Blood Medicine Goes Long and Skinny for a Washington Retailer

Crowned Heads keeps finding new life in one of its oldest blends. Blood Medicine debuted in 2015 as an event-only cigar, survived a trademark fight that forced a rename, and has been reincarnated several times since. The latest version is a store exclusive for Kings Cigar Club in Woodinville, Washington: a 7 x 44 lonsdale using the original 2015 recipe of Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over an Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed binder and Nicaraguan filler, rolled at Eradio Pichardo's factory in Nicaragua. Only 4,000 cigars exist, in 20-count boxes at $14.95 each, and they went on sale October 30. Store founder Vince An says the shop started with a 38-ring lancero and worked its way up to 44, hunting the point where the wrapper-filler ratio balances best. That kind of size-by-size blending homework is what separates a thoughtful exclusive from a sticker job.