This is the second cigar we’ve featured from Ian Reith’s Dapper Cigar brand (the first was La Madrina). In our last review I said Dapper was one up-and-coming cigar brand that I would buy stock in if I could, and since then they’ve done little to change my opinion. When Reith started Dapper, he said he wanted to avoid the gimmicks that had become too prevalent in the industry. At the time, a little under ten years ago, there did seem to be sort of desperation to create the new thing, but with little actual creativity happening (I distinctly remember rolling my eyes at a new ‘Heisenberg Project’ cigar around that time). Reith said that instead, he wanted to focus on making brands and cigars that were simultaneously nostalgic and fresh. As you can see by the cigar label in the photo and the box, he clearly succeeded with the branding. However ‘El Borracho’ (translating to ‘The Drunk’) is far from representing old-school Cuban flavor. This is a bold cigar with a lot going on and little subtlety. One of the most interesting things I found about this cigar was the vast number of flavors given is most reviews of El Borracho. Just a quick list of cigar notes from a few reviewers: cinnamon, graham crackers, lemon zest, milk chocolate, bittersweet dark cocoa, pineapple, powdered cocoa, apples, creaminess, dry earth, graham cracker, grapefruit, earthiness, rye whiskey, red pepper, dry leather, IPA bitterness, and, honestly, I could go on. What does this mean for the actual cigar? I’m not really sure, though on the surface it’s certainly a good indicator of complexity. For me, I certainly agreed with the dark, bitter chocolate and rye whiskey flavor throughout, with a lot of black pepper in the nose. It packs a lot of punch. As a personal preference, I don’t often find a cigar that pairs well with red wine, but this is an exception as Syrah, Bordeaux, and Cab Francs will stand up against the complexity of this smoke. In the end, El Borracho is a really interesting cigar and a great addition to the Dapper lineup.
