La Sirena Oceano Cigar Review

A few months back one of my good friends stopped by the Stogie Press lounge and asked if I ever tried a La Sirena cigar. Being the honest guy that I am, I stated I did not. He recently picked the line up as an independent  rep and was quite excited about so we sat down and fired one up and I was impressed with the character of it.

He left me some samples to try, which I have had in my humidor for a few months. So now that the craziness of the holidays has past, I decided it was time take one out and do a proper review.

A cold front moved into Florida this week and the weather has cooled down nicely. It is, what I consider, near perfect cigar smoking weather – 68 degrees with a slight breeze blowing into the lounge.  In fact, I even lit up the fireplace in our new home.

Yea, we get to do that a few days out of the year here in Florida.

So with the fire burning I let my family enjoy it and retired to the lounge to enjoy a La Sirena Oceano. This little 5×43 beauty is known as the Southern Corona. It is one of 4 regular production vitolas for this blend. The complete lineup is named after different oceans and includes:

• Indian Robusto (5.5 x 50)
• Atlantic Belicoso (7 x 52)
• Pacific Grand Toro (6 x 65)
• Southern Corona (5 x 43)
• Arctic Perfect0 (4.75 x 38/58/44) Limited Production 

A quick Google search informs me that the La Sirena Oceano blend is:

• Wrapper: Dominican Habano Vuelta Arriba
• Binder: Dominican Criollo
• Filler: Dominican Criollo Visos and Ligeros and Nicaraguan Viso

Examining the Southern Corona, I first noted the rugged looking dark brown wrapper and the beautiful band. Arielle Ditkowich the owner of La Sirena Cigars has a penchant for colorful and artsy bands. This particular band is sea blue and gold with a picturesque scene of mermaid sitting on the rocks overlooking the crystal blue sea. The mermaid is the logo for La Sirena Cigars. The word Oceano is imprinted in gold in the center followed below by the words “by La Sirena” in red.

Running the barrel along the nose I pick up a fermented tobacco and the foot lets off an earthy aroma. I carefully slice the cap and take a few cold draws on it and detect a slight musty flavor which goes along with the fermented tobacco and earth aromas.

As I fire it up and there is a decent amount of pepper on first few puffs until things settle down after a 1/4 inch of burn and the true character starts to show. Cocoa Powder, butter, and cream I guess that is close to milk chocolate right?

The Oceano Southern Corona will not win me any ash contest as the medium grey ash fell quickly and was a bit flaky. This is a not a detriment to the cigar especially considering the small ring gauge.

Getting into the second third I am picking up burnt toast and jam. My grandfather used to eat that for breakfast, he said it was good for the digestion. He lived a long life so maybe he was right, but then George Burns lived to a 100 and smoked cigars every day.

An added character of cedar enters to add to the complexity and the tip of my tongue picks ups sweetness off the tobacco leaf in the head. while the cocoa builds a little adding additional dimension to the profile.

As it gets close the end of the second third there is a developing wave and  a cinnamon spice aroma is developing.

The final third brought an increase in spice and pepper.

Overall the La Sirena Oceano Southern Corona was a delightful medium strength cigar with a good depth of character and complexity. I will have to pick up some of the larger vitolas on this to compare to. Overall smoking time was just shy of an hour.