14 High-Scoring Cigars To Smoke Right Now
The November/December Cigar Aficionado covered a wide array of topics to cap off the year, from making the Perfect Manhattan to gambling in New York City and a one-on-one interview between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cigar Aficionado editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken. Of course, the tasting section was just as noteworthy, delivering no shortage of impressive scores. Forty-one of the 72 ratings in that issue were 90 points or higher. With so many great cigars to highlight, we managed to whittle it down to just 14 great cigars, each of them scoring no lower than 92 points.
Every cigar rated by Cigar Aficionado is smoked blind by our of editors. The tasting coordinator removes the cigars’ identifying bands and replaces them with plain white, numbered labels before handing them out. of the tasting have no idea what they are smoking and cigars are evaluated without biases such as price, country of origin and brand.
Ashton Cabinet Selection No. 8 (94 points, $14.45)
This blond Churchill is clad in a genuine Connecticut Shade cover leaf, an increasingly rare sight as the Nutmeg State’s presence in the tobacco industry has shrunk in recent years and cigarmakers have increasingly turned to Ecuador as a source for lighter wrappers. The smoke has a botanical, minty quality to it with a creamy note of vanilla providing some sweetness. The finish is like sipping a glass of crème de menthe with touches of roasted chestnut and cocoa powder. See full tasting note.
Arturo Fuente Hemingway Untold Story (93 points, $16.50)
While most of the Hemingway line is available in either Cameroon, Ecuador sun grown or dark Connecticut broadleaf wrappers, the Untold Story is available only as a maduro. Measuring an imposing 7 5/8 inches long by 54 ring gauge, this dark perfecto has an excellent draw. Its toasty core is framed by notes of vanilla, oak, nutmeg and caramel. An earthy quality comes in partway through for some added strength. See full tasting note.
Cohiba Lancero (93 points, £80.30)
While cigars of increasingly stout dimensions are taking a larger share of today’s market, there still is a place for more elegant shapes such as panetelas, including the subset of the category known as lanceros. This vitola is prized by aficionados for not only its slimmer profile, but for how its modest girth allows the wrapper to take a larger part in shaping the flavor of the smoke. This Cohiba—perhaps the world’s most famous lancero—starts off floral and nutty but is bolstered by bolder notes of earth and leather with a caramel sweetness preceding a zesty orange finish. See full tasting note.
Cuaba Salomon (93 points, £56.60)
While not as big a name as Montecristo or Cohiba, the Cuaba brand has certainly made a place for itself since See full tasting note.
E.P. Carrillo La Historia Doña Elena (93 points, $13.15)
The importance of family is a common thread in the cigar industry, and the E.P. Carrillo See full tasting note.
Graycliff Chateau Grand Cru Salomon (93 points, $30)
While most of the cigars on this list hail from what we call The Big Four (Cuba, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Honduras) there are other countries that also make great cigars, such as the Bahamas. This gracefully tapered Graycliff figurado is rolled in the Bahamas, but its four-country blend does not feature any tobacco from that country. No matter the blend, it draws and burns evenly, layering the palate with a mélange of baking spices, gingerbread, butterscotch and oak. See full tasting note.
H. Upmann The Banker Daytrader Whale (93 points, $14.19)
Before moving into the cigar business in 1844, Hermann Upmann, founder of the H. Upmann cigar brand, was a banker. The Daytrader is the latest of parent company Altadis U.S.A.’s financially-themed releases to honor the brand’s origins. To carry the fiduciary theme, the line is packaged in glossy green boxes and bands with motifs reminiscent of the candlestick charts that are used by stock traders. The first puffs of this grande are spicy, but it settles down for notes of cocoa, walnut skin, earth and sea salt that leads to a honey-roasted peanut finish. See full tasting note.
La Aroma de Cuba Pasión Churchill (93 Points, $12)
What is life without a little ion (or pasión in Spanish)? The star of this stately Churchill’s blend is its Cuban-seed wrapper, which is grown under shade in Nicaragua in an area called Namanji by the Garcia family, who also make the line at their factory. In fact, it is the same leaf the Garcias use for their Flor de las Antillas brand, but that wrapper is grown in the sun rather than in the shade. The smoke has a woody, forest-floor quality atop a core of rich tobacco, culminating in a sweet finish. See full tasting note.
Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro No. 4 (93 points, $10.11)
Since the introduction of the See full tasting note.
Olmec Claro Double Corona (93 points, $16)
Nick Melillo, brand owner of Foundation Cigar Co., created Olmec as a tribute to both the ancient Olmec civilization, and to Mexico where its wrapper leaves are grown. The brand comes in two varieties, Claro and Maduro. This box-pressed Churchill from the Claro line is the larger brother to the See full tasting note.
Debonaire Habano Belicoso (92 points, $18)
Some believe that the pointed heads of belicosos allow the flavors to become more concentrated. Whether that’s true or not, the easy draw of this cigar certainly allows the flavors to ring out loud and clear. Its woody, nutty character has a pronounced sweetness to it that frames subtler notes of vanilla, café au lait and honey. The finish has a pronounced mix of spices and zesty orange. See full tasting note.
El Septimo Sacred Arts Collection Da Vinci (92 points, $24)
This is the only cigar on this list that was made in Costa Rica, a rarity in the handmade cigar industry. Owned by Zaya Younan, each size in the Sacred Arts Collection is named after a famous artist. Topped with a pigtail cap, this dark panetela has a pronounced chocolaty character that lingers throughout, providing a base for impressions of raisin bread, white pepper and coffee. It’s well-constructed with an open draw and even combustion from first puff to last. See full tasting note.
Padrón Serie 1926 No. 9 Maduro (92 points, $22.75)
The all-Nicaraguan Padrón Serie 1926 brand was created to honor the birthyear of founder José Orlando Padrón, and to provide a stronger alternative to the popular 1964 Anniversary line. Measuring 5 1/4-by-56, this box-pressed robusto has all the strength its dark wrapper suggests but also the balance and complexity Padrón is known for with sweeter elements of coffee bean and dark chocolate melding seamlessly with notes of red pepper spice and rich earth for a toffee-like finish. See full tasting note.
Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary Sixty (92 points, $15.70)
Released in 2010 to celebrate Rocky Patel’s 15 years in the cigar business, this grande is the bigger brother to the See full tasting note.
