Crowned Heads Releasing La Vereda Made By Perez-Carrillo
A new smoke called La Vereda from Crowned Heads is going to be heading to cigar shops soon. The brand has been more than a year in the making and it will be the most expensive cigar ever released by Crowned Heads. La Vereda is being rolled in the Dominican Republic by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo.
“It’s something I feel really special about,” says Jon Huber of Crowned Heads. “We started working on this in March 2022.”
Huber went through several other things that make La Vereda different from previous Crowned Heads releases, including fatter sizes than we are used to seeing from the company and more ornate packaging. Huber is most interested in the tobacco.
Huber was originally aiming for something extra spicy. “Something like El Rico Habano,” he says, referencing one of Perez-Carrillo’s older brands. But the blend changed several times during development, becoming “more refined, more complex and more nuanced,” and medium to full in body. La Vereda is made with shade-grown wrapper from the Jalapa region of Nicaragua (Huber says it’s four years old), a Jalapa binder and a mix of fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
There are four sizes in the brand, all of them parejos, with suggested retail prices ranging from $18.40 to nearly $22. Each is named for their ring gauges. The No. 50 measures 5 3/8 inches long by 50 ring and retails for $18.40; No. 52 is 6 1/2 inches long ($19.60); No. 54 is $20.60 and measures 5 5/8 inches in length; and the No. 56 is 6 1/4 by 56, with a price tag of $21.80. There are 20 cigars in each box.
Crowned Heads tends to shy away from fatter cigars, but Perez-Carrillo (who makes Inch) is a big believer in them. “He said this blend speaks louder in the larger ring gauges,” says Huber. Perez-Carrillo makes a number of cigars for Crowned Heads, including Four Kicks.
The name La Vereda comes from a song called “De Camino a La Vereda” by the Cuban band Buena Vista Social Club, which Perez-Carrillo would often play around Huber. The moral of the story in that tune, says Huber, is to stay on your path.
The new cigar was previewed at the PCA trade show, which just concluded. Shipments are expected to commence in August.
