Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Crowned Heads Azul y Oro is medium brown with some marbling and a few raised veins. The seams are slightly raised while the caps are well applied. There are two bands, with the primary being a blue ribbon and the foot band being the black on gold band with the company name that is now used on all of their cigars. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of cedar and earth while the foot brings bready sweetness and baking spices. The pre-light draw brings cedar, stone fruit sweetness and mild baking spice along with a mild spiciness on my lips.
Seth: The Crowned Heads Azul y Oro is not beautiful in terms of presentation, but I like that Crowned Heads has been rocking just a foot band on recent releases. I think it is something they should continue to do, going away from the classic bands on cigars. Just do a cool foot band. The cigar has a dark natural wrapper, Colorado Maduro. Few veins throughout. Rough in texture. Aromas of rich earth, chocolate and fruit stew. Tight cold draw.
John: The Crowned Heads Azul y Oro comes in cellophane and has a UPC sticker with an integrated tear space so it remains intact when opened. The cigar has a primary blue ribbon as a band, and a black on gold ‘Crowned Heads’ foot band. Aromas off the wrapper included sweet, yeasty bread that almost approached sourdough, with some mossy wood underneath. The foot had a sweet raisin and tobacco combination.
Jiunn: The Crowned Heads Azul y Oro has a copper red Colorado wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and head is well wrapped and capped. Aromas from the wrapper give wet barnyard and chestnuts. Aromas from the foot tell subtleties in hay, nuts and dried red pepper spice. Cold draw tells of dried red pepper spice, creamy mixed nuts and cardboard.

Team Cigar Review: Crowned Heads Azul y Oro

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with a gritty profile of toasted cedar, earth and baking spice. At a half inch in, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front with the baking spice a bit behind. The retrohale is toasted cedar and earth with a bit of a baking spice zing. At an inch and a quarter, the baking spice has transitioned to black pepper. As the third comes to a close, the profile is toasted cedar and earth even up front with black pepper slightly behind. The strength was slightly above medium.
Seth: The first third starts out with strong baking spice notes that are paired with leather, charred wood, fruit stew and rich manure. It is full in strength and body, and it is a pronounced flavor profile. With the tighter draw, it really hits the palate.
John: The first third gets going with sweet, creamy tobacco and a mild pepper and wood combination into the post draw. Some earth and minerality moves into the center after a few puffs. Some time later, a gritty earth comes through on the post draw. As the first third progresses, some sourdough like sourness is present through the center of the profile, balanced against wood and earth. Mild tannic wood sits just under the profile as it continues.
Jiunn: This is a cohesive blend. Great interplay of dried red pepper spice, leather, nuts, game meatiness, cherries and black tea. Retrohaling provides bigger doses of dried red pepper spice, cedar and cherries. The finish is short, with soft mixed nuts. Strength and body is medium.

Team Cigar Review: Crowned Heads Azul y Oro

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the earth becomes a bit dry. The retrohale now has the toasted cedar a bit ahead of the earth with mild black pepper. At an inch and a quarter, the black pepper becomes a bit dull, but is carrying a long finish. As the third comes to a close, the toast level increases a bit and the cedar is slightly ahead of the earth while dull black pepper is a bit further behind. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: The second third really opened up. It was a big jump for me in terms of my experience. Rich manure notes with baking spices and fruit stew. Lots of leather and herbal qualities as well. Charred wood of course. Full in strength and body.
John: Tannic wood carries the cigar into the second third. Some sweetness and tannic wood combine through the post draw. As the second third settles in, chocolate and earth combine on the retrohale as earth moves back into the post draw with that same gritty component as the first third.
Jiunn: The second third shows more balance, melding the existing flavors of dried red pepper spice, leather, nuts, game meatiness, cherries and black tea that much more. Strength and body remains medium.

Team Cigar Review: Crowned Heads Azul y Oro

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the black pepper mellows a bit. At a half inch in, the toasted cedar and earth are back to even up front. The retrohale remains toasted cedar a bit ahead of the earth with mild black pepper. At an inch in, the toast level increases a bit more and a light wood bitterness becomes present. At an inch and a half in, the cigar warms up a bit, bringing a light vegetal note. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with black pepper in the middle and light wood bitterness and vegetal notes in the background. The strength bumped up to medium-full.
Seth: The final third was in line with the second third. Charred wood, leather, rich manure, baking spices, fruit stew and herbal qualities. Still full in strength and body.
John: Sweet wood greets me on the first few puffs, with wood finishing. As the last third progresses, earth and wood combine through the finish, lingering into the post draw. The earth moves up to medium strength on the post draw as it continues. By the halfway point, some floral notes join the finish.
Jiunn: The final third’s profile is less engaging, being mixed nuts and subtle cedar drive with minimal spice components. No unwanted flavors, just less attention grabbing. Strength and body finishes the same medium.

Team Cigar Review: Crowned Heads Azul y Oro

Burn

Aaron: The burn was straight most of the way, but the cigar went out once in the first third, requiring a re-light and in the second third, a quarter of the wrapper didn’t want to burn and needed a touch-up. The ash held on in inch and a half increments.
Seth: Burn was solid throughout.
John: The burn was straight through the first third, momentarily uneven in the second third before self correcting, and straight through the last third.
Jiunn: The burn performance needed help. There was about 1/4 of the wrapper that refused to burn, requiring me to constantly have my lighter handy.

Team Cigar Review: Crowned Heads Azul y Oro

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: Draw was slightly snug. Never good if I think so.
John: The draw was at most a half notch towards the resistant spectrum, putting it well inside the range for a perfect draw.
Jiunn: Draw performance was great, providing the ideal air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with a gritty profile of toasted cedar, earth and baking spice. The baking spice transitioned to black pepper a bit later. The final third saw some wood bitterness join and then a vegetal note joined as the cigar warmed up towards the end. The Crowned Heads Azul y Oro had a basic and fairly mundane flavor profile throughout. Really just focused around toasted cedar, earth and black pepper with slight changes to the fullness of each. Not really a cigar I’d see myself coming back to.
Seth: I liked the Crowned Heads Azul y Oro, and I thought it did a great job of delivering this Scotch profile while not being over the top. It had tobacco qualities to the cigar while delivering Scotch like qualities. It was a strong cigar, and it has a pronounced profile, so I couldn’t smoke these back to back, but it is a great cigar to have at the end of the day. I felt that it would benefit from being a little bit larger as well. I think increasing the ring gauge to a 54 would help open up the cigar some.
John: The Crowned Heads Azul y Oro started out with an interesting combination of flavors that had me eager to move into the second third. The second and last third had pleasant flavor combinations but I didn’t find them as complex or engaging as the start of the cigar. The burn and draw were both flawless. While the Azul y Oro had some interesting aspects to it, there are many other Crowned Heads cigars I would find myself reaching for ahead of this one. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 3 minutes.
Jiunn: Cohesive, balanced and just a delicious flavor profile. I can go on and recap about the flavor experience, but this time, the highlight is really the factory of NACSA. The cigars out of there simply do not miss. I’m starting to think it’s a safe bet to try cigars coming out of NACSA in general.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.40

Cost/Point

$2.21

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

6.32

Cost/Point

$1.89

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.10

Cost/Point

$1.96

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.52

Cost/Point

$1.83

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Crowned Heads Azul y Oro