Powstanie Connecticut Perfecto

I still remember walking through a Sprouts grocery store while on the phone with Mike Szczepankewicz of Cigar Hustler to talk about the new cigar brand that he and his brother, Greg, were preparing to launch. Something about a Polish flag, two blends, a lot of words I wasn’t going to try to pronounce, etc. The standout aspect was that the two blends were going to be made by Fábrica de Tabacos Nica Sueño S.A., the factory behind RoMa Craft Tobac.

That was 2015.

Somehow, between then and mid-2023, Powstanie had not released a new line. In a world where many companies have multiple new lines in a six-month period, Powstanie’s lack of new regular production lines is an extreme outlier.

As you might have picked up on, there is a new regular production line from the brothers, the Powstanie Connecticut.

Blend-wise, the Powstanie Connecticut uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper over a Pennsylvania broadleaf binder and fillers from Nicaragua. Like the other Powstanie cigars in the portfolio, it is made at Fábrica de Tabacos Nica Sueño S.A. in Nicaragua.

It’s offered in four sizes:

• Powstanie Connecticut Toro (6 x 52) — $12 (Box of 21, $252)
• Powstanie Connecticut Robusto (5 x 50) — $11.20 (Box of 21, $235.20)
• Powstanie Connecticut Perfecto (5 x 50) — $11.20 (Box of 21, $235.20)
• Powstanie Connecticut Belicoso (5 1/2 x 54) — $11.40 (Box of 21, $239.40)

The other two regular production Powstanie blends—Broadleaf and Habano—are offered in five sizes. The difference is a 5 1/2 x 46 Corona Gorda size that the company added to those two blends earlier this year. If you are wondering about a future line extension, that would be the obvious guess.

“We are thrilled to introduce the Powstanie Connecticut Blend to the market,” said Mike Szzcepankiewicz, co-owner of Powstanie, in a press release when the cigar was announced in May. “Our team has dedicated extensive time and expertise to craft a cigar that exemplifies our commitment to excellence. The Connecticut shade wrapper adds a touch of refinement to the blend, providing a smooth and delightfully bold smoking experience. We are confident that our loyal customers and new enthusiasts alike will find the Powstanie Connecticut Blend to be one of a kind as well as the best Connecticut released at this year’s show.”

• Cigar Reviewed: Powstanie Connecticut Perfecto
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Fábrica de Tabacos Nica Sueño S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Connecticut-Seed)
• Binder: U.S.A. (Pennsylvania Broadleaf)
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Short Perfecto
• MSRP: $11.20 (Box of 21, $235.20)
• Release Date: Aug. 19, 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

While I don’t have much confusion about whether this is a habano wrapper, the leaf is on the darker side of what I think of when I hear the words “Connecticut shade grown wrapper.” Given its shape and where the cigar is made, I suspect that if people wanted to compare this cigar to another product, it would be to RoMa Craft Tobac’s Intemperance ECX VIII The Faith. If the bands were removed and you needed to tell the difference, the Intemperance has an uncovered foot, but the Powstanie does not. Speaking of the bottom of the cigar, one of the three used for this review has a slightly lighter-colored foot than the rest of the cigar. That’s because the tobacco on the foot is from a piece of the wrapper that is cut and then attached, as opposed to just one piece of tobacco that is rolled from top to bottom. This is the same reason why the caps of some cigars might be slightly different colors than the rest of the cigar. Aroma from the wrapper is medium-plus, and each time, I use the word “nondescript” in my notes. Secondary scents include dry peanuts, acidity, soy sauce and stale water, but it’s pretty much a muted generic tobacco smell. The feet are medium-full with some waffle cone-like sweetness and scents that remind me of a curing barn. Depending on the cigar, secondary notes include citrus, leather, maple syrup, herbs and Elmer’s glue. Two cigars have pretty similar cold draws, with a medium-full mixture of oatmeal and apple sauce over some acidity, milky creaminess, bread and a touch of pepper. Another has nuttiness, milky creaminess, bread and a touch of cocoa.

I am unsure whether the difference in the cold draws relates to how much of the cigar I cut. I bring that up because the two cigars that received more aggressive cuts were the ones that tasted similar, while the one with the least aggressive cut was the one that tasted different. That also extends to the first puff. The first cigar has a tighter draw and lots of cedar over earthiness,  sweetness and bread. The other two cigars are both led by nuttiness, with leather, salt, oak, and crisp woods serving as accenting flavors. On those two cigars, especially the third cigar, the flavors of the first puff seem to casually join the profile one by one. Immediately after taking the photograph of the first third, the picture you see below, I cut that cigar for a second time. There was an extremely sharp tartness that had been creeping up from a secondary note to becoming close to a main flavor, something that seemed off. In addition, while NicaSueño’s cigars tend to be rolled firmer, the draw continued to get tighter. While visually, it might have been an appropriate amount to take off for a typical bellicose, it felt and tasted off. The first puff after the second cut is a revelation. Following the first puff of the second cigar, I immediately make a second cut. While it looks like a bit more than I’d recommend cutting off, the cigar is instantly much better for it. By the third cigar, I’ve figured it out: a cut that is slightly more than what I’d normally remove produces the best draw. More on all of this in the Final Notes section.

Normally, we have one paragraph per third, but this seems like too much.

While the Powstanie Connecticut Perfecto is consistently good once enough of the head has been cut, the flavor is incredibly inconsistent. Each puff seems to rearrange the flavors from the previous one, removing some flavors, adding some new ones, and keeping some others. As such, it’s really tough to come up with cohesive notes in a way that is similar to most of our reviews. I will mention the things that stood out, good and bad. Before recutting the first cigar, two consecutive puffs had a flavor that reminded me of the smell of new carpet. Furthermore, while that first inch of the first cigar had a very interesting doughy flavor, it also had a mild metallic flavor, and the profile got more and more saturated as time went on. Now that the bad stuff is out of the way, it’s time to talk about the good. At various points of the first cigar, crisp cedar, oatmeal cookie, any number of different nutty flavors, beef broth, or bread can be the standout flavor. It has a very crisp profile, sometimes with sweetness, though when it wants to get bitter, it gets bitter. The good news is the bitterness lasts only for a puff or two. The finish tends to be toastier and also shows more herbal flavors than the main flavor, one puff had an incredibly sweet mint flavor that reminded me of making mojitos. Whether retrohaling or not, the lists of flavors I pick up are pretty similar. That said, retrohales interact with a different part of my taste buds and oftentimes are crisper than the flavors in the mouth. The finish can have some watered-down vanilla, a flavor that I don’t taste until after blowing out smoke through my nose. Flavor is full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium. Outside of the tight draws—mostly remedied by a second cut on two cigars—construction is great.

While the Powstanie Connecticut Perfecto continues to deliver a different taste at nearly every puff, the second thirds of the three cigars are much more similar. Nuttiness and cereal, oftentimes a Corn Flakes-like sensation, are the dominant flavors more than anything else. Dominant in that they are oftentimes the strongest flavor(s) but also in that they are present on more puffs than any of the other flavors. Other notes that show up, in order of how present they are, include woodiness and creaminess, and then a big gap to flavors like cedar, generic pepper, burnt sugar and some sharpness. Oftentimes, the nuttiness and toastiness will pick up during the finish, but there are other puffs that taste like I recently finished a glass of milk. There’s a spice mixture, some acidity and a sweetness note that reminds me of tasting sugar that hasn’t fully been stirred into a cup or glass of tea, where the sweetness is highlighted even more because of the contrast. Retrohales vary greatly. Predictably, nuttiness, creaminess, earthiness woods and roasted flavors all show themselves, and one cigar has a unique flavor that reminds me of strawberries just before they are ripe. The finish typically draws from the same list of flavors, though some puffs are more acidic, others sweeter, many with a roasted savory undertone, though a gritty mineral flavor can also show itself. Flavor is full, body is medium-plus or medium-full and strength is medium. I find the burn rate picks up quite a bit in the second third, oftentimes catching me off guard about when the bands need to be removed. The burn line can stray a bit, but it eventually corrects itself enough that I avoid touching up any of the three cigars that are smoked for this review.

While rarely ever exactly split into thirds, cigars oftentimes have very clear transition points. Given that the flavors are changing at nearly every puff, it’s difficult to find that here. To me, the best way to mark the closing stage on this cigar is the point when I can begin to regularly taste harshness on a regular basis. It’s not every puff, but with less than an inch and a half of cigar remaining, the heat that is building as the cigar gets closer to the end begins to add some isolated harshness. By the one-inch mark, it’s very clearly there, though I don’t mind it. Like the second third before it, I think the more notable flavor change—outside of the harshness—is that the flavors that are present continue to ramp up in intensity, now quite full and very vibrant. It’s the same list, more or less: nuttiness, a milky creaminess, some sweetness and breads that remind me of a graham cracker. That extends to the finish, where the same flavors mix with leather and some straw. Like the first third, there are some savory flavors like pork and some herbal flavors, but neither flavor is present on very many puffs. I do find a mild mushroom flavor in one cigar, though it never makes my notes for the other two cigars. Each cigar needs at least one touch-up from the lighter, right around the time when the main band is removed and typically fixing part of the burn line that is no longer burning. Other than that, I’m not sure what there is to really nitpick, let alone complain about.

Final Notes

• It’s a good week for Powstanie reviews at halfwheel. Earlier, Brooks Whittington had high praise for the Powstanie Wojtek 2023. No, there will not be another Powstanie review this week.
• The Powstanie Connecticut Perfecto is a very good cigar. To me, the difference between it being very good and excellent is that the Powstanie didn’t get the combination of complexity, richness and depth to all peak at the same time. If I could take the richness of the final inch and combine it with the flavors of the second third, that’s the winning combination.
• Fortunately, once the cigar was cut enough, it was, at worst, a good cigar.

• Using calipers, I measured the two cuts I made on the second cigar, more specifically, the amount of cap that was left over. The first cut was .64 inches, the second cut was an additional .14 inches for a total of .78 inches. I would guess that the cuts on the first cigar were a bit shallower, though still more than what I would usually cut off.
• I noticed that the draw changed a lot more than on most cigars. Given that it’s a perfecto, that makes some sense. A cigar with multiple tapers should probably have different draws compared to a parejo cigar with no tapers. That said, there were more changes than on most perfectos. Perhaps the shorter length makes these changes more pronounced, but even on the third cigar, I felt like the draw was in an ideal spot at some points but slightly loose during the second half of the cigar.
• Like almost every cigar I’ve ever smoked, the Powstanie Connecticut Perfecto isn’t as good as the Davidoff Oro Blanco. But it reminded me of the Oro Blanco’s signature: every puff, the flavors changed. It makes for a very engaging experience, though a complete mess of a review.
• These cigars were launched at an event at Secreto Cigar Bar in Ferndale, Mich. Mike Szczepankewicz has told me that he likes picking one retailer to do a launch event for a new item, something that it seems to have done each time there’s a new cigar.
• On that note, Powstanie’s next launch is SBC 22, scheduled to debut at a Dec. 9 event at Smoke on the Water in Weston, Fla.
• Cigar Hustler, a retailer that advertises on halfwheel, and Powstanie are owned by the same family.
• Final smoking time was a relatively quick one and a half hours. One cigar seemed like the first half of the cigar burned quicker than the second half, though that seemed to be the reverse on the other two cigars.
• Site sponsors Cigar Hustler, Famous Smoke Shop and JR Cigar carry the Powstanie Connecticut Perfecto.