Best Cigars, Cigars have been around for centuries and have become a staple part of many cultures worldwide. Whether you enjoy a cigar in the comfort of your own home or are lucky enough to attend a cigar-tasting event, it is an experience unlike any other. With so many cigars, it can take time to determine which is best for your taste.
That is why we have taken the time to compile a list of the best cigars available on the market today. From flavor to strength, construction, and more, we have broken down the best cigars for any cigar aficionado. With our comprehensive list, you will find the perfect cigar for your mood or occasion.
So, if you’re looking for the best cigars on the market, look no further than this guide.
Anyone who has ever entered a cigar store to purchase a cigar (or a box of them) has been met by an overwhelming selection of brands, not to mention the many styles and types of cigars on offer. If you smoke frequently, you undoubtedly have a few brands you reach for repeatedly.
But if you’re a beginner, you probably find the abundance of strange names overwhelming and wonder how you can distinguish the good from the less-than-good.
This guide is for everyone, whether you’re just getting started with cigars and want to test it out for yourself or buy some as a gift, or you’re an experienced smoker looking to try new brands. We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 cigar manufacturers, so you may choose your next favorite smoke by looking at the ten below.
We focused on reputation, popularity, and quality while creating this list of the top cigar brands available today.
Best Cigars
What country makes cigars?
The attraction of a Cuban cigar is well known to most people. Still, since President Kennedy imposed an embargo on Cuban goods in 1962, importing and selling cigars from the Caribbean island nation in the United States has been forbidden. Although “Cubans” have long been coveted for their strong flavor and intensity, connoisseurs know that Cuba is not the only country making cigars.
Today, three Latin American nations—Nicaragua, Honduras, and—possibly most significantly—Cuba’s neighbor, the Dominican Republic—take the top three spots worldwide for non-Cuban cigar production. Although a cigar’s tobacco isn’t always grown in the same country where it is ultimately produced, each of the brands you’ll come across in this guide primarily produces their cigars in one or more of these three countries, all of which have decades of industry and expertise to support their products as well as the ideal growing conditions for the tobacco itself. For instance, although relatively few cigars are made in the South American country, numerous brands use leaves harvested in Ecuador for their wrappers.
What characteristics distinguish a quality cigar?
The tobacco used is the most crucial element in determining whether or not the smoke from a cigar will be enjoyable. That is the major justification for the commotion surrounding Cuban cigars: It just so happens that the types of tobacco required to manufacture an excellent cigar can only be grown in Cuba (and a few other places in Latin America).
And that’s the issue. You cannot simply cultivate a good tobacco crop and roll a cigar from it. Each cigar comprises a variety of tobaccos, each with a distinct function, and they can be divided into the following three groups.
Filler
The majority of a cigar’s tobacco ends up here, which is the cigar’s interior. The filler is usually nearly a blend of various tobaccos, sometimes incorporating blends from other countries, and cigar producers can adjust the flavors of their smokes by fine-tuning these formulations. Long filler, or full, uncut leaves, makes the best cigars since it burns more slowly and provides a better smoking experience.
Binder
Although it adds the least taste to a cigar, the binder is nevertheless an essential ingredient. Binder tobacco is used to “bind” the filler together by wrapping it in the strongest leaves of a cigar. The binder, which makes up the middle layer of a cigar’s construction, must be compatible with the filler in terms of burn time and flavor.
Wrapper
The wrapper, arguably the most significant component of a cigar’s structure, is where the majority of the taste is produced. It is a single sizable leaf wrapped around the binder to create the stogie’s casing. When purchasing cigars, you’ll notice that the wrappers get a lot of attention. This is because the country where the tobacco is grown, the conditions (shaded or sunny), the breed of tobacco, and the aging process—whether it’s natural (lighter, less fermented) or Maduro (darker, more fermented)—all affect how the cigar performs and tastes.
The top ten cigar companies for 2023.Best Cigars.
Arturo Fuente
While the United States embargo on Cuban goods hurt the industry of cigar makers in Cuba, it was a blessing for brands of cigars operating outside of the communist island. Arturo Fuente, which had earned a living as a little cigar manufacturer since its founding in Florida in 1912, was one of the largest beneficiaries in the early post-embargo period. Arturo Fuente found itself unexpectedly set to become one of the most recognizable brands in the world.
In the 1980s, Fuente planted fresh roots in the Dominican Republic and became one of the top brands in this new substitute for Cuba.
Over a century after its founding and while still being held by the Fuente family, Arturo Fuente is a well-known and respected name in the business, particularly for its iconic Fuente Fuente OpusX brand. It is routinely one of the most sought-after cigars in the world because of its Dominican-grown wrapper (the line was the first Dominican puro).
The Dominican Republic is the primary country of origin.
The Fuente Fuente OpusX cigar serves as an example.
Ashton
You’ll notice that most well-known cigar companies don’t use the Spanish name, unlike Ashton. That’s because, unlike most other firms, it wasn’t created by a Cuban or a Cuban ex-pat. Robert Levin, a native of Pennsylvania who created Ashton in 1985, was the son of renowned retailer Holt’s Cigar Company owner.
To create his brand, Levin partnered with the Fuente family (of Arturo above Fuente), and he still manages the business with his son today.
At the Fuente plant in the Dominican Republic, Ashton cigars are hand-rolled using tobacco primarily grown in the Dominican Republic. With a distinguished history, Ashton is known for only employing fine-aged tobaccos. These tobaccos go through a lengthy fermentation process, followed by an additional maturing phase lasting up to 18 years. The outcome is a particularly intricate smoke. Pick the genuine Ashton brand for a timeless experience.
The Dominican Republic is the primary country of origin.
Ashton, a representative cigar
Cohiba
Cohiba is undoubtedly the most well-known in the cigar industry, but this is not the same. The legendary Cuban brand Cohiba is a global icon of luxury, but as you are already aware, Cuban cigars cannot be sold in the United States. Americans must instead settle for Cohiba, made in the Dominican Republic.
This Cohiba brand, produced exclusively for the American market since the 1980s and owned by the General Cigar Company in Virginia, is unrelated to the Cohiba of Cuba. The two have been involved in legal disputes over copyright for many years.
Nevertheless, the American Cohiba has won over many admirers in the United States and even makes a cigar in Miami called the Serie M, which was introduced in 2021. The Red Dot series, which uses a blend of Cuban seed tobaccos (plants whose seeds originated in Cuba but were grown elsewhere), is undoubtedly the product for which the brand is best known.
The Dominican Republic is the primary country of origin.
Typical cigarette: Cohiba Red Dot.
Davidoff
Essentially, Davidoff is a “premium” tobacco brand. Although its goods are pricey, you’ll probably find smoking them pretty damn delightful if you don’t mind paying the money. The “King of Cigars,” Zino Davidoff, a notorious jet-setting playboy who started producing cigars in the 1940s, created the Swiss company. Two decades later, his fledgling business started making cigars on a larger scale in Cuba until the early 1990s, when they purportedly relocated operations to the Dominican Republic for higher quality control requirements.
The company now runs one of the most modern cigar factories in the world there. White Label products from Davidoff are generally regarded as the highest caliber, with the Aniversario line standing out in particular. It is marketed as the classic special-occasion cigar and features Dominican filler and binder tobaccos, Ecuadorian-grown Connecticut wrappers, and a well-planned and managed manufacturing process.
The Dominican Republic is the primary country of origin.
Cigar to exemplify: Davidoff Aniversario
Ferio Tego
The newest brand on this list, having only recently made its debut in 2021, Ferio Tego is unquestionably the most popular brand in the cigar industry. But contrary to what you would believe, the history of its blends is far older. Michael Herklots and Brendon Scott, who both worked for the now-defunct Nat Sherman tobacco firm, established the brand.
Fiero Tego obtained the ingredients for Nat Sherman’s opulent cigars while simultaneously making their own praised original compositions.
The cult-favorite company, which had a flagship “townhouse” in midtown Manhattan for 70 years before closing its doors in 2020, continues to exist in spirit. Experienced smokers may find the original flagship cigars, the Dominican Elegancia and Nicaraguan Generoso, the most exciting.
Major countries of origin: Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic
Cigars, to mention the Ferio Tego Elegancia and Generoso.
Montecristo
One of the most well-known cigar manufacturers in the world, like Cohiba, is Montecristo. The well-known brand also originates from Cuba, just like Cohiba. As with Cohiba, Montecristo is made in the Dominican Republic for the American market. But this is where the Cohiba and Montecristo DR editions diverge: Instead of competing with its Cuban equivalent, it operates under the same corporate umbrella.
While Altadis and the Cuban government equally hold the Cuban Montecristo, the Dominican Montecristo is entirely owned by the Spanish tobacco business Altadis (a part of the UK’s Imperial Brands).
The most intriguing variation for this guide is the Dominican one, which can be traced back to its exiled creator Alonso Menéndez, who left Cuba with his business partners following the revolution to start a new life elsewhere. The company’s Original line is best renowned for its torpedo-shaped “No. 2,” an all-Dominican cigar encased in a Connecticut Shade leaf with a yellowish tinge.
The Dominican Republic is the primary country of origin.
A typical cigar is the Montecristo No. 2.
Oliva
In Cuba, Melanio Oliva started rolling cigars in 1886, and his son continued the practice. Gilberto Oliva, Melanio’s grandson, left the nation after the communist revolution in search of a better life. After a few decades, he yearned to return to the cigar-making industry and chose Nicaragua as the location to mimic Cuba’s perfect tobacco-growing circumstances.
With a vast crop of Nicaraguan-grown tobacco that has placed Oliva at the forefront of the Nicaraguan cigar boom of the past 20 years, Gilberto’s company is still one of the most influential players in Nicaraguan cigar making today. The company’s flagship product is the Oliva Serie V line of cigars, which is renowned for having one of the world’s highest concentrations of potent Ligero leaf tobacco.
Nicaragua is the main nation of origin.
Cigar to exemplify: Oliva Serie V.
Padrón
Padrón is a serious cigar brand for serious cigar lovers. It is the current champion of Cigar Aficionado’s annual top 25 cigars list, earning its fourth victory after making every single iteration of the list since the first in 2004.
Jose Orlando Padrón, a Cuban refugee who had relocated to Miami, established the Padrón of today, a family-owned company with offices in Little Havana.
With complete vertical integration of the brand’s operations, from planting through Nicaraguan production to distribution, Padrón has total control over every element of its cigars. The brand’s 1964 Anniversary Series is essential.
The cigars, which made their debut in 1994 and were awarded Cigar of the Year this year, are made using the traditional Cuban box-pressing technique, giving them their distinctive sharp-cornered shape.
Nicaragua is the main nation of origin.
Padrón is a representative cigar. Anniversary Series for 1964
Rocky Patel
Rakesh “Rocky” Patel, a Hollywood lawyer, decided to try his hand at creating cigars in the mid-1990s, which led to the creation of one of the most “in-your-face” brands in the business. Rocky Patel Premium Cigars is situated in Florida. Spoiler alert: He turned out to be rather adept at it. Rocky Patel began by making cigars in the Central American nation of Honduras, which was mostly untapped by the industry at the time.
Today, the nation, together with the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, is regarded as one of the holy trinity of non-Cuban cigar-producing nations.
Most of Rocky Patel’s products are still made in Honduras, including the highly regarded Decade brand (rated 95 by Cigar Aficionado). However, the company has now established a second base of operations there. The Decade was first introduced in 2007 to mark the company’s tenth anniversary. It is a full-bodied, box-pressed, Sumatra-wrapped cigar with an unidentified filler.
Originating principally in Honduras
Rocky Patel is a model cigar. Decade.
Romeo y Julieta
Romeo y Julieta, the third non-Cuban Cuban firm to appear on this list, was the first trio to start creating cigars; it was established in 1875, some nine decades before Cohiba was established after the revolution. Since both brands are independent, Altadis-owned Cuban and non-Cuban enterprises operate almost identically to Montecristo.
The Dominican Republic is Romeo y Julieta’s primary operating location. Still, it also has plants there and in Nicaragua and Honduras, giving it one of the most diverse product lines in the sector. Since the company has a long history, there are bound to be some highlights. Winston Churchill, possibly the most renowned cigar smoker in history, was a fan of the brand. Due to this, the company’s Churchill size may be more well-known than any other brand, even though they are far from the sole manufacturer of Churchills.
The Dominican Republic is the primary country of origin.
Romeo y Julieta Churchill, any brand, is a good cigar.
In conclusion, Best Cigars.
Cigars are a timeless pleasure that can be enjoyed in various ways. Whether you prefer a mild, aromatic smoke or a strong, full-bodied flavor, there is a cigar to suit every palate. With such wide varieties, it can be difficult to know which are the best cigars. Thankfully, our guide has provided some of the finest cigars available today. You can enjoy a luxurious smoking experience every time with the right selection.
The History of Cigars
The history of cigars can be traced back to the pre-Columbian era in Mesoamerica, where indigenous people were known to have rolled and smoked tobacco leaves. The practice of cigar-making spread to Europe and the rest of the world through explorers and colonizers. During the 18th and 19th centuries, cigars became a popular status symbol among the wealthy and were often associated with power and luxury. Today, cigars are enjoyed by people of all backgrounds and are available in various flavors and styles.
Cigar Manufacturing Process
The cigar manufacturing process begins with the cultivation of tobacco plants, which are harvested and cured to produce the leaves used in cigar-making. These leaves are sorted by color, texture, and quality and blended to create the desired flavor and strength. The blended leaves are then rolled into various shapes and sizes, often aged for several months to allow the flavors to develop.
Health Effects of Cigars
Cigars can have negative health effects, containing nicotine and other harmful chemicals. Smoking cigars can increase the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, and other serious health problems. Additionally, the risk of oral cancer is higher for cigar smokers than for non-smokers, and the risk of lung cancer is similar for smokers of cigars and cigarettes.
Types of Cigars
- Handmade cigars: These are made entirely by hand using high-quality tobacco leaves and are considered to be the highest quality cigars.
- Machine-made cigars: These are made using a machine to roll the tobacco leaves and tend to be less expensive than handmade cigars.
- Little cigars: These are similar in size and shape to cigarettes and are often flavored.
- Large cigars: These are larger than the traditional cigar and can take several hours to smoke.
- Flavored cigars: These cigars have added flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, and fruit.
Tips for Enjoying Cigars
- Choose a cigar appropriate for your level of experience and taste preferences.
- Store cigars in a humidor to maintain their moisture and flavor.
- Cut the cigar properly to ensure a smooth draw.
- Light the cigar using a butane lighter or wooden match.
- Take your time and savor the flavors and aromas.
All in all, The best cigars are those that offer a unique and enjoyable experience. Whether you prefer a mild, light-bodied smoke or something robust and full-flavored, there are countless cigars to choose from. Ultimately, the best cigar for you is the one you enjoy most. With so many options available, it may take some time to find the perfect cigar for you, but the journey of exploration is half the enjoyment.
