The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Crowned Heads Thunderkiss - Robusto Grande (5 x 54) is based on the journal entry dated 2025-12-23

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Average (2)

This Ecuadorian Habano has a nice medium-brown color to it, making me think it’s had a little more sun exposure or might just be a higher-priming leaf. It has a light sheen and some minor mottling. Adequate, but nothing crazy. There are a lot of veins running down the shaft of the cigar, but they’re mostly thin. The seams are visible but tight, with only a little edge lift around the veins, and the cap is clean. Honestly, the band is a bit of a letdown given the badass White Zombie inspiration. It’s basically just an eyeball with a lightning graphic. I expect the budget-friendly price tag to catch your eye long before the physical cigar would on its own.​

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Good (3) / Great (4)

The draw is just slightly open of perfect, and the burn is a little uneven but stays well-controlled in the first third. The ash is a very light gray that’s tightly packed with only minor cracking. The ash holds strong all the way to the halfway point before I gently rolled it into the ashtray, and the burn line has flattened out nicely. This is fantastic construction for a value-priced cigar. 🎶 Yeah, roll’n like a supersonic. 🎶

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Great (4)

The Thunderkiss wastes absolutely no time opening with a mix of great flavors. Slight charred woody notes, earth, peanuts, coffee, and leather, all followed by a sweet, citrusy bite. It’s not very creamy, but it is quite smooth and well-balanced to start. This is surprisingly pleasant. 🎶 The power of the blaster move me faster. 🎶

Getting into the second third, the woodiness starts to develop a bit of a salty, pretzel-bread quality. The pepper starts to pick up and there are little bits of nutmeg and baking spice. There are some slight harsh and bitter notes creeping in, but overall, the profile is still very smooth and nicely balanced. Peanut nuttiness, coffee, and leather are still hanging tight. It’s a little leather-heavy to land perfectly with my palate, but the Thunderkiss is still punching way above its weight class with this blend.

With the final third, the coffee flavors are picking up, increasing some of those natural bitter notes. It’s losing some of the nuttiness and picking up a little more of a charred oak flavor. The pepper has hit a proper medium, giving the tongue and the back of the throat a nice tingle. A definite strong finish. 🎶 What’s new pussycat? Can you dig the satisfaction? 🎶

Overall Experience (0-5):  Great (4)

Overall, this is a really nice, highly flavorful blend, especially for being a budget cigar. There’s not much in the way of major transitions, but it’s balanced, flavorful, and has just enough complexity to remain quite engaging. If you’re looking for a new, affordable option—especially one to share or gift—this is a great choice. It’s far better than the price tag would indicate, and it would honestly be insulting to think of this as just a yardgar. So…. 🎶 Gimme that, gimme that now, now, now! 🎶

Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries

While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there’s a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example!  This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo.  Below you’ll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!

The Flavor Wheel

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.