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La Sirena Merlion

Factory: La Aurora S.A.
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Corojo
Binder: Brazilian Sumatra
Filler: Dominican Corojo & Criollo, Nicaraguan Ligero, and
Brazilian Bahia
Vitola: Robusto
Size: 5 inches
Ring Gauge: 50
Release Date: July 27, 2012
MSRP: $9.00/ single or $180.00/ box of 20

The La Sirena “Merlion” is a line extension of Miami Cigar and Company’s La Sirena (My Father Cigars S.A. Nicaraugua). To get a better idea about the Merlion and how it came about, I sat down with La Sirena herself, Arielle Ditkowich.

“I’m very excited about the launch of the Merlion. It has been a long time in the making, but we did not want to come out with a second line until we (La Sirena) were really established. Now is the perfect time. When we were working on the blend we wanted something that was equal in flavor to the original of which Jaime (Garcia) did an incredible job blending for us, but with completely different tobacco and strength. We wanted a true medium bodied cigar. The Dominican Republic seemed like a natural choice. I could not be happier with the job the team at La Aurora did in making our vision a reality. I am so excited for everyone to try the Merlion, and I hope they like it as much as I do.”

In fact Arielle likes this blend so much, that there is talk of a special vitola being made, the Sea Lion, as her personal cigar, which will then be released as a limited production or as an event only stick.

As of now the Merlion is being released at this week’s IPCPR and should hit store shelves shortly after in the following vitolas:

Robusto (5×50)
Toro (6×50)
Gran Toro (6×58)

As stated by Arielle, La Sirena Brand Ambassador, the Merlion will be rolled at Guillermo Leon’s La Aurora factory in the Dominican Republic. The name Merlion refers to Sirena in Spanish meaning mermaid and Leon meaning lion. The mythical creature adorns the label.

Today I will be reviewing the Robusto. The Merlion sports a nice medium brown corojo wrapper with very little oils present. The wrapper is silky smooth with just a few bumps and veins detected. The cigar sits comfortably in the hand and although not heavy, it is firmly packed. The nose is very sweet and floral with raisin and a faint hint of white pepper. The raisin really comes through on the cold draw with some leather and spice on the finish.

The Merlion takes its time getting lit and starts off as a strong medium in strength with a nice firm draw and a full bodied smoke that fills the palate. There is more spice present then the cold draw led me to expect, but it is balanced out nicely with sweet tobacco flavors. The retrohale adds a creaminess to the profile with raisins and a slight nuttiness.

The burn line has been near perfect thus far and the beautiful almost white ash is still holding firm.

Now into the second third of the Merlion, the spice has subsided and the nuttiness comes to the front of the palate followed by sweet raisin flavors in the back. During the retrohale the nuttiness is more developed and is more like toasted pine nuts and hints of clove lingering on the finish. The strength is now a perfect medium and brimming with complex layers of flavor. The burn is still near perfect and the ash held on for 2 plus inches. I am really impressed with the construction.

During the final third the flavors are still evolving with cinnamon being added to the mix. There is now a sweetness that I want to say is like lychee nuts, which of course is not a nut, but the dried lychee fruit. Getting down to the nub, the flavors are more muted but there are anise flavors present that leave a nice pleasant taste on the sweet finish.

Final thoughts:

As Arielle stated, the mission of the Merlion line was to create a complex, medium strength, full flavored cigar that will appeal to smokers who find the La Sirena core line to be to strong. I think they have succeeded with flying colors. The construction was excellent with a great draw and a precise slow burn. The flavors were rich and complex and constantly evolving. You can tell the hard work that went into this blend that utilizes 6 tobaccos. If you enjoy and/or prefer medium strength cigars the Merlion should be on your radar and is definitely box worthy. Personally, I would love to see this blend in a 44- 48 ring gauge sometime in the future.

Final Smoking Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Score: 91*

* I am basing my score on the fact that this cigar was intended to be a medium bodied smoke to differentiate itself from the La Sirena core line which is much stronger. This is the same reason why I scored last weeks Ratzilla an 89. The medium-full strength of that smoke was uncharacteristic of the Liga Privada line and the blend of which I much preferred the Dirty Rat. The best analogy I can think of is comparing this philosophy to wine, another love of mine. You can have a cabernet that you may have really enjoyed but was uncharacteristic to the varietal and if you did not know what was in the glass you would have guessed it to be merlot.

Reviewed by Ian Goldbaum, follow him on twitter @MrFrancophileNY …Rate this review.