Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed / Country: Ecuador
Binder: Dominican / Country: Dominican Republic
Filler: Cuban-seed (no ligero) / Country: Dominican Republic
Size: Robusto (5 x 52)
Strength: Mild-Plus → Medium-Plus
Body: Medium → Medium-Plus
Price: $10 MSRP (varies by retailer)
Factory: Tabacalera La Isla, Dominican Republic
Blender: Not publicly disclosed
Release: September 2025 — Regular Production
Experience Rating: 96
Forget what I’ve said in the past about not liking Connies.
Enough great Connecticut-wrapped cigars have come through my hands lately to make that position untenable.
I love being proven wrong. It means there are more cigars worth loving than I thought. The first was the Megilla Miami. Then the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Connecticut. Those two alone were enough for me to eat my words.
Now there’s the Sovereign II, and I’m thoroughly chastised.
The other two were great expressions of the category — classic bright notes, medium body, everything a Connecticut is supposed to deliver. The Sovereign II is something else entirely.
It doesn’t smoke like a Connie.
While it retains the traits of a Connecticut wrapper, the profile took me somewhere I’ve never been with this type of cigar. From the outset, its message was clear.
Forget what you think you know about Connies.
I’ve got to hand it to Cayman. They know how to create a sense of understated elegance. The Sovereign II is gorgeous. The wrapper aroma surprises me: hay, barnyard, leather, and soy sauce? I actually checked my hands. But it was there on the wrapper. The foot has more barnyard, a floral sweetness, and fresh-baked bread.
Lighting it up makes me raise my eyebrows in disbelief. I don’t get the regular Connie start. The opening profile has a Cuban twang and reminds me of lighting up a Cohiba Siglo VI. I smoked four of those last weekend, so the memory is fresh.
It’s brief, but it’s unmistakable. I get a hit of light espresso, followed by soy sauce umami, cedar, roasted nuts, and a dry minerality. Strength is mild-plus, and the body is medium.
Not the start I was expecting.
As the cigar settles in, a featherlight spice enters and immediately goes ambient. The smoke shifts into a luxurious and thick cream. The espresso lightens to black coffee and moves to the base of the profile, establishing itself as the foundation. Roasted nuts, marzipan, sweet bread, and cedar glide into the profile, suspended above the coffee. Spice ticks up in intensity and moves to the top of my palate, while strength is edging towards medium.
With most Connies I’ve smoked, there’s a familiar twinge of bitterness on the finish. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s almost always there. Not here. The Sovereign II is smooth in a way that made me stop and ask why. And then it hit me. That slight bitterness could be due to a flavor contrast between the wrapper and the fillers. But with this cigar, all the components feel like they’re working in concert. Instead of contrast, there’s cohesion.
Also, unlike many mild Dominican cigars, the Sovereign II’s profile doesn’t wander. It may not be as complex, but the focus and structure inherent in this cigar give it direction. I feel like it’s moving, not frenetically, but at a nice, comfortable pace.
And though I don’t talk about it often, I can’t help but share how well-constructed the cigar is. I haven’t had to make any corrections, and the ash is impressive.
Halfway into the cigar, the profile takes a slightly bright turn with lemon custard, toasted hazelnut, and sourdough making an appearance. They join the other flavors suspended above the coffee foundation, which have been leisurely cycling the entire smoke. Nicotine picks up slightly, letting me know it’s there.
At this point, I can’t help but feel that this cigar has its shit together. There’s a confidence about it, as if it has nothing to prove. It’s like James Dean cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway in his roadster. There is definitely a cool factor about it.
In the home stretch, marzipan steps forward with toasted hazelnut trailing. The spice starts pulsing on my tongue. A hit of vanilla crème surfaces, along with a pronounced note of exotic, tropical wood. The cream thickens as the body edges toward medium-plus. Strength is a steady medium.
What I’m loving about this cigar is that even though it isn’t presenting a complex palette, it never stands still. There’s always something going on, as if it knows exactly where it needs to be. It’s that James Dean confidence.
In the last couple of inches, the profile takes an unexpected and amazing dark turn. Coffee darkens to espresso, and charred oak enters. Spice asserts and becomes pervasive, and the cream thickens even more. This is topped off by an uncanny, meaty umami.
And yet the profile is still smooth. Strength is still a solid medium, though the body is creeping towards full as I blow out clouds of opaque, white smoke. Nicotine has been sneakily building the entire time, and I’m feeling its effects.
As I’ve mentioned before, this is the point where many Connies lose me. They take a dark turn or intensify, creating sharp edges or collapsing into a sludge that make the cigar too harsh to enjoy.
But not so in this case.
There’s simply too much structure and discipline in the profile for it to collapse or turn aggressive. It just continues its smooth, effortless progression.
In that last inch, the cigar isn’t content to settle. Nicotine is really asserting itself now, and I begin to think that it may be time to withdraw and retire. But the profile shifts again as a pleasing nougat arrives, accompanied by an indistinct sweetness that forms in the background. These are followed by roasted peanuts in the shell and soy sauce umami.
Coffee steps forward but doesn’t darken. It’s just a little more pronounced. The retrohale is completely savory. Meanwhile, the flavors continue their easy cycling, and the finish is lifted by a dry minerality.
It’s nothing but cool.
Like James Dean.
I could smoke this cigar all the time. I tend to lean towards cigars that declare their identity right away, and this cigar isn’t short on identity. But more importantly, what really gets me about this cigar is that it seemed to be saying, “I’m going to operate from a completely different calculus than what you’re used to with Connies.” And it lived up to that.
When I picked it up at the Cayman event at West Coast Cigars, Kyle, one of the shop’s owners, gave me a knowing look and said it was a special Connie I’d love. He wasn’t wrong.
Connie or not, this is a damn good cigar.
Total smoke time: 1:20
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