Crowned Heads Pays Tribute to Grant Kawasaki With HGK-76 Cigar

On July 25, Grant Kawasaki passed away due to coronavirus COVID-19, now Crowned Heads will pay tribute to the popular chef and cigar smoker with a cigar named in his honor.

The HGK-76 is a 5 5/8 x 46 corona Gorda that uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper over a binder from Jalapa, Nicaragua and fillers from Brazil, Mexico and Nicaragua. It will have an MSRP of $11.50 per cigar and will go on sale beginning on Dec. 2 as an exclusive to R. Field Wine Co. It is made at Tabacalera Pichardo.

There are 250 boxes of 10 cigars available and a portion of sales will be donated to fund a culinary scholarship in Kawasaki’s name.

Kawasaki was a friend to many in the cigar community, including Jon Huber of Crowned Heads. He was a chef and host of “Hawaiian Grown Kitchen,” a local television show that focused on Hawaiian food and chefs.

“Grant was one of the first people to befriend me in Hawaii back in 2015,” said Huber, co-founder of Crowned Heads, in a press release. “I first met him at a cigar gathering at The Row Bar in Honolulu, and he was so kind, gracious, and generous; he brought me my first taste of poke which he’d made himself. Grant was an integral part of our annual Paniolo events there, where he’d MC the event. He was so genuinely funny and jovial, and he’d always interject his trademark pidgin slang which would always have the guests laughing. He was truly loved by the Hawaiian cigar community and he will be sorely missed.”