Cigar Review: La Sirena

The Prince, 5" x 50 ring gauge / $10.15, Buckhead Cigars

Miami Cigar & Company brought many new cigars to market in 2010, the last of which was La Sirena, Spanish for mermaid. This was touted as their first full-bodied smoke (although I always considered the Nestor Miranda Special Selection Oscuro to be full-bodied) and was blended by Don Pepin Garcia. It uses Nicaraguan fillers (Crillo 98 and Corojo 96), Nicaraguan binders (Habano and Corojo), and a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper. I picked up a pair of these at Buckhead Cigars in Atlanta while I was there for the TweetUp in December and had intended to publish this review earlier, but...Keith beat me to it by publishing his review first, so I held off my review for a few weeks. This review is based on my second La Sirena, but I've had at least two more since then and am happy to report that they gave a very consistent experience.

Let's get it out of the way--the band on this cigar cigar is a little...shall we say...over-the-top. It is bigger than some cigars I have smoked and will make life very sad for those who only smoke down to the band. From a more serious standpoint, it absolutely does draw your attention when you see it in the humidor at your local shop so it does its job well. I also heard a rumor that there will be a re-packaging of sorts...a second band that won't come off when you take the huge band off at the beginning of your smoke. This makes sense to me, but as with all things labeled "rumor" don't be surprised if it just doesn't happen. Now for one drawback of the mega-band: there is so much gold foil stamped onto it that several of the samples I smoked had flakes of it all over the leaf...like fool's gold on a river rock. The wrapper leaf was fairly typical Broadleaf--dark, fairly oily, lots of medium-sized veins--the aroma from the leaf was earthy and I got that same basic smell on the foot. IO used my newest Xikar Xi cutter to make a surgically-straight, clean cut and was rewarded with an easy draw that had flavors of dark chocolate, earth and coffee.

Early puffs had a strong earthiness and familiar Maduro sweetness on the tongue along with a powerful pepperiness when the smoke was blown through the nose. The first third was more full-bodied that I had expected and definitely moreso than other cigars in the Miami Cigar catalog. There was a nice cocoa powder and espresso bean flavor along with a spiciness on both the finish and the retrohale. I was enjoying this a lot but could not shake the feeling that I had seen this movie before--I know it isn't the same blend, but this reminded me of one of Don Pepin's blends for Tatuaje, maybe the Reserva line.

The second third was still very earthy and got to a point of being almost like smoked meat--it was very full-bodied and oily with a very long finish. While the flavor was no longer reminding me of any specific Tat, I kept thinking that it is a blend that would have fit very well in that catalog. It was totally unlike anything Garcia has previously made for Miami Cigar.

The La Sirena ended much as it started--full-bodied and full-flavored. There was not a huge amount of change in the last third but with earthy, smoky, meaty flavors like it was producing, I did not really care that much. This was a seriously full-force cigar that experienced smokers will enjoy after a big meal and novice smokers should just stay away from. Miami Cigar and Company did a great job with this one bringing something totally new to their lineup--something Don Pepin and Tatuaje fans will enjoy immensely, I think. The only minor issue I have with it is the price...not to say they are over-priced, but the $10+ price tag will keep them from being an everyday smoke for me. I will enjoy them when I can afford them, though.

Body: 9/10

Strength: 8/10

Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale

Prelight: 1.5/2

Construction: 2/2

Flavor: 4.5/5

Value: 1/1

Total: 9/10

P.S. One of the nice things about having had to back off from posting this review for a few weeks is that I was able to sample the "Sea Sprite" vitola before this published. The Sea Sprite is a Corona by any other name; I did not have time to put together a full review, but I will say that I like it better than the robusto...and I liked the robusto quite a bit. I may have to revisit this size a few months from now as either another full review or a Cigar Extra some Saturday.

Agree, disagree or just need to shout? Leave a comment below!