For the last few years Crowned Heads as offered up an exclusive release for members of the Tobacconist Association of America. Like all TAA releases they are highly sought after and usually sell out pretty quickly. This year, Jon Huber & Mike Condor turned to Tabacalera La Alianza in the Dominican Republic for the 2017 release of The Angel’s Anvil. The factory which is owned by Ernest Perez-Carillo produced 1,000 boxes of 20.
Cigar Review: The Angel’s Anvil
Wrapper: Habano
Binder: Undisclosed
Filler: Undisclosed
Length: 6.25
Ring Gauge: 52
Size: Toro
The Look: Packaged in brown and gold boxes, The Angel’s Anvil 2017 features 20 cigars in two rows of 10. The cigar features a medium colored Habano wrapper with a few veins and a nice amount of oil. Each year the band changes slightly, but still features The Angel’s Anvil logo with colors of gold, beige and black. The cigar is well rolled with no soft spots.
The Notes: The cold draw serves sweet and syrupy nuance at first puff, on the second cod draw the notes are reminscint of gingerbread and earth. The nose off the foot is similar but more muted. I hate comparing a cigar to another, but the cold draw is very reminscent of an Opus X.
Once the cigar is lit, there is a subtle pepper component on the palate and the retrohale. As we progress further into the first third of the cigar some notes of shortbread and pecans take hold with a subtle sweetness. The aroma of the cigar which I can’t quite put my finger on at this point is sweet and enjoyable.
The second third of the cigar sees pecans become dominant with a subtle cedar and earth in the background. There is a sweetness that is reminiscent of shortbread on the finish with some pepper on the retrohale. The sweetness continues on the aroma which I can finally put my finger, or nose on and it reminds me of maple and even drew comments from those around me as I smoke the cigar.
As we close things out the cigar begins to lose some of its sweetness, though it remains nutty as the notes of earth begin to intensify. There is some cedar on the finish with a remaining sweetness on the aroma and some pepper on the retrohale.
The Finish: For me the best Angel’s Anvil release was the 2014 Edition, and after smoking the 2017 release I feel that remains champion. However, the 2017 edition is a close second. It’s medium bodied with a lot of flavor and it’s something I definitely enjoyed smoking and would recommend. I picked up a handful of them for my humidor and look forward to smoking one over the summer on my back deck.
Score: 92
Price: $10.69 / $189.99
The Angels Anvil 2017
The Angels Anvil 2017 Foot
The Angels Anvil 2017 Burn
