Vitola: Corona- 5.625” x 46 ring gauge
- Price $11.35
- Purchased from Maxamar Ultimate Cigar
Background
Yesterday (in real time…actually a couple days ago in “blog days”) I fired up the Dapper Siempre Sungrown Corona and was very pleased with the result. As a slight review, the Siempre Sungrown is a national release available in 4 vitolas and using an Ecuadorian Sumatra Sungrown wrapper over a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Honduras. Today I turn my attention to the Siempre Rosado, an exclusive of Small Batch Cigar (and their B&M store, Maxamar Ultimate Cigar in Orange, CA).
The Siempre Rosado is available only in the Corona size, which is a favorite of the folks at Small Batch…they’ve had several store exclusives in either Corona or Corona Gorda or some similar size. The wrapper is a “dark Ecuadorian Habano Rosado.” Binder is a Nicaraguan leaf from Jalapa. The fillers are from the U.S.A. (both Connecticut Broadleaf and something undisclosed) and Nicaragua (more Jalapa as well as more undisclosed).
Siempre Rosado made its debut in August 2020, so what I got was most likely from the first batch made. I bought one when I was in California in September/October and brought it home for this review, which is based on just one stick (although if I like it, I know where I can get more).
Prelight
Everything I said about the Siempre Sungrown packaging applies to the Siempre Rosado packaging…the colors have been changed and it’s still very attractive, but still has the same things I tend to dislike about boutique brands…they try to be too clever and stylish by at least half. Ultimately I think it hurts the brand because only the “in crowd” know what a cigar is by looking at it and breaking into the “in crowd” proves hard to do.
Before researching for this review, I was calling this the Siempre Maduro because the wrapper leaf is dark enough to be one…and because it was so much darker than the Sungrown version of the cigar. And, well, it actually may not be darker than the regular version…I do wish I had thought to take them out and photograph them side-by-side. The Sungrown is pretty dark, but the white and black (and gold foil) band on this one just makes you think it’s darker for some reason. It was a very nice milk-to-dark chocolate brown color with little mottling, but a decent amount of veining in evidence. The wrapper leaf had an oily touch and smelled of cedar and hay, while I picked up sweeter cocoa powder and earth notes from the foot.
Once clipped, I got a good draw that tasted of cocoa powder, earth, and dark fruit.
Flavor
I fired up the Siempre Rosado and got dark chocolate semi-sweetness right from the beginning, along with espresso bean and touches of black pepper and cedar. The finish was even sweeter than the smoke at the front end, almost a cherry note. The retrohale had cedar, cocoa powder, and a stronger pepper burn.
As I burned into the second third, I noted that earthiness was the predominant flavor now with unsweetened cocoa powder and espresso bean notes backing that up. The sweetness that had been so appealing in the first third had diminished by a lot and the pepper had just held on steady.
Coffee notes took first place in the last third, with earth relegated to second-fiddle just ahead of cocoa powder. The pepper on the palate had just about died out completely and there was not a whole lot left on the nose, either, where I got notes of tea.
Construction
Very good draw, even burn line, and solid ash.
Value
The price tag is almost identical to the Sungrown version and the cigar is very good, so full point on value.
Conclusions
I enjoyed the Dapper Siempre Rosado, but didn’t find it as enjoyable as the Sungrown version. It was more in the straight-up full-bodied range although very short of full-strength. I got a decent amount of complexity and enjoyable flavor from it, but I didn’t feel like it ever offered anything truly different like the Sungrown did. It was basically a really nice Nicaraguan blend…and if you like Nicaraguan cigars, you’ll probably like this one.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
