ADV & McKay Ships La Llorona Toro

The newest size of ADV & McKay Cigars Co.’s La Llorona line is on its way to the company’s elite accounts today.

It’s a 6 x 54 toro, and like the other sizes in the line, it uses an Ecuadorian habano wrapper, Indonesian and Dominican binders, and fillers from the Dominican Republic. The cigars are made at Tabacalera Mina del Rey, the company’s factory in Tamboril, Dominican Republic, with production limited to 800 boxes of 10 cigars. Pricing is set at $17 per cigar and $170 per box.

“With La Llorona, we’ve always aimed to capture emotion through balance — the mystery, the elegance, and the depth that come from restraint, said Marcel Knobel, co-founder of ADV & McKay Cigars Co. “This year’s toro size and the elevated band reflect our belief that refinement doesn’t need to shout; it simply needs to be felt.”

Fans of the line will immediately notice the change Knobel mentioned: the new metal band that graces the cigar. “We decided to go metal to elevate the look and feel of this cigar since it’s for our best customers,” Nicole Knobel, director of operations for ADV & McKay Cigars Co., told halfwheel..

“Each edition of La Llorona challenges me to rediscover the harmony between strength and subtlety,” said Henderson Ventura, co-founder and master blender of ADV & McKay Cigars Co. “This blend, with its habano wrapper and Dominican core, show that tension beautifully.”

The toro vitola joins the robusto vitola that the line debuted in back in August 2022, and the corona vitola that came out in November 2023. The line is named for a character in Latin American folklore known as the Wailer, a ghost who is supposedly found near bodies of water mourning the children she drowned. The company adapted the story slightly by turning her into a ghost who hunts down and kills pirates, and the line was initially offered to only 20 stores.

“She is a vengeful ghost that roams the seas mourning her dead loved ones, which she herself killed,” reads the ADVentura website. “She appears when least expected and shows mercy to no one.”

Images courtesy of ADV & McKay Cigars Co.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G-League’s Valley Suns. I was previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League, and Goodyear Ballpark, spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I’m a voiceover artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.