In 2020, Crowned Heads released a new line that was named Mil Días, which translates to 1,000 Days from Spanish. According to Jon Huber, co-founder of Crowned Heads, he was given some blend samples by Luciano Meirelles and Eradio Pichardo—both co-owners of Tabacalera Pichardo—back in 2017, and from there it took about three years—roughly 1,000 days—before the finished blend was actually released.

Mil Días debuted in September 2020 as a four-vitolas line made up of an Ecuadorian habano wrapper covering a Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos sourced from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Peru. The 5 1/8 x 42 Mil Días Mareva Edición Limitada XX followed in December 2020, while the next year included the release of the 7 1/8 x 49 Mil Días Escogidos Edición Limitada 2021 and the Mil Días Magicos Edición Limitada 2021 petit robusto.

However, earlier this year Crowned Heads decided to change things up with the newest addition to the line, a 5 3/4 x 52 robusto extra named Mil Días Marranitos Edición Limitada 2022. That change came in the form of an Ecuadorian Sumatra maduro wrapper that replaced the Ecuadorian habano wrapper that is used on the other vitolas in the line, although the internal blend remained exactly the same.

“I felt that after releasing Marevas, Escogidos, and Magicos as limited releases, that Mil Días had reached an evolution point in the brand where playing with the cover leaf became an interesting proposition,” said Huber in a press release. “We had experimented with several wrapper options; however, when we applied the Sumatra Maduro wrapper to the existing blend, the flavor profile took on a whole other dimension.”

*Not pictured

89 Overall Score

Crowned Heads has produced some very, very good blends in the past, and the Mil Días line is near the top of the line for me. As expected, the newest addition is quite different compared to the rest of the Mil Días releases—its profile is not as creamy or as sweet, and features substantially more wood and earth flavors than the original blend—but even with the wrapper change, it continues to be an extremely enjoyable flavor bomb of a blend. I am always a bit skeptical when a company announces they are changing a cigar by doing nothing more than switching out the wrappers, but in the case of the Mil Días Marranitos EL 2022, the result was well worth the gamble.

The Mil Días Marranitos Edición Limitada 2022 has an MSRP of $12.25 per cigar and is limited to 2,500 boxes of 12 cigars that started shipping to retailers in April. As is the case with the rest of the Mil Días line, it is made at Tabacalera Pichardo in Estelí, Nicaragua.

  • Cigar Reviewed: Mil Días Marranitos EL 2022
  • Country of Origin: Nicaragua
  • Factory: Tabacalera Pichardo
  • Wrapper: Ecuador (Sumatra Maduro)
  • Binder: Nicaragua
  • Filler: Costa Rica, Nicaragua & Peru
  • Length: 5 3/4 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 52
  • Vitola: Robusto Extra
  • MSRP: $12.25 (Box of 12, $147)
  • Release Date: April 2022
  • Number of Cigars Released: 2,500 Boxes of 12 Cigars (30,000 Total Cigars)
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The wrapper on the Mil Días Marranitos EL 2022 is a noticeably darker chocolate brown color than what I remember from most of the past releases in the line. One sample has a massive vein running right down the front. With that said, the cover leaf is smooth to the touch and features almost no oil that I can discern, and all three samples are extremely firm when squeezed. The aroma from that wrapper is full and consists of cocoa nibs, leather, earth, anise and hay along with a fairly large amount of sweet oak and pepper. The foot is mainly an extension of the scents found on the wrapper, although there is an additional—and fairly strong—roasted coffee bean note that is at the forefront. Finally, after a straight cut the cold draw brings flavors of creamy oak, barnyard, grass, toasted bread, cocoa nibs, and maple sweetness, along with some obvious black pepper and spice.

The first puff after lighting the foot of the Marranitos EL 2022 is full of both oak and black pepper, both of which stick around as the burn line continues to advance, albeit in different locations. The oak becomes one of the main flavors in the profile, where it is joined by a huge roasted coffee beans flavor through the first third. Additional notes of gritty earth, peanuts, leather, anise, toast and cinnamon flit in and out at various points, while the retrohale features both black pepper and a sweetness that reminds me of Crackerjacks—basically, a combination of caramel and bread—in about equal amounts. Flavor starts off with a bang at a solid medium, while both body and strength are neck and neck just under medium. In terms of construction, all three samples feature a burn line, draw and smoke production that are all working in near perfect harmony.

While there are not many major changes in the profile of the cigar during the second third, I am enjoying the cigar so much that I don’t really care all that much. Flavors of creamy oak and roasted espresso beans easily remain on top of the profile, followed by less aggressive notes of creamy nuts, leather tack, earth, anise and cinnamon. One significant difference compared to the first third is the retrohale, which now includes more black pepper and a distinct—albeit not as strong—floral sweetness. Flavor has increased slightly to medium plus, body has increased a bit more to just above medium and the strength has bumped up slightly to a solid medium. All three cigars continue to give me no issues when it comes to the draw or the smoke production, but unfortunately the burn is another matter altogether, as each sample needs at least one correction with my lighter before to keep it on track.

There is a bit more creaminess in the profile of the Mil Días during the final third which bumps up the complexity slightly, even considering the fact that the by now familiar flavors of roasted espresso beans and oak remain the main flavors in the profile. Secondary notes of leather, earth, peanuts, hay, charred meat and a slight musky mushroom flavor all show up at various times, while the retrohale continues to be dominated by black pepper and floral sweetness, more of the latter than the former. Flavor ends the cigar just under full and the body has increased a bit to land at medium plus, but the strength stalls out at a solid medium and never really threatens to go higher. Finally, the construction looks like a carbon copy of the second third: excellent draws and smoke production across the board, but once again, all three samples need one touchup each before I put the nub down with about an inch remaining.

Final Notes

  • Mil Dias is one of four Crowned Heads line to be made at Tabacalera Pichardo; the first was the Juárez brand that debuted in 2018 and the third was The Lost Angel line that debuted in 2021 and the newest was CHC Serie E.
  • I have always been impressed with the main bands on this line: they are obviously expensive and are made of parchment paper with a gold embossed ring around the red embossed logo.
  • Along with the above, the layout of the cigars in the boxes are also something you don’t see every day and are a nice way to differentiate the line from competitors without going overboard. Having said that, the fairly large footprint is probably not ideal for some retailer’s humidors where space is sometimes at a premium.
  • The Mil Días Sublime took the seventh place in halfwheel’s Top 25 of 2020, while the Mil Días line was awarded the fifth place in The Consensus that same year.
  • The burn was interesting on these cigars. While it was rarely entirely straight—and sometimes became quite wonky—it almost always seemed to correct itself eventually. The burn got bad enough to need correcting once each on two separate samples. It followed the same pattern on all three samples, with each cigar needing minor corrections in both the second and final thirds.
  • The cigars smoked for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
  • Final smoking time for all three samples averaged one hour and 57 minutes.
  • If you would like to purchase any of the Mil Días Marranitos EL 2022 cigars, site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Famous Smoke Shop and JR Cigars all have them in stock.

Update (May 25, 2022) — The original version of this review incorrectly stated that there were three Crowned Heads lines made at Tabacalera Pichardo, there were four at the time this review was published.

89 Overall Score

Crowned Heads has produced some very, very good blends in the past, and the Mil Días line is near the top of the line for me. As expected, the newest addition is quite different compared to the rest of the Mil Días releases—its profile is not as creamy or as sweet, and features substantially more wood and earth flavors than the original blend—but even with the wrapper change, it continues to be an extremely enjoyable flavor bomb of a blend. I am always a bit skeptical when a company announces they are changing a cigar by doing nothing more than switching out the wrappers, but in the case of the Mil Días Marranitos EL 2022, the result was well worth the gamble.

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Brooks Whittington

I have been smoking cigars for over eight years. A documentary wedding photographer by trade, I spent seven years as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I started the cigar blog SmokingStogie in 2008 after realizing that there was a need for a cigar blog with better photographs and more in-depth information about each release. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars. I am a co-founder of halfwheel and now serve as an editor for halfwheel.