Dapper: La Madrina Shade Belicoso Cigars

One of Dapper's strongest, most full-bodied cigars, the La Madrina means "the godmother" in Spanish and references Yolanda Garfias Woo. Known affectionately as "La Madrina," Yolanda is an artist and educator in San Francisco who was instrumental in spreading awareness throughout California about the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, and the cigar honors the Day of the Dead festival with a macabre skeleton-hand-holding-rose icon marking the box and band. However, while Dapper describes La Madrina as "extra full," this cigar doesn't lack in complexity or nuance, utilizing tobaccos from five different countries: The filler blend combines leaf from Oliva's farms in Nicaragua with Habano '92 tobacco from the Dominican Republic and Pennsylvania Broadleaf from the USA. Encasing this tri-country combo, then, are a Mexican San Andrés binder and a wrapper from Oliva's La Luchita farm in Ecuador — with this Shade version trading the original La Madrina's Ecuadorian Habano wrapper for one of Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade leaf. Hand-rolled at Raul Disla's NACSA factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, the La Madrina Shade is defined by the same bold intensity as the original but with the addition of smooth, creamy notes.