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Interview: Who is the man behind Crowned head cigars? Find out more about Jon Huber and his way to success!

Sometimes it feels like out of all the brands in the world, we are met with an almost unrealistically perfect image of cigars, edited to the point that they look like they came from the future, they fly through the air, are perfectly placed on a plate of coffee beans and we hear the creators talk about them less and less (except at trade shows and events). It feels like 70% is image editing, 20% cigars and 10% personality.

I was swiping on Instagram one day and out of nowhere a man with a cap, cigar appears and wishes everyone a wonderful day. Almost no pictures on the account, no edited photos of cigars, but videos taken with a mobile camera. Videos taken in the warehouse, videos taken from walks and above all videos taken with a new cap every time. Even though everything was taken with a mobile, there was a depth, an earthy feeling, a raw but calming honesty behind the words that were said. My curiosity wanted to know more so I started following the account. It was none other than Jon Huber and the crowned heads account. In my part of the world, the crowned heads don’t exist, so at that time I knew nothing about crowned heads cigars and even less who Jon Huber was. Time passed and as usual I checked Instagram at nightfall and every time I was glued to his videos. I felt I had to know more about Jon Huber. I sent an email about an interview in April 2025 and our times coincided until the beginning of November.

I can say this, I felt incredibly stupid when the interview started and I realized who Jon Huber really is. Jon Huber is not only the man behind The crowned heads, but also for those of you who don’t know the name, he is one of the reasons why we in Europe know the CAO brand.

Jon has an incredibly rich history in the cigar world, but what I find most interesting about his journey is that he wasn’t born into the cigar world since childhood. His name and knowledge is something he has worked hard for and sits in his back like the very backbone itself. A story that shows that dreams can come true.

This is the story of Jon Huber and the Crowned heads.

Jon Huber was born in 1964, grew up in San Francisco and moved to LA at the age of 17 to attend college where he studied to become a fitness instructor and personal trainer. He worked in the fitness world and in his mind there was a constant belief that money would bring him happiness and the thoughts were constant which job would give his wallet the most lift. One day a photographer named Jasper Johal came to the gym to take pictures for the sports club. During their conversation, a question came from Jasper. Is this what you want to do for the rest of your life?

“I want to become a broker, work with real estate, something that will give me a lot of money”

During this conversation, Jon learned one of the most important lessons of his life. Lessons I want many people in the world to learn. The lesson Jon learned was

“Listen, when you stop chasing money and start chasing your heart, that’s when you’ll find happiness. When you find what you love to do, you’ll probably do it so much and put in so much energy that you’ll become proficient at it, that’s when the money will come. Don’t chase the money, chase your heart.”

This is a lesson and thoughts I wish more people in the world would follow. Today it feels like even though it is not wrong that people only work for money and not with what makes them happy. You long for Friday to be free over the weekend and are anxious on a Sunday because Monday follows. I have never understood that part. I want to give you food for thought with this lesson. Your week consists of 7 days, is it worth it if 6 days are bad, get you down and almost give you anxiety and only one day fills you with relaxation and happiness?

From fitness to cigars

After 10 years in the fitness world and with thoughts of a better financial life, Jon’s life took a turn and he felt burned out. He resigned, packed his bags and knowing that he would be unemployed, Jon moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

“I didn’t have a job, I tried to get one and finally got one through a Temp agency as a desk clerk where I marketed diesel fuel, the company bought in hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel, rebranded them and sold them to truck stops. I was useless at my job but for some reason they continued to promote me during the 8 month period I worked for them. I hated the job, but that was the job I had before the CAO”

When I asked Jon when he began his journey in the world of cigars, he laughed and said with a twinkle in his voice.

“You were probably in second grade at that time, April 15, 1996”

He wasn’t far off.

My kids almost see me as a dinosaur, an old man running around the house with a dark beard with grey details almost like a badger and a Macdonnald-like hairline. After Jon’s comment, it felt like I was once young, like I was in my early 20s. I have to say it was an incredibly uplifting feeling to feel young again. (Thanks Jon).

There were two things in life that attracted Jon. One was wine and the other was cigars. What attracted him the most was the agriculture behind both of them. How everything grew, fermentation, the whole process you could say. At the time when Jon started his career, technology was not as developed as it is today. Today we throw ourselves into Google, look for work and find information within seconds. What was available were magazines. The year was 1996. Jon picked up a copy of Cigar Aficionado and started going through the ads. You have to start somewhere, he knew, and sent out letter after letter. One was to the magazine itself where he offered to be their correspondent. The last ad in the Cigar Aficionado magazin, CAO international candle drive Nashville Tennessee (the company was just started at the time and was run almost entirely from home), Jon called the company and sent in a letter. 4 months passed without any answer and out of nowhere the phone rang, it was Cano Ozgener, the owner of CAO. He went to two interviews and the only job available was Shipping Manager which Jon happily took. This was the start of Jon’s career in cigars and one of the reasons we in Europe today know about CAO and have heard of The Crowned heads.

“We used to go from the office to Jon’s house, load the cigars on a truck and ship them off. Jon would always tell stories about how I was the worst shipping manager ever. I was only there for 5 months before I got fired. When I was working as a shipping manager, I heard on a local radio station how they were giving away two tickets to a boxing match and a box of cigars. When I heard the radio, I got an idea, called the radio station and pitched myself to be their cigar guy. Once a week for a month at 7:30, I was their cigar guy. I recorded my episodes, gave the tape to Jon. Jon came to his senses from the recording, asked who the guy on the radio was. When I told him it was me, I was promoted to director of promotions and public relations. After that I became head of marketing. When CAO was sold, Mike Condor asked me if I wanted to start my own label with him. It was pretty much a given for me and the only “My requirement was that we should make an aspirational brand”

I have to add one thing here. What Jon did at that time is something many do not dare. He invested in his dream and took chances instead of the safe path. He no longer sought money, but followed his heart. He let his imagination and innovative thinking lead him to where he is today. You should never underestimate a person’s will, imagination and innovative thinking.

The cigar world is quite hectic, very meat and great. You see events after events and almost start to think that the owners have no time for anything else but traveling around. You who have a family, how do you manage to make it all work together?

“Although it sounds simple, it’s quite difficult sometimes. I have a strong value system, priorities and structure from 1 to 4. I am a strong believer, I put God first, then my wife, my family and lastly my business. I make all my decisions according to my priorities. If a business opportunity presents itself that somehow doesn’t align with my first 3 values, I take it. It’s hard because I miss out on a lot, especially travel which I adore. I sacrifice a lot, but to be honest with you, I think family is more important. My business allows me to provide for my family, but family is more important to me. It’s very typical of me to say no to things in order to spend time at home with my family. There are a lot of opportunities for me here in the States, there are many people who want me to come and do meet and greets in the stores, I would rather spend time with my wife and children. When I’m on my deathbed, I will never think, I wish I had been to the store event. I want spend my time where it matters most. Family life is not always easy, sometimes we fight and sometimes the home is sometimes chaotic, but it is a blessing. It would have been difficult to get family life together if I traveled and lived like the classic cigar owner, but I am not that typical guy. My wife said right from the beginning when we started the company, we had only been dating for a year and were getting married – I want a husband and not someone who is away all the time. I promised her that I would not do any store events, I would not travel, it would be different from how I lived, because at that time I traveled a lot for work. I gave her that promise and I never backed down. In the beginning I got a lot of crap from the stores around here, they said I would never succeed without the store events, that I would be a failure. I just said okay, you will see and here we are”

This part I would probably say defines the image I have of Jon. Here I would like to say that these parts summarize some of the most important aspects in life, parts that are deeply rooted within me and my life style and personal view. If you are going to take something from this article, it is this part and carry it with you in your personal life to have a better quality of life. I don’t care if you read on or not after this part, as long as you take with you the lessons from Jon’s story. You will have a happier life in the long run.

Today it feels like many people lack values ​​in their lives, values ​​that define who you really are and are passionate about. It’s about priorities and creating a safe and loving life. Today the divorce rate is around 68% because we have become too ego-centered and only think about our own needs and careers, instead of thinking about our marriage as one us. We refuse to make “sacrifices” in fear that we will never reach our personal goals and ignore the person standing next to us. It is no wonder then that so many marriages break up and families are lost. Today, the view of others about us also has a great influence on how we act and see ourselves. When we take on too much of other people’s views of us, we become no better than those people who judge. We are too stuck in the way things have always been instead of finding our own ways and all too often give up on dreams when the old, honorable way cannot be carried out. Jon started The Crowned heads with a promise to his then-future wife to never do a lot of events and be away from her side, a promise that meant he heard words of failure from people around him, words that he would never succeed. Instead of letting the words sink in and affect his dream, he chose to find his own way to his goal. A way that was and probably still is seen as controversial compared to how it usually is in the industry. But a way that meant he never gave up on his dream and his promise to his wife. Do you know what is most interesting, he has more followers and is bigger than many other brands than those who just go from store event to store event to generate sales. He did not see sacrifice as a problem, but a way to find another way to reach the goal he wanted. In short, marriage requires sacrifice, sacrifice that is usually given back in the form of love, family and security. Judgmental words should never let you get down and lose hope, it’s just about you needing to find a different path than what you thought. If you never give up on your values, then you never give up on who you are and what you stand for in your soul. I want to give you some questions I want you to ask yourself. What are your values? What are your priorities? Do you work for money or for your passion? If your dream can’t be achieved the old way that’s always been done in your industry, what other paths can you take?

I would like to take this opportunity to mention, this thing about values ​​and sacrifices gives value to The Crowned heads. A strong personality and meaning that says you never have to compromise on your values, your family or your dreams. A down-to-earth feeling.

“Today, people show the perfect image of cigars and talk about buying this or that cigar and never show their true selves. I prefer to show my true self, some will like it and some won’t. But that’s who I am and that’s who I want people to remember me as.”

I have to say that sometimes it really feels like many people show off a kind of perfectly staged image and many times you miss the down-to-earth feeling, the feeling that shows who you really are. In my eyes, that makes it lose value. Cigars are such a detailed craft with a long process that they deserve their own personality. Otherwise it becomes a bit like smoking a machine-rolled cigar from the grocery store. Think, from seed to it being in the store’s humidor, it can take several years. A craft that deserves to have personality and not just a store location.

If you follow Jon and the Crowned heads on social media, you’ve probably wondered if they’re a cigar brand or if they’re into cap design. It’s rare that a long time goes by without hearing about a new cap or a giveaway. What’s the deal with your caps? Sometimes you see more of your caps than you do of your cigars.

“Since I was a kid I’ve always been a fan of caps, I used to collect them as a kid. My mom used to buy me one every week if I behaved at school. For me they’ve always been a way to vent my creativity, it’s also led me to collaborate with companies like New Era and Ebbets Field Flannels.. A bit like a dream come true. I literally have a binder that’s about 4 inches thick with unique designs and I never release the same design more than once. Sometimes we joke and say that we’re a hat company that sells cigars. I know a lot of people who don’t smoke cigars but use our merch. It really goes hand in hand with what I envisioned for The Crowned heads, that we would be an aspirational brand”

You are often heard saying – Keep smoking the Crowned heads cigars, keep smoking the Oz man family cigars. What is the connection between you and The Oz man family cigars?

“The connection goes back to 96 when I started in the industry, the Ozgener family were the owners of CAO. Cano Ozgener gave me my first job at CAO. CAO was bought by Henry Wintermans and then sold to STG. After a few years Jon’s son Tim wanted to get back into the industry. We took on Ozmans cigars as distributors and today they are part of Crowned Heads. I have known Tim for about 27 years”

Are you the sole owner of The Crowned heads?

“No, Mike Condor and I started the company and when Mike retired, Tim bought out his share. Today, Tim and I are the exclusive owners.”

Is anyone in your family involved in the company or interested in it? As a father, you often want to see one of your children take over your creation.

“My son is not particularly interested in my work, but my daughter often asks if she can come to the office, if she can design a cap or a cigar band. But I usually tell them, – – the most important thing is that you do what you came here to do”

“Then they look at me and wonder what I mean.”

“Your life’s journey is to find out what calls you inside. Once you know that and what you are passionate about, then everything else becomes easy. You should not chase money, you should chase what you love to do, then the money will come to you.”

You can see how strong an impression Jasper had made that day at the gym many years earlier. Words of wisdom Jon passed on to his children. You could say that day Jasper started a legacy of wisdom that would become part of the Huber family’s legacy. Words that are so strong that they are still passed on within the family and that I strongly wish more parents in the world would follow. Don’t teach your children to chase money and wealth, teach them to chase their passion and what they love to do. That’s when they will find their true happiness in life and can come to peace with themselves.

I want to quote both Jon Huber and Jasper Johal’s words

“don’t chase money, chase your heart”

How do you follow your dreams?

“The only thing stopping a person is themselves, their fear of failure, their fear of the unknown. No one will stop you from following your dream. You have one life, one chance. The worst thing that can happen to you in life is to look back and regret that you never took the chances you wanted, how would my life have been different if I had dared. To look back and wonder what your life would have been like. I would rather take a chance and fail than not take a chance and not know if I had. If you don’t ask you will never get, if you don’t try, you don’t know. Most people are holding back from their dreams because of fear, fear is something we create in our minds. It shouldn’t hold us back. The only thing that happens when we fail is that we get one step closer to our goal, we learn something new.”

There is a lot we can learn from Jon in cigars, but I would probably say that the most important thing about The Crown heads and Jon that we can take from is his view on life. Jon never compromises who he is and his values ​​for the sake of money, the money comes from his passion and innovative thinking. His way of working is not the classic way that we see today in the market, but he created his own way. You can see that his word is his law, he never backed down on his promise to his wife. You feel that he has a strong integrity when you talk to him. If I were to summarize my feeling for The Crowned heads, what they convey is a down-to-earth feeling where dreams are in focus and everything in life is possible to achieve.

Want to know more about the Crowned heads and Jon Huber? Maybe see when he releases new caps? You can find him on instagram under the name: Crowned heads.

I don’t know how to thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom. Crowned heads is not a cigar brand (and cap brand), your words and way of thinking are inspiring and instructive for many in different stages of life, especially young people who have not learned to chase happiness. I want to quote your words as many times before, they will follow me and I hope follow many who read them.

Words of wisedom. Jon Huber – “When you stop chasing money and start chasing your heart, that’s when you’ll find happiness”

If this post answered one question, there are dozens more worth exploring. Over the years on VDG Cigars, every major topic in the premium cigar world has been covered — beginner guides, storage, palate training, troubleshooting, pairing, brand deep-dives, and original interviews with founders. It is all collected in one place: The Complete Cigar Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Premium Cigars.

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