It’s been a few months since I’ve written one of these Crowned Heads ‘blogs,’ and almost 2 years to the day from when I wrote my first on January 19, 2011 (“Back In the Studio”).

A lot has happened over the last 2 years for us here at Crowned Heads. Since we had an ‘official announcement’ to make today, I thought I would pause–light up a Four Kicks Mule Kick LE 2012–and reflect back for a moment; so indulge me.

When Mike and I began this journey, we laid down a philosophy that would carry over into every facet of our business. We were (and will continue to be) influenced by a period in time where quality, pride, and integrity really mattered. We didn’t want to build a bigger or better ‘machine,’ but rather, we wanted to build /our/ machine. We didn’t want to follow the ‘rules’–we wanted to make our /own/ rules. In doing so, we managed to go from near obscurity to national distribution. We went from ‘who?’ to being one of Cigar Aficionado magazine’s “Top 25 Cigars of 2012.” We did this with virtually zero advertising and no outside sales support. We achieved this by the grace of God, the support of our families, and with the outpouring of support from each and everyone of you reading this. Thank you.

We knew from the beginning that there would come a day where we would need to expand our modest ‘Crowned Heads Family’ (which is currently 6 strong–when you factor in our beloved spouses). We also knew that when that time came, we would need to do some real searching and careful consideration to find the right individual who would ‘fit‘ in with our family.

So, this brings us to our announcement. When we thought about how we would disseminate this message, we knew that the typical ‘industry-corporate-cold-press-release‘ would not be our method of choice. This announcement comes more from the heart than the keyboard. A lot of thought went into our decision to bring someone new into our circle. And then we spent time getting to know this individual to get a ‘feel‘ for their character and how they might fit into our current mix of ‘characters.‘

Today, we could not be more pleased to announce the addition of Wes Thornton, C.M.T. (he tells us it stands for “Certified Master Tobacconist”) to the Crowned Heads Family. Effective February 18, Wes will be coming on board to be our liaison between our headquarters and our retail partners. He will be more than a ‘rep’–he will be a true ambassador of the Crowned Heads portfolio of cigars, and a living extension to our company.

We first met Wes over a year ago when he visited our headquarters to share a cigar. At that time, he was managing the downtown location of Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga, TN. I remember that Wes was quiet and reserved–but he expressed a self-assuredness, and a true love for the product. As we got to know Wes more, we found in him some of the same traits that Mike and I shared, which compelled us to launch this company. He had a passion for cigars, he felt a kinship to the camaraderie that is felt within the cigar community, and he was in this industry because he wanted to–not because he had to.

When I asked Wes to shoot over a short ‘bio‘ for his official announcement, he included all the “percentage increases” he’d been a part of while at Burns Tobacconist, all the achievements he’d accomplished during and prior to the industry, years of employment, previous employers, G.P.A. (kidding on that one), etc. But the one sentence he wrote that stood out to me was this: “A cigar is great, but it’s so much more when shared with new and old friends over conversation.” We believe that Wes ‘gets it.’ He feels this industry in his bones, he embraces the Crowned Heads philosophy, and he will represent Crowned Heads going forward in a manner that we–and you–will respect, admire, and be proud of.

Take a moment and extend your well wishes to Wes Thornton–the newest member of the Crowned Heads Family. You can reach him at Wes@CrownedHeads.com.

Until next time…thank you for your continued interest and support, and smoke something good!

Jon Huber
Crowned Heads