The Las Mareas was released in 2016 by Crowned Heads as a more Cubanesque style cigar than the rest of the lines.  The cigars were first released in limited quantities with a single silk ribbon at the foot in two sizes and then had a full release at IPCPR in 2016 in four sizes.  The cigars are made by My Father in their factory in Nicaragua.  Las Mareas means “tide” in Spanish and each vitola is named after a specific surfing wave around the world.  The artwork on the boxes and the bands are inspired the surfing culture in Hawaii.  The size I’m reviewing is the Olas which is Spanish for “wave”.

Let’s look at the specs:

• Wrapper:  Nicaraguan Corojo ‘99
• Binder:  Nicaraguan
• Filler:  Nicaraguan
• MSRP:  $9.00
• Size:  Grand Corona

Cigars purchased at The Smoke Ring in Webster, TX

Pre-light

The cigar’s wrapper looks like fine leather with a medium brown color.  The cap is well applied which I v-cut.  The draw is spot on with the milkshake draw I prefer with notes of leather, cedar and hay.

First Half

The first half is pretty the same as it is on the cold draw.   I get a lot of leather, black pepper, coffee bean, cedar and florals.  The black pepper really comes out on the retrohale which is normal for cigars from My Father.  The cigar is very rich in flavor is medium bodied in strength.

Second Half

The second half is pretty much the same as the first except I’m getting more leather which has become the core note of the cigar.  Cedar is the next dominate note and is still going strong, but now I’m picking up some faint citrus notes along with the coffee bean and florals.  The spice note has gotten a little sharper which reminds me more of white pepper more than black pepper.  The body is medium-full.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this cigar.  This is more my style of a cigar than a few of the other Crowned Heads offerings.  This is probably one of my favorite cigars from Crowned Heads, second only to the Four Kicks.  The flavors of cedar, coffee bean, leather with the spice notes and hints of citrus and florals make this cigar very flavorful.  The claim is that these are supposed to be “cubanesque”, which is claimed by a lot of cigar manufactures yet rarely deliver.  I think Crowned Heads delivered here though as I can see the similarities here, even though this is more full bodied and spicier than most Cubans.  This smokes close to a Bolivar or Partagas from Cuba as those are the more full bodied cigar lines with a nice spice note.  Either way, I think these cigars are approachable for a lot of cigar smokers.  The aren’t too spicy and full bodied for milder cigar smokers, but have enough flavor and body to keep the attention of full bodied cigar smokers.  These are definitely one I’m going to be smoking a lot more of this year.