Crowned Heads Blood Medicine (2024)

The Leaf

• Country of Origin: Nicaragua

• Factory: Tabacalera Pichardo

• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

• Binder: Nicaragua

• Filler: Nicaragua

• Size: 6 x 52

• Body: Medium

• Strength: Medium

• Personal Rating: 8.75 / 10 – Tale Worthy

• If you like this, you might also like: Warped Maestro del Tiempo, Illusione Epernay, Black Label Trading Co. Royalty.

What We Do Here

The beauty of cigars isn’t just in the smoke...it’s in the ritual, the memory, the lore. Each review starts with the basics: how it smokes, how it tastes, whether it’s worth lighting up again or buying a box. Then, for those chasing the full story, we peel back the layers, deeper notes, subtleties, and the craft behind the leaf. At the end, we leave you with a little folklore to match the mood. Because around here, the smoke always carries a story.

Casual Take

This little cigar packs a lot of flavor. Right away you get something like sweet bread and cinnamon, with creamy smoke and an easy draw. It’s smooth the whole way through, with a little bit of spice and wood to keep things interesting. Great for a short, relaxing smoke when you don’t want anything too bold but still want a good experience.

Deep Burn

The Blood Medicine Limited 2024 opens with a welcome complexity. You’re greeted by a soft burst of cinnamon bread and warm graham cracker sweetness, paired with subtle wood and earth undertones that keep the flavor grounded. The draw is excellent, and the cigar wastes no time building character. That creamy nuttiness shows up early and lingers between puffs, layered with just enough black pepper on the retrohale to keep things interesting.

As the smoke progresses, the transitions aren’t drastic, but the balance is what really shines. Flavors shift gently from spiced pastry to soft oak, and then to something more savory with a malty finish and a flash of mineral earth. The performance is rock solid, with an even burn and smoke output that surprises me. This one holds your attention from start to finish.

The Heart of the Leaf

Blood Medicine feels like it was blended with intention. It’s not trying to overwhelm, show off, or "prove itself." It’s controlled. Quiet. But there’s richness and character in every puff. This is one of those smokes that overdelivers and leaves you thinking about it long after it’s done. With its balance of sweet and savory, spice and cream, it earns its place among the best milder habano blends I’ve had. It lands as a solid 8.75 on my scale, Tale Worthy, if you can find them!

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The Lore

Blood Medicine doesn’t just carry a name. It carries a memory. On the corner of Broadway and 4th in downtown Nashville stands an old brick building. If you look close enough, faded across its upper story, you’ll still see the words Blood Medicine painted like a ghost. Built in 1872 as a pharmacy, the building would change hands and purpose over the next hundred years. It became a hotel in 1892. A restaurant by 1988. But between those chapters it saw its share of secrets. Whispers of brothels, backroom casinos, and Civil War spirits still pacing the halls.

They say legends like Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton drifted through those same corridors, their boots echoing over creaking floorboards. That the stories stuck to the walls, soaked in through the wallpaper like Tennessee smoke. This cigar pulls from that legacy. A tip of the hat to the undercurrent of mystique humming beneath Nashville’s polished surface. It’s a smoke that feels older than it is. Hints of sweet spice, bread, and earth call back to an era when medicine came in corked bottles and a hotel room might still be haunted. Blood Medicine isn’t just a blend. It’s a building. A story. A place where memory lingers and the walls still whisper.

The cigars in this review were purchased by me