La Sirena Dubloon

The La Sirena Dubloon continues the La Sirena brand’s maritime theme basing it off the name of old Spanish coins. The Dubloon release is one of four limited releases for the brand and in addition there are five regular production sizes.

• La Sirena Prince (5 x 50) — 2010 — Regular Production
• La Sirena Divine (5 1/2 x 52) — 2010 — Regular Production
• La Sirena Trident (7 x 50) — 2010 — Regular Production
• La Sirena Sea Sprite (5 1/2 x 42) — 2010 — Regular Production
• La Sirena King Poseidon (6 x 60) — 2010 — Regular Production
• La Sirena A (9 1/4 x 48) — 2012 — 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
• La Sirena Triton (7 1/2 x 38) — 2013 — 50 Boxes of 20 Cigars (1,000 Total Cigars)
• La Sirena Triton Habano (7 1/2 x 38) — 2013 — 50 Boxes of 20 Cigars (1,000 Total Cigars)
• La Sirena Dubloon (7 1/4 x 566) — 2013 — 500 Boxes of Eight Cigars (4,000 Total Cigars)

With eight cigars per box, the Dubloon has a backstory presented in the brand’s whimsical theme. Here it is from the press release:

In a recent expedition to Lake Nicaragua, which archaeologists feel was once a large bay alongside the Pacific Ocean, a discovery was made. The dangerous mission to find treasures of the mermaid was met by sharks and other seemingly out of place aquatic animals. On the last day, in one of the deepest parts of the lake a cave was located with treasures of the mermaid.

Among these treasures was the Dubloon, a 7.25 x 56 Salomon. The name comes from the Spanish coins that surrounded this new rare size. The rarest of all Dubloons, was one that featured a distinctive 8 stamped into it.

While the cigars were announced in June, they didn’t ship until nearly November. Less than two weeks later, it was announced that La Sirena, a brand owned by Arielle and Danny Ditkowich, would no longer be distributed by Miami Cigar & Co.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Sirena Dubloon
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Habano Oscuro
• Binder: Nicaraguan Criollo 98 and Corojo 96
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Size: 7 1/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 56
• Vitola: Salomon
• MSRP: $12.00 (Boxes of 8, $96.00)
• Date Released: October 29, 2013
• Number of Cigars Released: 500 Boxes of Eight Cigars (4,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

Picking up the hefty salomon the first thing I notice about the Dubloon is of course the giant La Sirena band. Filled with nautical imagery and themes the blue, gold and red pop nicely against the dark brown wrapper. There are no soft spots and the feel of the wrapper is a bit rough with little to no oily feel to it. Wrapper aroma is quite one dimensional only having a vague barnyard note. The cold draw however is very bright with notes of leather, light cocoa and an interesting lemon-lime note in the background very reminiscent of Sprite.

Starting out the first third I get a significant bit of bitterness and black pepper – not quite what I was expecting from the cold draw earlier. After a half a dozen draws the bitterness changes into more of a sour note, which is neither unpleasant nor pleasant at this point in time. In the background behind the pepper and sour notes I’m starting to pick up some cocoa, leather and an overall earthy grit that somehow rounds out the interesting profile. Draw is a little on the loose end of things, though I’m hoping with the shape it will tighten up as the cigar progresses. Despite the looser draw I’m still getting a decent amount of smoke out of the cigar. The burn line is a little wonky coming around the bulge, but after a touch up it seems to be evening out now. Though the looser draw might hint at poor construction, the ash holds on easily over an inch with only a little flaking here and there. A couple of inches in the profile has dropped almost all of the black pepper and sour notes, leaving the cocoa, leather and earth with a slight overall sweetness.

The second third sees a spice note added to the previous cocoa and leather while the earthiness has died down to almost nothing. The burn has stayed fairly even with only a minor touch up of the Dubloon is needed. As I suspected the draw tightened up slightly, but only enough to still be on the loose end of acceptable. An interesting graham cracker note appears in the mix with the spice ramping up even further. Unfortunately as quickly as the graham cracker note appeared, it disappears.

 

The final third starts with even more spice and a return of the earlier earthy note. While no touch ups have been required, the cigar did go out even though I haven’t changed the pace of my draws. With just about two inches left the profile starts to fall apart and it just gets slightly harsh and bland. The rest of the cigar burns fine without any touch ups or relights needed, though by now all the earlier flavors are overpowered by the harshness.

Final Notes:

• La Sirena is still in business, the company is distributing cigars themselves and working on new projects.
• The main band is so large that they knew it would probably be taken off before the cigar was even lit or shortly there after. Because of that, they put a smaller band underneath it, so that when you remove the large band there’s still something branding their cigar.
   
• Early batches of the cigar shipped without the smaller bands, so if you find one without it, it’s got at least three years of age on it.
• Usually bands of this size seem ridiculous and almost comical when they cover up half of the cigar, but whether it’s the shape or the design, I actually really enjoy the look of this over sized band.
• The cold draw on the cigar was so bright and interesting that even though the profile once lit wasn’t bad, it was a momentary let down that it was so different from the cold draw.
• Out of the three samples I smoked, one had a fairly open draw, another a tight draw and the last one had a draw that was on the looser side of acceptable. While they were all smokeable, the variance was a little off putting and I would’ve liked to see a little more consistency.
• One thing they were consistent about was the burn line. They all had issues in the first inch or two that needed correcting, but after that they were all pretty good with only minor touch ups needed here and there.
• The cigars for this review were sent to halfwheel by La Sirena Cigars.
• Final smoking averaged right around two hours and 15 minutes.
• Site sponsor Atlantic Cigar does not carry Dubloon, but does carry the rest of the line.