Staff Review: Dapper La Madrina Corona Gorda
Introduction:
Today’s staff review will feature Dapper’s La Madrina Corona Gorda. Dapper is proving to be one of the hottest up and coming brands in cigars, and although they are relatively young, it hasn’t stopped them from building a loyal and dedicated following of cigar enthusiasts
Feel free to skim the quick hits for an overview or jump into any section below to find the full details of Dapper La Madrina. And away we go!
The Quick Hits:
- Inspired by the imagery of Dia de los Muertos
- Main tasting notes of dark chocolate, black tea, red pepper
- Recommended for: fans of RoMa Craft CroMagnon Aquitaine, Latitude Zero, Crowned Heads La Imperiosa
- La Madrina’s $9.30 price point is more than reasonable for a cigar of this quality made at the legendary NACSA factory
The Story:
It’s not uncommon to see a cigar brand owner come from a very different, and oftentimes unrelated industry, and make their way into the world of cigars. To that point, Ian Reith of Dapper, came from a background of tech, network engineering, and software development, with the initial intent of creating just a single cigar line.
Fast forward several years, and Dapper has become one of the hottest and fastest growing boutique brands on the market with their ability to create cigars that are both contemporary and nostalgic in partnership with industry-renowned factories. Passion, dedication, and talent are just a few of the traits that have allowed Dapper to flourish as quickly as they have, and with their seemingly constant innovation, their road ahead is nothing but bright.
The La Madrina line (Spanish for “godmother”), has arguably been Dapper’s most popular release to date, and was inspired by Reith’s fascination with the Day of the Dead and Santa Muerte artwork and imagery – this is clearly evident in La Madrina’s design. Produced at the renowned NACSA factory in Nicaragua, and blended in partnership with master blend Raul Disla, La Madrina is a masterclass in complexity and intensity, and is a blend that will undoubtedly stand the test of time.
The Build:
La Madrina starts with a dark brown and spicy Ecuador Habano wrapper, that is complemented fairly well (at least on paper) by the richness of the San Andres binder, and the intricate blend of filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Pennsylvania. After looking at the component makeup of La Madrina and after seeing the cigar in person for the first time, I fully expected a full-bodied blend at the very least – the wrapper was darker than I expected, and the combination of the binder and fillers had me expecting a profile much heavier than what I ultimately experienced.
The Look:
For those that know me either personally, or even just through my writing here on Cigora, you may have come to find out that there is just a slight chance that I can get a little dramatic when it comes to talking about cigars. But when I say that La Madrina’s band design is quite possibly my favorite of all time, just know that I am not exaggerating even in the slightest.
The band, at its core, is eye-catching and legible and La Madrina’s main imagery is the perfect combination of simple and detailed. The allusion to Dia de los Muertos is pretty evident in the skeletal hand holding the rose and is accentuated even more so by the gold picture-frame-like border that highlights the curvature of the die cut band.
The sticker on top of La Madrina’s box showcases the same main imagery as the band but adds a touch more color with a seemingly grayish-blue tone that is present throughout the extended and intricate border of the design. This vista really stands out visually against the light tone of the wooden box and I found it interesting that the band stands out just as much against the darkness of the wrapper leaf – I suppose a design as eye-catching as La Madrina’s will stand out on just about anything.
As far as I’m concerned, La Madrina’s design is stylish, beautiful, and timeless, and nobody can tell me otherwise - who knows maybe it’s time for a new tattoo.
The Experience:
As I mentioned earlier, based on the build and the look of La Madrina, I was expecting a full-bodied profile at the very least (which I wouldn’t have been opposed to). Spoiler alert: for what it’s worth, La Madrina fell more in the medium to full range for me. I think I just made it pretty clear about how much I love the look of La Madrina, and to be honest, my experience smoking this blend stood toe to toe with its design.
The first thing I need to make clear with La Madrina is the sheer amount of chocolate notes that I tasted from start to finish – is it possible for a cigar to be more chocolatey than actual chocolate? Regardless, the first third of La Madrina was dominated by this dark chocolate with background notes of spicy red pepper, and cedar, and subtle hints of sweet cherry on the finish. At this point La Madrina is highlighted by a delicious combination of sweet and spicy and an almost flawless burn line.
In the second third, the chocolate note is still the most dominant flavor, with an herbal black tea note making its way into the mix that complements the distinct sweetness surprisingly well. The cedar notes from the first third slowly dissipate and the red pepper makes its presence more felt, resulting in a relatively balanced flavor profile in combination with the chocolate and black tea. Maybe I’m crazy, but towards the end of the second third, La Madrina seemed to fall closer to the medium-body range than the full-body range.
The final third was the star of the show for me – the chocolate became just slightly more muted, which allowed the black tea, red pepper, and newly introduced notes of toffee, and buttered baguette to make the presence more noticeable. This resulted in a nuanced but, albeit balanced flavor profile that was complemented by the slowly increasing amount of nicotine strength towards the back half of the final third. I did have to touch up a slightly uneven burn in the final third, but what do I care? That’s what my lighter is for.
All in all, I thought that La Madrina was outstanding. I was initially drawn to the cigar because of its design, and the fact that La Madrina tasted just about as good as it looked, was a bonus for me. La Madrina is one of those cigars that I’m going to show off to all my friends so I can prove to them, once and for all, that I’m a real cigar enthusiast.
The Value:
I can confidently say that La Madrina is well worth the $9.30 price tag it carries on this corona gorda vitola. I know that this price point isn’t necessarily “cheap”, but I can guarantee that this will be one of the best sub $10 cigars that you will be able to get your hands on. If you’re seriously debating whether you should pick up a La Madrina or your go-to, $10.00, big name brand, I’ll make it easy for you – buy La Madrina and you will likely never go back.
Final Thoughts:
La Madrina has been a cigar I’ve been eyeing up for what seems like years now, but one that I had never taken a flyer on for whatever reason (a critical mistake on my part). I don’t think my first experience with La Madrina could have gone much better – a profile that was nuanced and flavorful, a quality of construction that was just about as good as they come, and arguably my all-time favorite cigar band design made La Madrina a cigar that I anticipate myself coming back to time and time again.
I was so impressed with La Madrina, and the brand in general, that for the next month, I’m going to fully immerse myself in the Dapper experience by smoking their cigars only (a full report to follow). If I didn’t make it clear enough, I think you should pick up a box or 5 pack of La Madrina as soon as possible – you’ll thank me later.
