combination of roast nuts, black pepper, bread, and charred oak. Particularly interesting is a peanut butter flavor that coats the roof of your mouth.

The finish is long with oak and coffee. The cigar’s construction is flawless, with a dark, oily wrapper (framed nicely by a teal band), an even burn, and a sturdy, light gray ash.

My Father Cigars S.A. makes a lot of cigars that use oscuro Ecuadorian Habano wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. This is a classic Garcia combination. A natural question is how La Imperiosa measures up to others. Personally, I slightly prefer the Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu and My Father Le Bijou 1922, but that is more a matter of personal taste than a measure of quality.

La Imperiosa is well-made, rich, and classically Garcia and Nicaraguan. (This makes it very distinct from the previous Crowned Heads blends made by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s Tabacalera La Alianza.) That impressive combination earns Crowned Heads La Imperiosa Magicos a rating of four stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick S

photo credits: Stogie Guys

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