The Good Stuff:

It’s no secret that the Mule Kick is one, if not my all time favorite cigar from the Crowned Head’s vast portfolio. Jeremy and I snatched quite a few of these up a few years back when this cigar was originally released in a very, very small batch. You can read his review here, and mine here. To my surprise the Crowned Heads decided to bring this bad boy back this year. While the qualities are still limited (2,000 boxes), they aren’t nearly as hard to find as the original release was (only 500 boxes). The blend remains very similar as well as the Mule Kick utilizes a darker Ecuadorian Habano wrapper which was originally supposed to be used on the Four Kicks but deemed too dark. The binder is still Nicaraguan while the filler is a tweaked mixture of the same Nicaraguan fillers from before. The cigar is offered in a single 5 7/8 x 52 format and runs just alrighty more expensive than the original release at $9.90 a stick. I purchased a handful of these over from our friends and cigarpimp.com.

Size: 5 7/8 x 52
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Full
Strength: Full
Price: $9.90
Pairing: 2016 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (Imperial Stout 13.8% ABV)

Prelight:

The Crowned Heads Four Kicks Mule Kick 2017 starts out with a milk-chocolate brown wrapper which is decently consistent in color outside of some darker areas located around the natural webbing in the wrapper leaf. The wrapper’s texture is extremely oil with some slight tooth while the wrapper itself feels very thin and fragile. The cigar is packed tightly with some softer spot located around the foot of the cigar. The cigar carries only a few smaller veins as the wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself leading up to the round triple wrapped cap. The cigar is polished off with the standard gold, red, and white Four Kicks band as well as an added gold and black secondary band stating “Limited Edition 2017”.

The wrapper on The Crowned Heads Four Kicks Mule Kick 2017 gives off a huge amount of bold cedar and spice with a bit of sweetness while the foot of the cigar is more natural with tobacco, spice, dirt, and oak aromas. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some great cashew, spice, sweetness as well as bold cedar and musk.

First Third:

You’d expect to bit hit with a pepper bomb right off the bat in The Crowned Heads Four Kicks Mule Kick 2017, but you’re not. You are greeting with some bold cedar, musk, pecan, honey, and spice with just a tiny bit of black pepper and floral flavors hiding underneath. The draw is perfect kicking out tons of thick white smoke with each little puff. The burn line has some slight waves, but nothing really concerning while it leaves behind a tightly compacted trail of white and light gray ash which held on for for an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Each time I puff on The Crowned Heads Four Kicks Mule Kick 2017 I am reminded more and more why I fell in love with this cigar. Into the second third and the flavors are still rocking hard producing some awesome musk/cologne type flavors over pecan, cedar, honey, brown sugar sweetness, and light coffee. The retrohale brings out a bit more of the spice and pepper that you really don’t pick up in the experience. The burn line is now razor sharp and dead even as I close out the second third with a tiny bit of a nicotine punch.

Finish:

Shortly after getting into the final third of the The Crowned Heads Four Kicks Mule Kick 2017 the cigar my dog bumped into my cigar holder knocking the cigar off the table and onto the ground. The cap of the cigar cracked. Sadness ensued. But one thing I learned was that it did not effect the cigar experience whatsoever. It kept burning like a dream and the flavor really didn’t get affected by the tussle. At this point the cigar is well into the full body and full strength realm while the cigar continued to ramp up into the final inch. I encountered no harshness, and no extended heat even after the wrapper broke open due to unforeseen circumstances *coughcoughPERRYDOGcoughcough*. The Crowned Heads Four Kicks Mule Kick 2017 left me with a great little nicotine kick after the hour and forty five minutes it took to take it down.

Overview:

Not only was The Crowned Heads Four Kicks Mule Kick 2017 everything I remember it being, but I can easily one of my favorite cigars I have smoked all year. The cold flavors are a perfect match for my personal palate and the flawless burning experience is something you can easily count on from The Crowned Heads and their choice for top-notch manufacturers. The price is right where it should be, and I personally would even pay more than that for this cigar. My only gripe? You guessed it. I wish these were available full production so I didn’t have to be that guy hoarding them for years. I would purchase it over and over again and intend to do so while I can still get my hands on them.

Pairing:

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few years then you are well aware of the greatness that is Goose Isnland’s Bourbon County Stout. Coming in at 13.8% This Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels is one of the most sought after beers year after year. Leading with a heavily sticky sweetness, bourbon booziness, cocoa, espresso, and vanilla with a very, very heavy mouthfeel this beer is sure to please before it finishes with even more sweetness, vanilla, coconut, spice, and espresso while the bourbon booziness sticks around for quite some time before going away. The sweetness, spice, cocoa and espresso all married up wonderfully with existing flavors in The Crowned Heads Four Kicks Mule Kick 2017, while the bourbon, vanilla, and coconut helped bring even more flavor out of an already potent cigar without overpowering it. I do thing this beer can easily overpower most cigars but we all know just how flavorful the Mule Kick is and it really held its ground and even added to the body of the beer in some instances.

The post The Crowned Heads Four Kicks Mule Kick 2017 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

This is the “third release” from The Crowned Heads. I use the term “third release” loosely since it is in fact based on the standard issue Four Kicks (read my review of that one here). If you read that review you could see how much I just loved the blend. Again, John Huber + Ernesto Perez Carrillo = match made in heaven. Both dudes are geniuses when it comes down to the cigar industry. Anywho, The Mule Kick is basically the Four Kicks on crack. It starts with a  Ecuador Habano wrapper originally intended for the Four Kicks, but was deemed too dark to fit the blend. Start with that wrapper, stuff it with all the same Nicaraguan goodies from the Four Kicks, and then toss some extra, strong ligero and you have yourself a Mule Kick. This is the first limited run created by the crowned heads. It only comes in one size (5 7/8 x 52), comes in boxes of 10 and runs $8.95 a box. The only sad part about the project is there was only 500 boxes released.

Simply put, without making you read much further, this cigar blew me away. I am a huge fan of the Four Kicks, and being a full-bodied smoker, the added Ligero made this cigar reach new heights with me. The flavor profile was almost identical to the Four Kicks. Lots of cedar, brown sugar, musky tobacco with a very sweet overtone. There wasn’t much change up in the cigar although the sweetness and strength really stepped up into the final third. One thing I did notice was, even though the cigar was stronger, it finished much smoother and creamier than I remember the Four Kicks finishing. I never had a problem with the cigar staying lit, or burning crooked. In fact, the ash and burnline on this cigar was as good as it gets.

All in all this has to be my favorite blend The Crowned Heads has produced to date. Again, I LOVED the Four Kicks and without being modest, I think the Mule Kick knocked the pants off that blend. The price point is spot-on in my opinion and you’d be a fool not to pick these up if you see them. On a side note, I started out this pairing with water since I had never smoked the cigar before. I had a good idea what I was getting myself into as I’ve smoked quite a few Four Kicks in my day. Halfway through I decided I knew the cigar well enough to pair it, and the pairing was sensational! I have yet to find a cigar that had enough strength, body, and pronounced flavors to pair with the incredibly strong, incredibly flavorful, incredibly potent Vertical EPIC 12.12.12 by Stone. That beer is a beast! It’s a Belgian Strong Ale registering 9.0% on the ABV scale and it’s not for the faint of heart. At first sip this beer SCREAMS vanilla, spice, cloves, and ginger. It’s a flavor bomb and man did it pair great with the spice, cedar, and sugar from the Four Kicks Mule Kick.

The post Quick Draw Episode 12 – Crowned Heads – Four Kicks Mule Kick appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.