Crowned Heads Mil Dias Topes (Full Box of 21 Cigars)
- Length: 140mm
- Gauge: 56
- Flavour: Medium to Full
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
- Binder: Nicaraguan
- Filler: Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Peru
- Nicaraguan
- Hand Rolled Cigars
- Humidor Required
Crowned Heads Mil Días Topes – Full Box of 21 Cigars There's an old saying that good things come to those who wait. In the case of Crowned Heads Mil Días, that wait was roughly a thousand days. Quite a commitment when you consider that most of us start getting impatient if the kettle takes longer than three minutes.
The name Mil Días, Spanish for a thousand days, refers to the lengthy development of this rather interesting cigar blend. Work began in 2017, with Crowned Heads collaborating with experienced Nicaraguan cigar makers to produce something that would stand apart from the company's existing offerings. The finished range eventually arrived in 2020.
The Topes joined the collection in 2023, bringing a short, substantial 4⅞-inch by 56-ring-gauge format to the family. It's a generously built cigar, with plenty of tobacco packed into its relatively compact length.
The blend is particularly interesting. An Ecuadorian Habano wrapper surrounds a Nicaraguan binder, while the filler brings together tobacco from Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Peru. It's not every day you encounter that particular combination, and each origin contributes something to the finished character.
Expect a medium-to-full-bodied cigar with a rich, creamy foundation. Toasted nuts, cedar and coffee are joined by earthier tobacco flavours, a little pepper and some delicate floral notes. The larger ring gauge gives the blend plenty of scope to develop its character.
Manufacture takes place at the TacaNicsa factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, where the cigars are rolled using traditional long-filler methods.
Now, the presentation deserves a mention of its own. These 21 Mil Días Topes cigars arrive in a beautifully varnished wooden box, its warm reddish-brown finish decorated with gold Crowned Heads lettering and the Mil Días name.
Open the lid and there's a handsome gold emblem against the polished wood. Inside, the cigars sit beneath an elaborate red, cream and gold presentation strip carrying the Crowned Heads insignia and a few words about the company's approach to cigar making.
Each cigar wears an ornate cream and gold band with the crowned emblem picked out in red, accompanied by a separate Mil Días band. A bright red ribbon around the foot completes the appearance.
There's something rather pleasing about a box like this. It has the sort of presentation that makes opening it an occasion in itself, and the substantial Topes format looks particularly attractive arranged together.
Crowned Heads was founded in Nashville in 2011 by Jon Huber and Mike Conder, two gentlemen who clearly understand that developing a good cigar is not a matter of throwing a few leaves together and hoping for the best. Mil Días is perhaps the clearest example of that philosophy.
