The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Crowned Heads Belgian Blue Limited Edition 2025 - Robusto Grande (Box Press) (5.5 x 56) is based on the journal entry dated 2026-01-09

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

A medium dark chocolate brown, this MSA wrapper is sporting some of that craggy, British-style tooth, though it is on the drier side. It does have a soft texture and a good firmness to it. It is, however, quite veiny, even if the veins are all pressed flat with the aggressive box press, giving this a rectangular candy bar shape. Another disappointment is that there’s a lot of edge lift on all of the seams, particularly around the top of the triple cap. It’s enough to give me concern for burn issues or the potential unraveling of the cap—which actually does unravel in the last inch. But I do love the design and colors on the primary band, alongside the coordinating fabric foot band that has a blueish-silvery hue to it. The Belgian Blue bull on the side is a nice visual reminder of what you’re signing up for as well.​

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Average (2) / Good (3)

The draw is wide open with absolutely no resistance, and the burn starts unevenly. One section of the burn line quickly races down the backside of the cigar. It’s not getting entirely out of control, but it’s noticeably uneven and wavy. An MSA wrapper plus a box press is usually a highly difficult combo to get a perfect burn on, so it’s not totally surprising. The ash is a light-to-medium gray with tight but flaky striations. The ash is covered with oil crystals that seamlessly blend into the lighter sections of the ash. The ash stack holds on for roughly the first third before I safely rolled it off into the ashtray. This cigar also generates a pretty good amount of smoke on each puff. I’m also noticing the cigar gets slightly squishy in the second half as it heats up.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Good (3)

Immediate pepper on light-up, paired with dark chocolate, charred wood, and a distinct breadiness. There’s a good mix of earth and leather, but absolutely no harshness in the first inch. We’re starting off dark, dry, and spicy—kind of like a nice BBQ dry rub, but without the sweet and savory elements.

The pepper pulls back in the second third, while the leather and charred wood flavors steadily increase. Coffee appears and smoothly blends with the dark chocolate for a slightly bitter and dry mocha note that remains the most dominant overall. There is a mild caramel sweetness, but not much. There is definitely a bit of a heavy tobacco punch to it from all that Ligero, so your personal nicotine sensitivity will be key here. The natural bitterness from the coffee and chocolate eventually leads into a nice anise-like flavor.

Getting into the final third, I’m feeling like this blend needs something else in the profile to really elevate it. It’s been fairly straightforward without any major transitions and doesn’t really have much complexity, heavily favoring blunt, brute force instead. Ironically, right after thinking that, the caramel flavors actually start to pick up for a brief spell. The blend is never bad—it’s good—but it does get a little boring at times. On the bright side, it’s never harsh, even though the pepper really adds up after a while.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Good (3)

If you like a cigar that punches you right in the chest, this is your huckleberry. Much like the Belgian Blue cattle, this is a highly muscular blend. And here I thought the Belgians were nice, sweet people who just dealt with sweet and kind things like beer, chocolate, and waffles. 😅 Maybe it just needs a little more time in the humidor to let the flavors stew? This was a bit of a mixed bag, offering moments of greatness alongside others that were just underwhelming.

Postscript

2026-Aug-14:  The biggest change since initially reviewing the Belgian Blue is that the flavors have melded nicely with time, even if they didn’t radically evolve. I didn’t get the “boring” moments from this second sample that I did with the first. There wasn’t a ton of transition, but I did get a nice, cohesive mix of charred cedar, red pepper, creamy dark mocha, caramel, and earth with a light hit of leather, which eventually picked up some salted peanuts and a citrus zing in the second half. It was a nice flavor profile that just carried straight through the entirety of the smoke without any harshness, in spite of the pepper’s strength, because it had a nice creaminess on the finish. But even with some solid rest, it’s still an absolute sledgehammer of flavor, intensity, and strength. I’ll be interested to see if it returns for 2026, and what vitola they decide to go with next time!

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.