What can I say about Four Kicks that hasn’t already been said? There has been so much buzz around the cigar industry about Crowned Heads 1st release. They have chronicled the whole process on their website. The guys over at CH love letting us in to see what’s going on behind the scenes. They created a legion of fans before the first cigar was ever released. Personally I believe if that cigar would have sucked they still would have had an army of fans, but guess what. It doesn’t suck! In fact it is one of the best cigars I’ve ever smoked. It’s even earned the First 10/10 rating on SOTR ever!
I’m calling this post a Salute to Nashville for many reasons. 1) I live in Nashville, 2) Crowned Heads’ HQ is in Nashville and I work right across the street from them and pass by their office everyday to go to the gym, and 3) I’m smoking this cigar while watching the Nashville Predators pummel play the Detroit Red Wings in Game 4 of their 7 game series. So therefore my Salute to Nashville,TN.
I was about to take this post live when I got a sudden burst of courage and I thought, hey I work right next to these guys, I should go and get a picture with them. So I emailed a friend of a friend who is friends with Jon Huber. He asked the CH guys if they had time to meet with me and they told me to come right over. I got to meet with these guys for about 30 minutes and they told me more than I could even possibly remember. Mike even joked, ‘Are you gonna take notes?’. I wasn’t even planning on taking notes or doing an interview, I just wanted to bother them for a picture. But, just as they do with their cigars they over delivered. These guys are both so passionate about cigars its contagious! I got to see what the box and band will look like for their new line Headley Grange. My hand was literally shaking with excitement/nerves or way too much caffeine while holding the artwork. This is one of those rare moments when you actually get to see a part of what’s going on behind the scenes and I’m incredibly thankful that these guys were so open and engaging to take the time to visit with me for 30 minutes they’ve truly made me a life long fan.
I even got a bag full of goodies on the way out!
Now that all of that is out of the way onto the review!
Initial Thoughts
There are so many great things about this cigar I don’t even know where to start. As I said after the pre launch build up Crowned Heads gave this line, I was hoping for quite a bit of dazzle in the packaging to back up the all hype. So when I walked into UPtowns looking for these sticks I completely missed them. I knew what the logo looked like and I was looking for some packaging with some crazy graphic and shiny boxes. I actually had to go out of the humidor and ask the guys where the Four Kicks were on the shelves. They were of course right up front and glaring me in the eye when I walked back in the humidor.
A quiet plain light brown box contains these delightful smokes. The traditional gold and red band on the barrel make you think this cigar is from decades past. When I talked to Jon & Mike about the packaging they said they wanted to “invest more in the tobacco, rather than expensive packaging or marketing.” The quaint packaging of these cigars could easily be overshadowed by the ‘big boys’ packaging and display placards found elsewhere in the humidor. Once I found the sticks I decided on picking up 3 of them in the Corona Gorda vitola after the guys up front said that was the most popular size.
Looks
Looking at this cigar you get a very rustic appearance. The wrapper is reddish brown similar to a colorado claro in color. Feeling the cigar I couldn’t detect any soft spots and this cigar is incredibly light in weight. The head is covered by what looks like a triple cap and there are few veins that run the length of the Habano Ecuadorian wrapper.
Function
After I nip the cap off this cigar I tested the pre light draw and this cigar pulled beautifully! This cigar is so light weight you would think there’s not much tobacco packed into it, but if you look at the foot this cigar appears to be packed very tightly. The leaves are very thin and bunched together and held in by a great Nicaraguan binder.
Smoking
I had a little trouble lighting this cigar, mainly because I was using matches and it was a little windy. Completely user error on this one. Even when I don’t get the foot completely toasted when lighting I always like to see if a cigar will even itself out. I feel that is very indicative of how good of smoke it is.
As you can see as I got a little further into the 1st Third the burn got really uneven on me.
However it did straighten itself back out without ever touching it up! Then it began to burn incredible straight all the way around. The part that was burning uneven began to flake out a little and thats what you see below. From here it was smooth sailing all the way out.
The smoke that came from this cigar was incredibly thick and white and just surrounded me and I absolutely loved it. For it being such a light weighted cigar and even light – medium in body this particular stick produced a lot of white smoke. Towards the end of the cigar the burn got a little hot, but that didn’t stop me from burning it all the way down to the nub!
Flavor
The flavor on this Four Kicks is blended absolutely perfect! I can’t remember how many blends Jon said they went through until they finally decided on this one. I know they worked diligently with EP Carrilo to arrive at this final destination. Jon and Mike began describing how they had to choose between three wrappers, all from the same seed and country, but grown at different farms and they settled on their favorite. The pre draw brought out some pepper notes and a little spice, but once I lit it up the spice was gone and all I got was smooth creaminess. It’s incredibly difficult to pull out specific flavors or notes from this stick because they were blended so well. I was able to pick out some subtle hints of woody / earthy tones from the 2nd third all the way to the end. However I believe the guys over at CH were probably going for a more subtle smooth blend rather than a dominant one. Jon said they blended this “to be a cigar for all smokers, from a beginner to a veteran, everyone can enjoy and pick out different subtleties in the flavor.”
Would I Buy It Again?
Absolutely, I plan on going to the release party for their new vitola next week. I’m going to try to pick up half a dozen.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
Without a doubt, even if you don’t smoke everyday you should make this a priority to smoke one every day!
Would I Buy a Box?
In a second! You should too, if your local B&M will let you! I can only imagine that these cigars would get better with age. If you can get away with buying a box do yourself a favor and get a box now!
Conclusion
Well that wraps up my Salute to Nashville with a Four Kicks cigar. If your local B&M hasn’t started stocking these yet, go by the CH Website and Suggest a Store to them so they can reach out to the owner. Thanks for staying with me on this epic post! Keep ’em lit!
