Crowned Heads announced their third cigar line in February call the JD Howard Reserve.  Named after Jesse James alias when he lived in Nashville, TN, where Crowned Heads is located, their new cigar is blended by EP Carrillo in their Tabacalera La Alianza S.A. factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic.  The JD Howard Reserve consists of a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan filler.  The cigar currently come in five sizes:

• HR46 – 6 x 46
• HR48 – 5 x 48
• HR50 – 5 5/8 x 30
• HR52 – 6 x 52
• HR54 – 5 x 54

The JD Howard Reserve has a luscious dark brown wrapper.  The cold draw was a little tight, but definitely manageable with sweet woody flavors.  After lighting the cigar, I was first hit with the same sweet woody flavor I got on the cold draw along with black pepper and cinnamon that really shone through on the retrohale.  As the cigar burned down, a rich cocoa note developed.  These flavors remained relatively the same until the end.  At the end, the sweetness faded away and the cocoa took on a more bitter cocoa flavor like dark chocolate along with the woody, cinnamon and black pepper.  The construction was great and the burn never need a touch up with with high humidity and a fan blowing right at me as I smoked it.  Definitely a winner and a box buy for me.  Don’t miss these.