Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Powstanie San Andrés Toro is a rustic medium brown with some raised, knotty veins and fine tooth. The seams are smooth and the caps well applied. There are two bands, both in a black, metallic red and white color combination. The primary carries the brand logo, while the secondary denotes the line. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of earth and cocoa powder while the foot brings cedar, earth and some spice. The pre-light draw brings cedar, earth, cardboard and some floral notes.
Seth: The Powstanie San Andrés Toro is finished with a light maduro wrapper, and it has a fine, gritty texture throughout. It has a chocolate coloring. There are medium sized veins present throughout, and it is firm in hand. There are strong aromas of minerals, earth, tobacco and spices on the wrapper, and the foot shows similar qualities with some earth as well.
John: The Powstanie San Andrés Toro came in cellophane and had a UPC sticker with the cigar information and an integrated tear space so it remained intact when opened. I weighed the cigar at 18.3 grams. The cigar is double banded, with the P of the Powstanie as the primary band and a ‘SAN ANDRES’, thinner secondary band. Aromas from the wrapper included sweet, musty tobacco with faint wood underneath. Out of the foot, I was picking out sweet tobacco, raisin, hay and wood.
Jiunn: The Powstanie San Andrés Toro has a Colorado maduro wrapper shade. Wrapper consistency and quality is good, providing a nice oily sheen and even coloration. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas consist of soft cedar and black pepper.

Powstanie San Andrés Toro

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar, earth and lightly creamy black pepper. At a quarter inch in, a light chalkiness joins the profile. The retrohale is toasted cedar, chalky earth and lightly zingy black pepper. At an inch in, the chalkiness increases a bit and integrates with the earth. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is just ahead of the chalky earth, with black pepper in the middle of the profile. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third starts with some mineral qualities that are paired with dry earth and pepper spices. The mineral notes are not over the top, but present. The black pepper notes are fairly pronounced, and I am getting some leather, wood and tobacco as well. Very faint chocolate notes. Medium-full in strength and body.
John: The cigar comes out of the gate with creamy cocoa, baking spices, wood and some mild spices through the finish. The spices and chocolate move up to medium, almost medium-full strength through the retrohale. The spices recede back down to light-plus strength as it settles, while the chocolate note remains at medium. Through the bottom half of the first third, the profile settles down to light-plus strength with some mild earth on the finish.
Jiunn: The first third starts with a nice array of cocoa, baking spices, dried red pepper spice and cedar. The mixture of some of these flavors has a spiced hot cocoa vibe. Retrohaling accentuates the spiced hot cocoa. The finish is surprisingly clean for Mexican San Andres, with lingering soft cedar. Strength and body is medium.

Powstanie San Andrés Toro

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the chalky earth becomes even with the toasted cedar up front. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, chalky earth and mild black pepper. At an inch and a quarter, the toast level picks up a bit and some wood bitterness joins the profile. As the third comes to a close, the cedar is now heavily toasted and is even up front with the chalky earth. The black pepper is in the middle of the profile with some wood bitterness in the background. The strength remains at medium.
Seth: The second third continues to deliver those dry earth and pepper notes. Leather, wood and tobacco are present, and the mineral notes are present as well. They are more pronounced in this third, and there is a long pepper finish. Medium-full in strength and body.
John: The second third opens with creamy chocolate, light spices and wood in the center. As the second third settles in, through the retrohale I get a medium strength sweet tobacco with medium to-medium-full baking spices as spices and earth team up on the finish. The profile remains consistent to the halfway point, where tannic notes join the end of each puff. Medium strength creaminess breaks into the profile as the second third wraps up.
Jiunn: The spicy hot chocolate effect continues to shine. The profile picks up a bit more baking spices as well (especially on the finish), further strengthening the full flavors. Strength is nearing medium-full, but body is still medium.

Powstanie San Andrés Toro

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the black pepper increases a bit. The retrohale remains toasted cedar, chalky earth and mild black pepper. At an inch in, the black pepper is now right begins the toasted cedar and chalky earth. As the cigar wraps up, the heavily toasted cedar and chalky earth are even up front, with the black pepper right behind, and some wood bitterness in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third delivers dry earth, toasted wood, black pepper and mineral flavors. Quite lacking, and one dimensional. Very little balance present with the cigar. Like the first and second third, medium-full in strength and body.
John: The cigar finishes in the last third with creamy wood, earth in the center and a toasted earth at the end of the puff which lingers on my palate. Chocolate returns as the last third settles in, and it mixes with the earth through the retrohale. As the cigar moves towards the halfway point, the chocolate is largely being lost in the intensity of the earth. Through the bottom half, the profile is largely driven by creamy wood.
Jiunn: Towards the latter half of the final third, the flavor profile becomes much more baking spice and cedar centric, missing the cocoa/chocolate notes. This makes the profile less enjoyable and complex. Strength finishes medium-full, while body remains medium.

Powstanie San Andrés Toro

Burn

Aaron: The burn was straight throughout and the ash held on in inch and a half increments.
Seth: The burn was great from beginning to end.
John: The burn was very straight through the entire review process.
Jiunn: Burn performance was overall good but not perfect. I had to use my lighter a couple times to get the wrapper burn back on track.

Powstanie San Andrés Toro

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: The draw was perfect from start to finish.
John: The draw was at most one notch towards the resistant spectrum, which puts it in the ideal range between open and resistant for an amazing draw score.
Jiunn: The draw was great, striking the ideal balance between air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar, earth and lightly creamy black pepper. A light chalkiness joined in fairly quickly and then later increased and integrated with the earth. The second third saw the chalky earth become even with the toasted cedar up front. Later, the toast level increased and some wood bitterness joined in. The final third saw the black pepper increase until it was right behind the toasted cedar and chalky earth. Construction was absolutely perfect. The Powstanie San Andrés Toro had an average flavor profile throughout, focused around toasted cedar, chalky earth and black pepper. No major transitions to speak of. Overall, another earth driven Mexican wrapped offering, that I wouldn’t see myself really coming back to.
Seth: The Powstanie San Andrés Toro was an average cigar. The flavor profile was one dimensional, and not very complex. It lacked a lot of qualities to make the cigar worth my while. The most memorable part of the cigar was the construction. The burn was great, and the ash held on wonderfully throughout, but that’s not going to put a cigar over the finish line. There was very little sweetness to the cigar, lots of minerals, dry earth, pepper and tobacco notes, and that took away from the cigar making a statement. No transitioning and depth. It delivered a pronounced Mexican San Andrés flavor profile without the sweetness or rich qualities, and that was the downfall.
John: The Powstanie San Andrés Toro delivered nuanced, complex and layered flavors through most of the review experience, really highlighting some of the best characteristics of Mexican San Andrés tobacco. The construction was on point with a perfect burn and draw. While the price point is slightly above average for the 2025 market, I’m happy to seek these out for what I got out of it. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 24 minutes.
Jiunn: There are so many Mexican San Andres cigars out there that taste like heavy handed earth/dirt soil and the gritty mouthfeel to match all that dirt. So coming into this cigar, I expected it to be just that. However, Powstanie did a great job of capturing the earth tones without making it all about that. The spicy hot chocolate effect was a delight and the cleaner finish was a nice surprise (as compared to my palate being caked with dirt grit). This one I’d come back to for sure.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$2.78

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$2.78

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.82

Cost/Point

$2.35

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.62

Cost/Point

$2.42

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Powstanie San Andrés Toro