Crowned Heads Adding J.D. Howard Reserve

Crowned Heads is preparing to launch a third line of cigars, dubbed the J.D. Howard Reserve, they expect to have ready for the IPCPR Convention and Trade Show in July.

Slated to be a five-vitola release, it will use a blend consisting of a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, Ecuadoran Sumatra binder and filler from Nicaragua. The announced sizes are:

• HR46 – 6 x 46
• HR 48 – 5 x 48
• HR50 – 5 5/8 x 50 (Figurado)
• HR52 – 6 x 52
• HR54 – 5 x 54

Pricing and production numbers have not been announced yet, and art work for the project is still being finalized. Huber did tell the magazine that the art and marketing will not be gimmicky and will not feature guns or wanted posters.

J.D. Howard was an alias used by notorious outlaw Jesse James after he went into hiding following an 1876 bank robbery in Minnesota that resulted in several members of his gang being killed or arrested. James and his wife then tried to live a normal life in Nashville in the late 1870s, the same city where Crowned Heads is headquartered. Jon Huber told Cigar Aficionado that when he learned of James’ connection to the city, he saw an opportunity to create a match between a cigar and a name. Crowned Heads filed the mark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on February 4, 2013.

The new line, like the rest of Crowned Heads’ offerings, are being made by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo at Tabacalera La Alianza S.A. in Santiago, Dominican Republic. It is described as being medium to full bodied. Huber declined to say whether the cigar was already in the works when he came across the J.D. Howard name or whether it was the name that inspired the cigar.

On Thursday,  Huber posted a picture of a test blend he brought back from the factory to the BOTL.org forums:

In that same post, Huber mentioned he is hoping to have the cigar ready to ship in August 2013.

Update (Feb. 15, 2013) – The sizes of the HR46 and HR54 were incorrectly listed in the original article and have been corrected. A sentence explaining the origin of the cigar’s name has also been modified for clarity.