J.D. Howard Reserve

Initial Thoughts

In case you haven’t heard. Crowned Heads released a third cigar to their already impressive line up, the J.D. Howard Reserve. After the first two releases, Four Kicks and Headley Grange, some questioned whether they could hit 3 in a row. Now technically they did release the Mule Kick, which was a special release so I’m not counting that in their core lineup. They debuted this cigar at the IPCPR show a couple of weeks ago in Las Vegas. I was sent a test sample of this cigar a few months ago before the blend was complete. Let’s just say the cigar that I smoked was vastly different from this final blend. I enjoyed the initial sample, but I told Jon I think there was more he could do with it. So needless to say I was excited to see what this final blend had in store for me.

The idea behind this J.D. Howard Reserve came about when Jon Huber discovered that Jesse James the infamous outlaw spent some time in our fantastic town of Nashville, TN. He was escaping from trouble and stayed in town under the moniker of J.D. Howard. Jon’s a great storyteller when it comes to the inspiration behind this brand and I can’t do it justice. I do remember him saying he had an idea for a cigar and he woke up one morning at 3:37 am with the idea and it was henceforth listed as Project 337 until they decided on the final name. To pay homage to this they put an embossed 337 on the band of this cigar. I remember when I got the tasting sample it was wrapped with a 337 band on it. So I’ve always lovingly referred to this cigar as 337, but I guess now I’ll have to change my thoughts and feelings over to the true moniker, the J.D. Howard Reserve. Some quick facts for you, according to Jon the blend was built around juxtaposition and contradiction. So I’m interested to find out exactly what that means. They are also releasing this cigar in 5 shapes: HR46 – 6” x 46 HR48 – 5” x 48 HR50 – 5 1/2” x 50 HR52 – 6” x 52 HR54 – 5” x 54 I picked up the HR52s for this review. These guys have a lot to stand up to, especially after their huge success of the Headley Grange which is my favorite cigar from them. I’m ready to hop into this review and see what we’ve got how about you?

Looks

If you follow the Crowned Heads Twitter account you’ve no doubt seen the numerous pictures of the J.D. Howard Reserve packaging before its release. I love the look of the box. It’s a big change from their previous two releases. This box has a nice rich mahogany look with gold hardware.  I love the JDH on the top of the box in a gold stamp. For me seeing something in gold just really makes it stand out and appear more classy. I know I’m fairly shallow like that, but hey whatever works right? These boxes hold 24 cigars, but the boxes are slightly smaller than the Headley Grange boxes and the cigars are stacked in three rows of eight instead of 2 rows of 12. I love how they tailor each package to the specific cigar. You honestly wouldn’t know they were all made by the same brand if you put them in a line-up. They treat each cigar as its own unique product. Which I think is very cool and something not typically seen in this industry.

The next thing you’ll notice about the J.D. Howard Reserve is the band. There is a big intertwined JDH in the middle of the band. It’s gold lettering pressed against a maroon background. One thing these guys harped on when creating this brand. They didn’t want to do anything cliche or gimmicky or anything that was too outlawish. I think they achieved a great balance with what they created here. I think setting the maroon center color against the cream-colored background makes the center stand out and not appear too flashy. This is a very well-done band. I think this cigar will definitely catch your eye the next time you’re walking around your local humidor. Ok, so it looks great, but I know you care more about that right? Let’s dive into the construction and more of the meat and potatoes of this review.

Function

As I said above, I picked up the 6×52 version of this cigar. Typically I enjoy the Corona Gorda size, but I picked these out for a specific reason. After this last year and seeing how everyone was stuck on the big ring gauge train, I wanted to see how this cigar performed in one of its larger sizes. I opted for the 52 instead of the 54 because it was 1″ longer and that meant 1″ more enjoyment hopefully. Plus I know EP Carrillo’s Tabacalera can make great smaller-size cigars, but I wanted to test the construction on a bigger gauge stick.

After looking up and down the barrel of this J.D. Howard Reserve I was satisfied with the outer construction of the Brazilian wrapper and the barrel. There was one vein that ran most of the length of this cigar which is fine, I’m just going to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t affect the burn too much. After pinching most of the barrel up and down I decided I was ready to light this baby up.

I went ahead and nipped the cap off and began puffing away and testing the dry draw. It’s incredible how every cigar I’ve smoked from Crowned Heads has a perfect draw. I don’t know what it is, well yeah I do know what it is. They have an incredible partner with EP Carrillo who constructs incredible cigars. These guys may be behind the blends, but Ernie puts the rubber to the road. So I don’t think it’s fair to give Jon & Mike all the credit here. It’s time to put the flame to this stick and see what we’ve got!

Smoking

I wish I had some special celebratory lighter to whip out for this new release, but I don’t. So, alas, I have to use my old stand-by Xikar Stratosphere. I toasted the foot all the way around before I brought this J.D. Howard Reserve to my lips to begin puffing. After I began puffing I was exhaling a ton of smoke that was just surrounding me like I was in the middle of a Phish concert. I took a look down at the foot of this cigar and noticed there was one part that didn’t quite take to the flame. I wasn’t too worried, I figured with all the heat around it it would take off like a forest fire. It eventually straightened out and caught up with the rest of the class.

During the first third of this smoke, I was just sitting here browsing online and trying to soak in the experience of this cigar. I was thinking back to the first Crowned Heads cigar that I smoked at my old apartment. I was wandering too far down memory lane and began to notice that one side of this J.D. Howard Reserve was beginning to take turn a little crooked. The draw was never affected, but it was just irritating me that it wasn’t burning correctly. So I snapped a couple of quick pics to show you guys and then I worked on correcting it. Once I got the ash that was out of line back on the straight and narrow I could head back down memory lane.

The second third of this cigar was more of the same as the first. I never had one single issue with the draw on this cigar. It was effortless to draw and the smoke just poured out. You really can’t argue about that, the minor inconvenience during the first third was no biggie to me, I just kept puffing. During the final third, I did get this cigar a little too hot. I must have gotten bored reading and was puffing too fast on this cigar. So I let it cool down some and then purged it and then it was burning perfectly again. I’m sure you’ve heard enough about the smoking of this cigar and you care more about the flavors than anything right? Well, let’s hop into that next!