Smoked: Crowned Heads Juarez OBS

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

Crowned Heads Juarez OBS 4 is a 4 ¾ by 52 “shorty.” It’s a vitola that defies conventional description – maybe a short robusto. It sports a dark brown San Andres wrapper. I had to do some research to figure out the OBS part. It’s supposedly a Johnny Cash song reference. In fact, Cash song titles and lyrics are involved in the Juarez name. OBS refers to Orange Blossom Special, a track (or cut if you’re referring to vinyl) from the album Live At Folsom Prison. Whatever. I’ll spark it up and take it for a test drive.

Flavor profile: very earthy, a somewhat undefinable wood note – not cedar, not quite oak, maybe pine - a nuttiness somewhere between walnuts and peanuts, doughy bread, bittersweet chocolate, dried fruit and a touch of citrus. It’s bold and full bodied. The strength is medium at first but gains speed to full strength by the final third. The flavors are unusual and not really unbalanced, but not in full weights and measures compliant balanced. The retrohale is also different – earthy and nutty with only a slight shot of pepper. Am I making any sense here? I’m doing my best to describe a somewhat atypical cigar.

Tight draw starting with the cold draw. Once torched, the draw was super tight. The cigar was unevenly packed - a rookie roller mistake. I trust he was sent down to a farm team in Juarez for more seasoning Perfect Draw lived up its moniker draw now open still some soft spots. I just hope I didn’t exacerbate the problem with the ream. Still, I have to dock points for construction. This also affected the smoke production.

It’s a little better than average cigar, but when you factor in the price point it’s pretty darn good for 6 bucks. This is a tough one to score using the Cigar World number system. I’ll give it a 3-plus. The flavors are a bit unusual, but I found them interesting. Overall, I liked the flavor of the cigar. The Construction issues knock it down a peg. We’ll round down the final score.