Crowned Heads Le Carême Cigar Review

I am currently on vacation in Paris this week and thought it would  make sense to talk about one of the 2016 Crowned Heads Cigars introductions, Le Carême . The cigar gets its name from, and pays tribute to, Marie Antoine Carême. If you like those wonderful French cream sauces and soufflés, then you can thank Marie who authored several books on French cookery. The most famous being the 5 volume set known as the encyclopedic L’Art de la Cuisine Française which included, aside from hundreds of recipes, plans for menus and opulent table settings, a history of French cookery, and instructions for organizing kitchens. He (yes Marie is a man not a woman) also is credited for popularizing the soufflé.

Today I would  like to present a review of The Crowned Heads Le Carême cigar which is produced at Tabacalera La Alianza S.A., which is Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr.’s factory.

To begin, let’s examine at the blend,  which is a carefully selected mix of leaf.

• Wrapper: Connecticut broadleaf Grade A Dark wrapper
• Filler: Ecuadorian Sumatra
• Binder: Nicaraguan

The Le Carême  is avaiable in 4 vitolas and packaged in 24-count boxes:

• Cosacos (5 3/8 x 42, $6.95)
• Hermoso No. 1 (6 1/2 x 48, $8.75)
• Robusto (5 x 50, $8.25)
• Canonazo (5 7/8 x 52, $8.95)

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Pre-light Examination

The Le Carême is a beautiful dark brown lightly boxed pressed cigar that has a silky smooth wrapper with deep chocolate aromas. I just want to chomp on this for a while. Pepper and earth are predominate notes on the cold draw which has that perfect restriction to it.

The band on the Le Carême is simple, with a blue and gold letter “C” centered in the middle of white background and the words Le Carême written below. Certainly a 1st impression of the elegant smoke I was about to enjoy.

For this review I sampled the Le Carême Robusto which was part of the package I received at the Smoke Inn Great Smoke 2017.

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Cigar Review Notes

• Very tangy citrus to start
• Tang settles into a smooth slighty syrupy note
• The smoke is full in volume
• Sweetness intensifies
• Cafe latte note enters at the start of second third
• The tang reappears near the middle of the second third
• Spicy aroma develops
• Orange tang – yea that’s it! 
• Malt enters
• Butter notes emerge at the end of second third
• Syrupy aroma moving in
• Citrus continues lingering on the palate
• Touch of bitter coffee bean enters in the final third
• Peppery spice on the nasal
• Medium Strength
• Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 15 minutes

Overall, the Crowned Heads Le Carême exactly what I expect from Jon Huber and The Crowned Heads cigar company. It was a complex blend of flavor notes from start to finish with an error free burn throughout.  If you are a Crowned Heads fan, this is one that you must try, even if you have not had a Crowned Heads cigar, I highly recommend searching this one out and giving it a whirl. I had to get a second one of these and I found it paired very well with a toasted lager enhancing the malt notes.