Crowned Heads debuted The Mason Dixon Project shortly after the IPCPR in 2014, along with a host of other limited, regional releases. Like most of their lines, it is well-branded and limited in production. There are two cigars in this release, the North and the South, with retailers in the northern half of the US receiving the Northern Edition and vice versa. Though, many shops have traded supplies and are now carrying both cigars. For this unique release, the cigars feature different blends, with the Northern using a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper and the Southern being finished with a natural, Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper (as well as slightly tweaked fillers and binders).
This review will be focused on the Southern Edition cigar – for a full comparison, see our review of The Mason Dixon Project: Northern Edition LE 2014.
Mason Dixon South Breakdown
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
- Binder: Nicaraguan
- Filler: Nicaraguan
- Factory: My Father Cigars S.A. (Nicaragua)
- Production: Limited to 1,250 Boxes of 20
- Vitola: 6″ x 52 Toro
- Price: $ 9.85
The South is a gorgeous piece of tobacco art. It sports a sleek exterior that is perfectly wrapped with barely visible veins and nearly invisible seams – the South has all the buttercream of a luxury sports car interior. On the nose, the wrapper is sweet and earthy – I also get some notes of cedar, caramel, and nutmeg.
My first impression after lighting is a kind of honey molasses sweetness that meets a charcoal smokiness – I think this would pair well with a dry martini… After the initial jolt of flavor, South smoothens out a bit. There is still that smoky charcoal and the nutmeg I sensed initially. I will say, so far it is a perfect burn, literally perfect, and the ash is holding strong.
The transition is a lovely one; there is a gentle citrus that appears on the front of the palate and some earthy undertones on the retrohale. The smoke is abundant and complex and the construction is as good as it gets.
The home stretch lacks some of the dynamic character I had experienced thus far. I taste some hay, but that wonderful complexity and smooth flavor has fallen off a bit. Though a bit muted, the final third still has great construction, perfect burn and a fantastic draw.
Would I smoke this again?
I would smoke it right now if possible…
Short Link:
- Exceptional flavor, smooth dreamy and consistent
- Well-branded and matches the area it represented
- Good price point
- The last third didn’t totally match up with the extremely high bar that was set in the beginning. This is kind of nit picky at best, it's hard to say anything bad about the Southern Edition.
