Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars of 2022
Each year, Cigar Aficionado's experts gather the finest cigars and organize them by rank. We've assembled this list for your convenience, making it effortless to compare and consider adding these exceptional cigars to your collection. Also, don't forget to check out our CA Top 25 Cigar Samplers!
(We are working to source the items from the list that we currently don't carry. We will update the post with the link to the product once we have them in stock.)
Cigar Aficionado 2022 Top 25 Cigars:
#25 Plasencia Reserva Original Corona Cigar
#24 La Gloria Cubana Classic Glorias Cigar
Few cigars have stood the test of time like the timeless masterpiece that is La Gloria Cubana Classic Glorias Extra. Once touted as "one of the most sought-after cigars in the world," this 92-rated gem has been around for decades and continues to arouse the palates of both long-time connoisseurs and new smokers alike. Newly renamed and flaunting updated packaging, LGC Classic was originally rolled in El Credito, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo's tiny boutique in Little Havana. Now owned by Swedish Match and General Cigar, the brand is produced down in the Dominican Republic, and has expanded tremendously over the years. The same original recipe is used for the modern offering, however, with a filler blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican leaves, a Nicaraguan binder, and a gorgeous Ecuadorian wrapper. Few classic cigars have truly emulated the Cuban experience the way La Gloria Cubana Classic has, and that is doubtless a major reason it continues to be a mainstay in millions of humidors around the world. SHOP NOW
#23 Espinosa Knuckle Sandwich Habano Corona Gorda R Cigar
The flavor of the Espinosa Knuckle Sandwich Habano Corona Gorda R is taking the cigar industry by storm. Celebrity Chef, Guy Fieri, has teamed up with Espinosa Premium Cigars to create the Knuckle Sandwich cigar. These cigars come in two versions, Habano and Maduro, and both are medium bodied smokes that are full of flavor. This cigar offers a tasty smoking experience with its savory notes of spice, vanilla, and coffee. It features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper that sheaths a Nicaraguan binder and filler. The blend took 18 months to develop, and it was worth the wait.
#22 Tatuaje Capa Especial Cohete Cigar
The Tatuaje Capa Especial Cohetes (Spanish for "rocket") cigar by Pete Johnson is an excellent smoke with a rich flavor profile and great construction. This limited edition cigar features a reddish Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and a complex blend Tatuaje cigars is famous for. This medium-strength stick offers a spicy but not overwhelming smoking experience accompanied by leathery, earthy, and peppery notes. The cigars are handmade in Nicaragua by My Father Cigars.
#21 Allegria Robusto Cigar
The Illusione Allegria Robusto cigar is a flavorful, medium-strength premium cigar that is the sister cigar to Illusione's OneOff. The Allegria sports a warm and inviting Honduran natural wrapper placed over a Nicaraguan binder. Its filler is composed of Aganorsa Leaf tobaccos including the Viso Corojo 2006, which marks the first time Illusione has used this fairly potent tobacco in one of its blends. "Allegria" is Italian for "cheerfulness," and this splendid stick boasts a familiarly balanced profile, hitting the palate with a snappy notes of white pepper, toasted bread, fennel seeds, and aromatic botanicals.
#20 Casa Magna Colorado Robusto Cigar
It takes a strong stomach, an iron constitution you might say, to decide to mess around with a proven winner, but Manual Quesada is known for his bravery and so the Casa Magna Colorado Box Pressed Short Robusto is here. The original Casa Magna Colorado shocked the tobacco industry back in 2008 by being named Cigar of the Year. Having coasted on those laurels since then, it was time to shake things up to reignite the excitement this cigar is capable of producing. Taking the same incomparable blend of nothing but Nicaraguan tobaccos, they were given a firm box press to further marry the gorgeous flavors and enhance the burn. SHOP NOW
#19 San Cristobal Clasico Cigar
Made by one of the hottest names in cigars right now, Jose "Don" Pepin Garcia, San Cristobal Clasico offers a unique smoking experience from almost every other cigar blended under the watchful eye of this master. Created for Ashton, the San Cristobal is a Nicaraguan puro featuring only the best filler and binder tobacco as well as the Pepin signature, flawless Nicaraguan wrapper. A rich and full-bodied smoke is what people have come to expect from a Pepin blended stick, and that is exactly what you get here. The only notable absence was the blast of spice found in almost all other cigars made by him. Despite not having this pepperiness, San Cristobal is still an unbelievably full-flavored smoke. SHOP NOW
#18 Brick House Churchill Cigar
JC Newman is known for their ultra premium offerings such as Diamond Crown, Diamond Crown Maximus, and Julius Caesar, but one of their best-selling cigars was made famous for being a great cigar at a tremendous value: Brick House Churchill. The original Brick House cigar was a Cuban Puro made nearly a century ago and named after JC Newman's childhood home—the only brick house in their Hungarian village. Legend has it that this stick was phenomenal, but the Great Depression brought a swift end to the original Brick House blend. However, some eight decades later, grandsons Eric and Bobby Newman resurrected the brand, this time using a Nicaraguan filler and binder blend and a unique Ecuadorian Havana Subido wrapper leaf. As if introducing a delicious new cigar wasn't enough, the Newmans decided to keep the price point low enough for just about anyone to have access. Brick House exploded in the cigar community, and to this day resides in millions of humidors across the globe. A pair of 92 ratings in Cigar Aficionado, as well as a spot on the Top 25 list two separate times, was all just icing on the cake. SHOP NOW
#17 Cohiba 55 Aniversario Edición Limitada 2021 Cuban Cigar
Cohiba, the world's most famous cigar brand, turned 55 years old and Habanos S.A. announced that there'd be an anniversary smoke to celebrate the occasion. The Cohiba 55 Aniversario is a Victoria, a new vitola for both the brand and Habanos, topped with a pigtail and measuring 57 de cepo and 150mm long.
The Cohiba 55 Aniversario is available in limited quantities and comes in an exclusive varnished wooden box containing 10 cigars. In contrast to the previous vitolas in the program, the 55 Aniversario is dressed up with a foot band bearing the Cohiba 55th anniversary logo, in addition to the classic ring stamped "Edición Limitada 2021" and the brand's band. (Cuban cigars are not sold in the US)
#16 Romeo y Julieta Línea de Oro Nobles Cuban Cigar
Romeo y Julieta Linea de Oro was originally announced in 2020 to commemorate 145 years of the iconic brand, the new line is presented in three sizes: Dianas, Hidalgos and Nobles. All three sizes have been blended to a medium to full Cigar with long filler and binder tobaccos from the well-loved Vuelta Abajo region and hand rolled in the trending thick ring gauge of 56. A medium to full-bodied smoke, which is a novelty to the Romeo y Julieta brand, laced with flavors of earth, leather and wood.
The Romeo y Julieta de Oro Nobles cigars are housed in a luxurious lacquered scarlet red box, enhanced with the wooden grains from the sycamore wood base. Double banded with metallic golden ring embossed with the name of the series and the individual vitolas. (Cuban cigars are not sold in the US)
#15 La Palina Goldie Laguito No. 2 Cigar
La Palina Goldie Laguito No. 2 is known as the queen of the La Palina portfolio, as it was named after Goldie Drell Paley, the wife of La Palina Founder, Sam Paley. It was made to commemorate the impact that women have in the cigar industry.
This ultra-premium cigar is made in the El Titan de Bronze factory in Florida. It is an extremely limited edition as there are only 1,000 boxes made. The Ecuadorian binder and Dominican/Nicaraguan fillers make for bursts of flavor throughout the entire smoke. The Goldie is the second cigar in the "La Palina Collection", after the 1896 Robusto. The cigar only comes in one size, the "Laguito no. 2" or petit lancero as we know it in the States. This cigar measures in at 6" x 38 and features an Ecuadorian binder, a blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, and finally topped off with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. Look out for notes of pepper and honey in this super smooth and rare smoke!
#14 New World Dorado Robusto Cigar
Many explorers perished searching for El Dorado…the golden city. Turns out the riches were in Esteli, Nicaragua all along, tucked away on AJ Fernandez' Dorado farm. He named the land—and the cigar—after the gold hue of its soil. Tobacco was first planted there in 2017 and only now has matured enough in their aging to satisfy AJ, leading to New World Dorado.
AJ Fernandez New World Dorado Robusto is the newest release of the famed New World blends. For this blend, AJ Fernandez utilized the golden leaf tobaccos from his new Dorado farm in Esteli, Nicaragua. Dorado, meaning gold in Spanish, is the unusual color of the rich soils on the farm that lend the tobaccos their golden hue. Almost all of Dorado's tobaccos were grown on the Dorado farm, including its Sun Grown Criollo '98 wrapper. The cigar's flavors are earthy, sweet, aromatic to the nose, and blended with a bold, yet approachable medium-bodied temperament like only AJ can.
#13 Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 Churchill Cigar
Joya de Nicaragua Antano 1970 Churchill is a legend of a cigar. Originally born in the mid-1960s, Joya de Nicaragua was produced in Nicaragua's first cigar factory. As the years went by, however, Communist rule, war, and extreme poverty tore apart the country, including that old factory. Thankfully, though, times are better now, and with Nicaragua at the forefront of the cigar industry, the tobacco business is a booming one in the tiny Central American hot spot. Joya de Nicaragua made a comeback several years ago, this time under the brand of Antano 1970, which literally means "Yesteryear 1970" or "Back Then 1970," a fitting title paying homage to the brand's humble roots and glory days. The brand now resides under the Drew Estate umbrella, so it's definitely in good hands. Known by many as the "Original Nicaraguan Puro," Antano 1970 offers a mind-numbing blend of unusually stout Nicaraguan ligero tobaccos. That inner package is then finished with a thick, dark Nicaraguan Habano Colorado wrapper leaf. The end result is what has been dubbed the world's strongest cigar. SHOP NOW
#12 La Flor Dominicana Oro Chisel Cigar
Grabbing a La Flor Dominicana Oro Chisal cigar from its box is like presenting yourself with an award, a little something to celebrate your achievements. You may even feel like giving a little speech of recognition and thanks to producer Señor Litto Gomez, although your friends will probably look at you funny if you do so in public. Whether or not you say anything, feel free to congratulate yourself on a stick well chosen, a trophy for success. As usual with his sticks, the filler and binder tobaccos are all from Gomez's La Canela farms, but the blend beneath the Nicaraguan Habano wrapper was crafted specifically for this cigar, so even longtime LFD fans will find something new to explore. SHOP NOW
#11 E.P. Carrillo Pledge Apogee Cigar
E.P. Carrillo Pledge Apogee is one of the most highly anticipated and sought-after cigars to ever bear the E.P. Carrillo name. The third installment in the celebrated and decorated Perez-Carrillo series following La Historia and Encore, Pledge is said to be the crowning achievement of the man deemed "The Godfather of Boutique Cigars," Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. Rolled only by the most seasoned torcedors at Tabacalera La Alianza in the Dominican Republic, Pledge contains ultra-premium tobaccos from 3 different countries. The filler blend is Nicaraguan, the binder from Ecuador, and the dark, oily wrapper is a unique Connecticut Habano leaf grown right here in the U.S.A. Its predecessors were both impeccable specimens—La Historia earned a 95 rating and was named the No. 2 cigar of 2014. Encore got an even better 96, earning the No. 1 spot in 2018. That being said, Pledge had some big shoes to fill. In 2020, the year of its release, Pledge did just that, earning a historic 98 rating and easily strolling to the No. 1 spot in the year's top 25. It goes without saying that Pledge is without a doubt a stick that everybody wants to get their hands on. SHOP NOW
#10 Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Séries Sophisticated Hooker Cigar
The 1960's - A Time for Change - JFK, MLK, Love, Peace, Vietnam, the Stones, Joplin, Woodstock. The 60's was a decade full of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," when experimentation ran rampant, yet consciousness rose to the highest levels. People sought meaning, guardrails were broken, and pink flowers bloomed. This era marked a young Carlito Fuente for life, becoming an out-of-the-box artist who changed norms and set new standards in the cigar industry. With these lifelong reflections both in mind and soul, The Toymaker created his latest gem - the Rare Pink - with the hope that it reminds us all that no matter how tough the times get, Love Conquers All!
#9 Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua Churchill Cigar
Some things are worth the wait, so we got really excited when we heard that the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua Churchill cigar was finally here. The original Dominican RyJ Reserva Real has been a fan favorite for years thanks to a spicy kick courtesy of some Nicaraguan longleaf included in the filler of the otherwise mild shade-wrapped stogie, but now the renowned AJ Fernandez has crafted this new medium-to-full strength Nicaraguan puro flush with flavor. Selecting the choicest, ripest tobaccos from his own Esteli farms, Fernandez expertly ferments and ages them to delectable perfection. Rolled by some of the most skilled torcedors in the land, you can now get your hands on these 7” X 50 masterpieces. SHOP NOW
#8 Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series Principe Cigar
The Padron 1964 Anniversary Principe Natural cigar is 4 year aged, Medium-Full bodied, box pressed, Nicaraguan puro. It was developed to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Padron company. Though it is technically a limited edition run, in that each cigar is individually numbered, these cigars are readily available in most places.
This Padron 1964 Anniversary Natural boasts more individual flavor notes than nearly any other cigar out there. I hope you have one really refined palate, you're gonna need it to enjoy this premium offering from Padron. You'll find flavors ranging from red pepper, black pepper, molasses, leather, oak, earth, cherries, cedar, and chocolate to meat, nuts, and cocoa with a creaminess you just can't place. SHOP NOW
#7 My Father Le Bijou 1922 Churchill Cigar
My Father Le Bijou 1922 Churchill is a 7 inch by 50 ring guage cigar. Steeped in a traditional tobacco family of fathers and sons, the My Father Le Bijou 1922 is a tribute by Don Pepin to his own father. Le Bijou means “the jewel” in French and 1922 is the year Don Pepin's father was born. The My Father Le Bijou 1922 blend is a Nicaraguan puro that makes use of the very difficult to grow Pelo de Oro leaf for it's wrapper. The Torpedo (Box Press) was named the #1 Cigar of the year for 2015 by Cigar Afcionado magazine.
The flavors most prevalent after lighting continue to be that of bitter dark chocolate, tobacco, and some baking spices but the Pepin blast of pepper still never really showed. Sure there was a bit of pepper here and there but not what we're used to. Trust me, the cigar is still good, it's just shocking to not have a pepper blast. SHOP NOW
#6 Alec Bradley Black Market Churchill Cigar
By all indications, 2011 was a great year for Alec Bradley cigars, but it was the release of the infamous Black Market Churchill that perhaps will forever stand as the defining moment for Alan Rubin’s company in the new millennium. Sure, the Alec Bradley Prensado was named Cigar of the Year and the American Classic whisked us back in time, but the Black Market ended up being the favorite topic of conversation for many a jaded aficionado. You see, at the time there was an arms race afoot to prove who could create the strongest stogie, the most palate-destroying profile. Onto the smoldering battlefield strides the Black Market, heavy with tobaccos from Nicaragua, Honduras, Sumatra, and Panama to show that a medium strength cigar could still be delicious yet full-bodied enough to satisfy even the most crazed of enthusiasts. SHOP NOW
#5 Oliva Serie V Churchill Extra Cigar
The notable Oliva Serie V Churchill Extra cigar is the crown jewel of the Oliva Cigar Company in Nicaragua. For years, if not decades, Oliva has been among the very top suppliers of cigar tobacco in the world. When they decided to start making their own brands of cigars, people started paying more attention. Then, when this cigar blend was introduced, the entire world of cigars went crazy, and for many years this ultra-premium treat was one of the hardest sticks to get a hold of. Made by the top rollers at Oliva, this amazing stick consists of Nicaraguan Jalapa Valley ligero fillers, a spicy Nicaraguan binder, and a gorgeous sun-grown Nicaraguan Habano wrapper. This is one beast of a cigar, and well it should be, as it helped start the “powerhouse” cigar movement, when tastes went from full-flavored to extremely-full-flavored. SHOP NOW
#4 Hoyo de Monterrey Elegantes Cuban Cigar
The Hoyo de Monterrey Elegantes Cigar is another LCDH cigar released for La Casa del Habanos stores. Filled with the finest Cuban tobaccos, the Elegantes is totalmente a mano, tripa larga – man made, long filler. This cigar is beautiful in presentation with a cinnamon colored wrapper that gives off aromas of cedar mixed with chocolate. You can expect light-bodied smoke from this Cuban cigar, with delicate yet aromatic flavours. (Cuban cigars are not sold in the US)
#3 Davidoff Nicaragua Diadema Cigar
Davidoff Nicaragua Diadema cigar is a premium handmade Perfecto cigar. Roasted coffee, white pepper, and dark bitter chocolate are prominent notes in this gorgeous Figurado format. The draw introduces a big smooth cedar flavor that begins the Davidoff Nicaragua Diadema. It's joined by a creaminess, earthy and nutty characteristics on the finish—all three are detailed and active well into the finish. This Nicaraguan puro proves that Davidoff is still at the top.
#2 Rocky Patel Sixty Sixty Cigar
Quality comes with age, and after 60 years of life, Rocky Patel's passion for premium cigars has never been more refined. To celebrate his unbridled love for signature cigars, and in honor of this momentous occasion they present the Rocky Patel Sixty cigar. These aged Nicaragua puros dressed in a Mexican San Andrés wrapper are a sight to behold. According to Patel, they made 145 blends before deciding on the perfect one. He goes on to state they used "some of our rarest, oldest tobaccos." Patel also says the cigar has "a lot of notes of caramel and coffee and leather and espresso." SHOP NOW
#1 2022 Cigar of the Year: H. Upmann No. 2 Cuban Cigar
At the top of the list is one of the oldest cigar brands in the world, H. Upmann. Created in Havana, the H Upmann No. 2 Cuban cigar has the same distinctly pointed appearance and substantial ring gauge as the world-renowned torpedo Montecristo No. 2.
This luxurious smoke is made with a wrapper, binder, and long filler exclusively sourced from the Vuelta Abajo region of Cuba. The figurado-sized cigar is 6 ⅛" in length with a bold 52 ring gauge that further creates an impressive profile. The pyramid shape has a neat taper and minimal veining.
Take a moment to close your eyes and picture your perfect cigar, something we like to do literally all the time, and then imagine the H. Upmann No. 2. It is occasionally misconstrued and disregarded as being too mild. Although this cigar was not specifically crafted to be strong, smoking it is still a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Its mouth-filling texture and room-filling aroma allow one to savor the layers of nutmeg, cinnamon, and salted peanut flavor that develop over time, while at the same time displaying a delicate floral quality that adds superb balance. (Cuban cigars are not sold in the US)
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