Cigar Award Winners Top 25

#1 Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars 2011

Alan Rubin created a blend called Alec Bradley Prensado. Rubin had smoked a very dark wrapper leaf grown in a region of southern Honduras called Trojes and decided to build a cigar brand around it, using Central American tobacco exclusively. And what a cigar he made.

The brand hit the market in 2009 and was acclaimed from the very beginning. In a vertical brand tasting in Cigar Insider of the five original sizes, each scored 91 points or more and earned our accolade of Humidor Selection. The Alec Bradley Prensado Churchill, made at the superb Raices Cubanas factory in Danlí, Honduras, is as gorgeous a cigar as you'll ever see, with a picture-perfect head and a stunning wrapper. But it is the flavor that makes it a classic smoke. The Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos come together to create leather, chocolate and spice notes, and a long, lush finish.

The Cigar 

Description
#1 Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars 2025

The original My Father brand was created by Jaime Garcia to honour his father, Pepin. A year later, Pepin decided to honour his own father with an offshoot brand called My Father Le Bijou 1922. Unlike the originals, which wear an Ecuadoran cover leaf, Le Bijou 1922 cigars are darker and stronger. The blend is Nicaraguan from top to bottom, showcasing Cuban-seed wrappers that the Garcia family calls oscuro. Only one size—this torpedo—is box-pressed. Some will say that box-pressing a cigar is only an aesthetic decision. But when the Garcia's took this hearty, complex blend, rolled it into a torpedo shape and then gave it a pressing, the result stood out for its ability to deliver complex notes clearly and harmoniously.

The Cigar

Description

#5 Cigar Journal Cigar of the Year 2023

Plasencia Alma Fuerte, a unique blend of our best-aged tobaccos, grown in our highest quality soil, accentuating their bold, vibrant and intense flavors.  With hints of dark chocolate, plum, and cinnamon, the taste is rounded out with finishing notes of oak and molasses.

The Alma Fuerte Colorado Eduardo I is a Nicaraguan puro that uses a wrapper grown by the company in Nicaragua’s Jalapa region that is lighter than the main Alma Fuerte blend. The company says that the wrapper has been aged for 10 years prior to the cigars being rolled.

The Cigar

#1 Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars 2021

The Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series line was introduced 
in 1994 to commemorate our company’s 30th anniversary.

All tobacco used in this limited production series is aged for four years, creating a smooth and complex flavor. In honor of the age-old Cuban tradition of box-pressing cigars, the 1964 Anniversary line was introduced 
as a box-pressed series.

Cigar Aficionado Rating 97
#1 Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars 2007

What a great cigar. The Padrón Serie 1926 No. 9 impressed the Cigar Aficionado tasting panel again and again, rising to the top after repeated tests to become the best cigar of the year of 2007.

In the end, when only a few cigars remained in the last blind tasting, this one stood above the rest: it was richer, rounder, more complex and rewarding than any other cigar they smoked.

This pressed beauty is rolled in the recently expanded Padrón factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, under the watchful eye of José Orlando Padrón, his son Jorge and the rest of the family members who ensure that the 5 million or so cigars they produce each year are of impeccable quality.

This is perhaps the finest of the line, just blossoming with flavour right from the first puff. It’s a complex smoke with perfect balance, showing flavours of chocolate, coffee and nuts, as well as some black cherry. The cigar has a finish so long it seems to never leave the palate. The 97 points is the highest score the Cigar Aficionado have given a cigar in many years.

Padrón Serie 1926 cigars are a bit stronger than the company’s other luxury line, the 1964 Anniversary Series, and are considerably more expensive. The family has an affinity for anniversaries: 1964 is the year the company began making cigars, and 1926 is the year José Orlando was born. The cigar debuted in 2002, on José Orlando’s 76th birthday, a year later than originally intended.

The Padróns have never finished out of the top five in the Cigar Aficionado Top 25 tastings, and this is the second time one of their cigars have been named the No. 1 cigar of the year.

Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Strength: Full
Length: 5 1/4 inches
Ring Gauge: 56

CLEARANCE WHILE STOCKS LAST
#1 Cigar Journal Top 25 Cigars 2019

The Number #1 voted cigar of the year chosen by the prestigious Cigar Journal, as well as very impressive 90+ scores from Cigar Aficionado and Cigar Snob Magazine. The excellent Bellas Artes is a combination of a Brazil Matafina maduro wrapper, binder from Mexico San Andres and Nicaraguan tobacco filler.

Raised in Cuba and steeped in the rich tradition of Fernandez Cigar Legacy, AJ Fernandez produces unparalleled premium cigars in Esteli, Nicaragua. Ensuring superior quality, the day-to-day operations at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez are managed under the watchful eye of AJ himself.

RING GAUGE : 52

LENGTH : 5 1/2”

STRENGTH : 4 OUT OF 5

#1 Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars 2009
Once exclusive to the Padrón’s, this exceptional, individually hand-crafted series signifies special family anniversary dates. Offering a beautifully packaged in ten count boxes. 

Available in both sun-grown natural and maduro wrapper, the tobacco is aged ten years, then blended to create an exceptionally smooth, complex, balanced and full-bodied flavor.

My Father Flor De Las Antillas Robusto

The Cigar

Cigar Aficionado Rating 96
#1 Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars 2012

The story of Cigar Aficionado’s 2012 Cigar of the Year begins in Cuba, the island home of José “Pepin” Garcia, his son Jaime and daughter, Janny.  Pepin began rolling cigars at the age of 11 in his hometown of Baez. He rose to prominence in Cuba as a talented cigarmaker but yearned for freedom and opportunity.

One by one the Garcia’s left, eventually making their way to Miami where they began producing cigars. Their beginnings were humble: the factory was tiny with a dozen rollers and they didn’t own the entire operation.

They had their first taste of glory with the Tatuaje brand, which they made for Pete Johnson. It brought critical acclaim as well as increasing demand, which led the family to venture out on its own, eventually constructing the massive and My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

Whilst Pepin focuses his energies on growing tobacco in Nicaragua, trying various seed varieties, Jaime is the company’s master blender. They released the Flor de Las Antillas brand in May 2012, using a variety of Nicaraguan tobaccos, their trademark double binder and a wrapper leaf grown in the open sunlight. They named the brand for Cuba, the largest of the Antilles Islands, which are called Antillas in their native Spanish. The standout of the four-size brand is the Toro, which has a gentle, rounded box press and a beautiful and evenly coloured wrapper. 

The cigars are delicious from the first puff, with notes of nutmeg, white pepper and just enough strength without being overpowering. They are classics, 96-point rating on the Cigar Aficionado 100-point scale. The Garcia’s have worked long and hard since leaving Cuba, coming a long way in a very short time. Their cigars have made numerous appearances on Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 list, but this is the first time they have won Cigar of the Year.

Wrapper: Sun Grown

Binder: Nicaragua

Filler: Nicaragua

Strength: Medium to Full

Boisdale Cigar Awards 2023 Cigar of the Year

IN THE GRAND YEAR OF 1863, a gentleman by the name of Frederick Charatan graced bustling London with a boutique to delight the most discerning tobacco enthusiasts.

Nestled in Mansell Street, near the iconic Tower of London - decades before Tower Bridge was even dreamt of - a legacy of tradition, an ode to flavours and enamouring smoke was born. For 160 years, the name Charatan has been synonymous with British love for exquisite tobacco in the form of premium hand-rolled cigars, pipe tobacco and handcrafted pipes.

As historic and meaningful to the United Kingdom as London's Underground or the English Football Association, both also founded in 1863, we do not take the remarkable heritage of Charatan lightly. We stand honoured to present you with our Charatan 160th Anniversary Special Edition. Join us in celebrating the exceptional journey of an immigrant family name now quintessential in British culture.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Mexican
Filler: Nicaraguan (Jalapa)

The Cigar 
#1 Cigar Journal Top 25 Cigars 2021

Description

The Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Box-Pressed Maduro is a medium to full-bodied Nicaraguan “puro”  blended with a dark, oily 6-year old Cuban-seed Nicaraguan wrapper that has been bourbon barrel-aged for an additional 14 months and is paired with 6-year old Cuban-seed Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos to create naturally sweet flavours with hints of dark cocoa and espresso on the finish.  

Voted #3 Cigar Journal Top 25 Cigars 2024

AJ Fernandez Dias De Gloria Brazil translates to Glory Days, which AJ Fernandez attributes to the pre-Cuban revolution days of premium tobacco, back where his family started their tobacco dynasty. Dias De Gloria Brazil celebrates the union of two exceptional worlds of tobacco, honouring the rich roots of Brazil and the legacy of Nicaragua. AJ Fernandez captures the soul of traditional influences with this distinct and vibrant blend.

Available in boxes of 20, these box pressed cigars all Nicaraguan binder and filler are covered by a Brazilian Mata Fina maduro wrapper.

Handcrafted at the AJ Fernandez factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, these medium to full bodied cigars have nutty and leathery notes with earthy flavours and a delicious sweetness.