Las Calaveras Décimo Aniversario

Each and every year, we write about a lot of new limited edition cigars. By their very nature, most of them will be one-and-done, but a few become series of cigars, some even become regular production releases. That said, few of these limited editions turn into series that can remain popular enough to get new releases for five consecutive years, let alone a full decade.

In 2014, Crowned Heads released Las Calaveras as a way to honor those close to the company’s personnel who have passed away in the past year, instead of one specific person. The company says it was specifically inspired by the Mexican holiday of Días de los Muertos, otherwise known as the Days of the Dead.

As with many Días de los Muertos-themed products, Crowned Heads leaned into a popular motif for the holiday: skulls. The name Las Calaveras is Spanish for the skulls, and it’s inspired by La Calavera Catrina, a zinc etching by Mexican printmaker and lithographer José Guadalupe Posada.

That debut release was known less for any of that and was initially talked about more because it marked the first time that Crowned Heads had worked with the My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Up until that point, the relatively new Crowned Heads had only worked with Ernesto Perez Carrillo Jr. and his Dominican factory.

Once the cigar was released, it became known for something else: being very good. The Las Calaveras Edición Limitada 2014 LC550 was reviewed on this site and got a score of 94 before going on to finish #4 on our Top 25 that year. At that point, it was off to the races.

Since then, Crowned Heads has continued to release a new Las Calaveras each year. Some details stay the same: My Father has made every release, outside of changing color, the packaging is more or less the same, and each year there are three regular vitolas released in 24-count boxes, and since 2016, there’s also been a fourth vitola only offered in a sampler.

In June 2024, Crowned Head announced the expected standard release of that year’s Las Calaveras cigars, along with an extra surprise: a different cigar with a different blend created to commemorate the line’s 10th anniversary. 

The Las Calaveras Décimo Aniversario—décimo aniversario is Spanish for 10th anniversary—is a 6 x 52 toro that is made with an Ecuadorian habano oscuro wrapper covering a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos grown by the García family. Each cigar has an MSRP of $18.95 and total production is limited to 2,500 boxes of 10 cigars.

“Las Calaveras has had such a far-reaching impact upon the cigar community over the last decade,” said Jon Huber, co-founder of Crowned Heads, in a press release when the Décimo Aniversario was announced. “We felt it only fitting to recognize this milestone of the brand. Décimo is an amazing blend, and we’re so grateful to the Garcia family and My Father Cigars for partnering with us on this tribute, and also for what we’ve created together with the Las Calaveras brand.”

• Cigar Reviewed: Las Calaveras Décimo Aniversario
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano Oscuro)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $18.95 (Box of 10, $189.50)
• Release Date: October 2024
• Number of Cigars Released: 2,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (25,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The multiple colors of the Las Calaveras Décimo Aniversario bands and their gold accents look great against the dark brown, mottled wrappers that are slightly toothy to the touch. All three cigars have a number of protruding veins, and while my first cigar is quite firm when squeezed, the other two have a bit more give to them. Aromas from the wrappers start with strong woodiness, Allspice, leather tack, sweet barnyard, earth and light citrus, although my second cigar has more of the latter note than the other two. Creamy oak and nuttiness lead the scents from the feet, followed by hay, pita bread, chalk, coffee beans and brown sugar sweetness. All three cigars have quite a bit of black pepper on their respective cold draws, but my first cigar is dominated by a spicy charred meat flavor—the other two cigars feature more of a creamy almond flavor—along with cinnamon, dry straw, herbs, earth, oak, leather and dark chocolate sweetness.

Spicy oak and black pepper start the cigars off, and while the spiciness remains very evident through the first third, it never reaches what I would consider to be an overwhelming level. After about 10 puffs, main flavors of charred meat and coffee beans take over the profile, followed by secondary flavors of dried tea leaves, cinnamon, sourdough bread, hay, earth and generic woodiness. The retrohale features a black pepper that leads rich, fudge-like sweetness. Flavor is at full and, by the end of the first third, both the body and strength hit a point slightly under medium. There are no major issues with construction so far on any of the three cigars, although the burn lines are a bit wavy on my first cigar.

During the second third, a combination of salted almonds and gritty earth take over as the main flavor, followed by secondary notes that include wet straw, plain oatmeal, herbs, cinnamon, coffee beans and oak. On the finish of my second and final cigars, a light chalkiness is noticeable but not strong enough to make a significant impact on the overall profile. While the retrohale continues to exhibit plenty of black pepper, the spiciness from the first third has receded a bit and the sweetness now reminds me of rich raisins. Flavor remains at full, and the body remains at a point just under medium, but the strength has increased enough to hit a solid medium. All three cigars run into enough construction issues that they each need to be corrected with my lighter at least once—my first cigar has the most significant problem in that regard—but the draws and smoke production are excellent for all three cigars.

In many ways, the final third is a virtual carbon copy of the second third: main flavors of gritty earth and salted almonds that continue to dominate the profile. Additional flavors of coffee beans, powdery cocoa nibs, toasted bread, leather tack, cinnamon and light lemongrass all show up at various points, while the retrohale exhibits about the same amount of rich, raisin sweetness and black pepper compared to the second third. Flavor ends the cigar at full, the body increases to a solid medium and the strength manages to hit medium-plus. Thankfully, the construction is not a carbon copy of the second third, and all three aspects—burn, draw and smoke production—give me no issues across all three cigars until I put the nubs down.

Final Notes

• There have been a number of different cigar products with Día de Los Muertos tie-ins, including Altadis U.S.A.’s Trinidad Espiritu No. 3, the Sweet Jane Dia de los Muertos, Black Label Trading Co.’s Santa Muerte, a lighter and cutter from S.T. Dupont, the XIKAR Las Calacas cutters, and a Les Fines Lames Le Petit cigar knife.
• Past Las Calaveras releases have done extremely well when it comes to the halfwheel Top 25: the line took the 4th place in 2014, 14th place in 2015 and 18th place in 2021.
• I love the fact that the colors used for the bands each year—or at least, each year after 2016—are so drastically different, which makes them easy to differentiate.
• Speaking of the colors, the rainbow color scheme used on the bands for this release is noticeably different from past incarnations, which is a nice touch.
• These cigars produce a massive amount of smoke, almost like a Liga Privada.

• All three cigars had burn issues in the second third. As you can see above, my first cigar was the worst.
• At 43 cigars, the Collections photo above is one of the most populous we have, though not even halfway to #1.
• The cigars smoked for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• These cigars are officially listed as 6 x 52 toros, the above is what we found when we measured the three cigars I smoked for this review.
• Final smoking time averaged one hour and 58 minutes for all three cigars.
• If you would like to purchase any of the Las Calaveras Décimo Aniversarios, site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigars Direct and Corona Cigar Co. sell the cigars on their websites.