Small booth, big presence.
This was the feeling behind Dapper Cigar Co. at the 2021 PCA trade show in Las Vegas. The company was founded by Ian Reith in 2013, being located out of Fresno, CA. Despite closing in on the 10-year anniversary, the brand has only recently seemed to take off—many smokers may better know their cigars from their eye-catching presence seen throughout social media. As Ian mentions in our interview, this may be due, in part, to the lack of “Dapper” branding between each marca, though the cigars have clearly caught the attention of enthusiasts, whether or not they recognize the correlation between each individual brand.
Debuts for the 2021 trade show included the Union Break and La Madrina Shade brands. The former is a budget-priced cigar inspired by union workers looking for a quality smoke for their union-mandated 20-minute breaks. The cigars are packaged in wide boxes that are split into six sections. The sections contain three different blends: Connecticut Shade, Barberpole (using intertwining Connecticut Shade and Broadleaf wrappers), and Broadleaf; these varieties surround all-Nicaraguan binder/fillers. The cigars arrive in a singular 4″ x 38 format that is geared for the 20-minute smoking session, with each being priced at $5 MSRP. As a finishing touch, the cigars are sweetened at the cap.
The latter cigar is a followup to the company’s best-selling La Madrina brand, now available in a Connecticut variety. The cigar is La Madrina Shade, using an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper, Mexican San Andrés binder, and a diverse filler from the U.S., Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua. There are a total of four sizes being rolled out of the company’s usual manufacturing partner, Nicaraguan American Cigars S.A. (NACSA), located in Estelí, Nicaragua.
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