The La Sirena brand has been on the market for ten years, and like all established cigar brands, they had reason to celebrate. As part of the 10-year celebration, the company released an anniversary edition cigar known known as the La Sirena Aniversario Especial. The company actually went one step further and decided to partner with a new factory to produce the cigar. The factory chosen was Nueva Matacapan de Tabacos S.A. de C.V. in San Andrés, Mexico.
The La Sirena Aniversario Especial is an extremely limited cigar with just one hundred,10-count boxes hitting the market, but when I spoke to the company at the Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE) event in January of this year, they noted they may be adding additional boxes to the market.
The blend for this celebratory cigar is described as:
- Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés Negro)
- Binder: Mexico (Criollo 98)
- Filler: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Mexico & Nicaragua
The La Sirena Aniversario Especial is expressed in a single 5.75 x 54 Robusto Extra vitola and as noted they come packaged in 10-count boxes with an MSRP of $19.00/cigar.
I received one of these special cigars from the company at TPE 2020 for the purpose of reviewing on Stogie Press. It has been resting in my humidor now for 4 months.
Pre-Light Examination
The La Sirena Aniversario Especial sports a dark brown and marbled wrapper that has a fine gritty tooth to the touch. It is a solidly packed soft-boxed press vitola and is finished with a well applied triple cap.
A single band adorns the cigar that uses a light blue sea background that has a black silhouette of a mermaid across it. The company name “LA Sirena” is printed across the top and the phrase “ANIVERSARIO ESPECIAL” is printed across the bottom. The golden initials of Arielle Ditkowich, the owner of the brand, are printed in gold on the mermaids tail.
As I ran the cigar across the nose, I picked up a mild floral note off the barrel and bright fresh citrus note off the foot.
I used my double blade cutter to slice, the well applied, triple cap straight across the second line and proceeded to take some cold puffs that were spot on with restriction and offered notes of light pepper and additional floral.
My triple flame torch did the trick, to warm the foot nicely, as I drew in the first puffs of citrus and pepper to start the journey. Follow along as I burn this one to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- First puffs offered a decent mix of light citrus and pepper
- Thick creamy smoke
- Light Grey ash forms on a thin jagged char line
- Hint of cocoa rests in the background
- Spice and toasted caramel with a maple syrup aroma deep in the first third
- Once the ash fell, it revealed slightly off centered and flat burn cone
- Almond notes joined the profile
- Slight off burn develops that requires a touch up
- Spice moves in – deep in the second third with bright citrus finish
- Continued almond and spice lingers down to the nub
- Medium in Strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 35 minutes
Overall, the La Sirena Aniversario Especial offered a pleasant array of flavors and aromas that were well balanced and enticing through the journey. The burn however left me thinking about the price to value on this cigar. It had a wavy burn and eventually an off burn that required a touch-up and when the ash fell it revealed an off centered burn cone. With a price point of $19.00/cigar I expect a pristine burn and this just did not offer that. Unfortunately this is not a cigar I would recommend buying for the price. I rate this an 87.
Point Deductions: (-1) Wavy Burn; (-1) Off Burn; (-1) Requires a Touch Up; (-1) Off Centered Burn Cone; (-1) Flat Burn Cone; (-2) Not Priced for Experience
