Cigar Aficionado

There is perhaps no better way to assess the health of the premium cigar industry than by looking back at an entire year’s worth of scores. Consider our Cigar Insider Year in Review as an annual check-up where overall, year-end averages give a clear view of the state of the industry. In this analysis, we look at 12 months of ratings from Cigar Insider, the bimonthly newsletter of Cigar Aficionado. While Insider focuses on new releases and entire vertical brand tastings, it also rates industry mainstays that aren’t necessarily new releases, but widely sold in cigar stores throughout the United States and still relevant to the market. 

Could the year 2022 have been a return to normalcy? To some extent, this was the case in the cigar world. As the unusually high demand for handmade cigars starts to level off, and supply-chain issues begin to subside, the industry is finding some equilibrium again. One concern was that high demand would strain quality control in both the tobacco fields and in the cigar factories. A year’s worth of Cigar Insider scores seem to indicate otherwise.  

The annual report presented here is a data-driven compilation that looks at performances from different perspectives, analyzing the ratings by score, country, size and price. Through an analysis of our scores, some important questions are answered: 

Which cigar-producing country had the highest overall average? 

Which brands turned in the best performances? 

How well did the handmade cigar industry perform as a whole? 

As has always been the method with Cigar Insider (and Cigar Aficionado) all the scores used to generate these averages were obtained through our blind tasting process, which has been the basis of our rating system since these publications first went to print. (Note that this analysis is quite different from Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25, which is a contest among the highest-rated cigars from both Cigar Insider and Cigar Aficionado.)

We rated 251 cigars in Cigar Insider this year, many of which were released in 2022. Most of the brands were made in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua, the four leading producers of premium, handmade cigars, but minor cigarmaking countries like the United States and Costa Rica are represented as well. Cigar Insider rated cigars of all types ranging from one-and-done limited editions to small-batch boutique lines to large, high-profile brands with wide national distribution. 

90 Points or Higher

Taking the big-picture view, the ratings for 2022 indicate a high level of quality throughout the cigar market, as 104 of the 251 cigars we rated scored 90 points or higher (41.4 percent). While every major cigar-producing country contributed cigars to that list, Nicaragua was the leader by far, making 48 of the cigars to score 90 points or higher. Currently, Nicaragua exports more premium cigars to the U.S. than any other country, and its proliferation of high ratings speaks to both the high quality of production, both on the agricultural and production sides of the industry. We rated 104 Nicaraguan cigars in 2022, and 46.2 percent of the cigars rated scored 90 points or higher. 

While Nicaragua produced more 90 pointers than any other country, it does not have the highest percentage of 90-point-scores. That honor is reserved for Cuba. Cigar Insider rated 22 Cubans this year, and 17 of them (77.3 percent) scored 90 points or higher, a larger percentage of cigars in the 90s than any other country. The Cubans we rated this year are a combination of core brands, new releases and a few Regional Editions.

Where The Top Scorers Are Made

Costa Rica and the United States came in second with 50 percent of its cigars scoring 90 points or higher, but the samples were so small that they’re statistically negligible. Nicaragua ranked third. The Dominican Republic came in fourth, with 24 of its 72 cigars (33.3 percent) reaching or surpassing 90 points. Honduras ranked last, as only 10 of the 43 Honduran cigars we rated in 2022 reached the 90-point mark, a ratio of just 23.3 percent.

The highest individual scores we awarded in 2022 were 94 points, given to new releases from two different countries, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic: the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Torpedo and New World Dorado Robusto. 

If you’ve smoked cigars for a long time, you might remember Cuba Aliados as a hot brand once made in Honduras by Rolando Reyes Sr. But Cuba Aliados had become a rather sleepy cigar over the last two decades, which is why it was so surprising when news broke in 2021 that Oliva Cigar Co. purchased the trademark. The Nicaraguan company was hoping to appeal to the market’s sense of nostalgia as well as turn new smokers on to the brand. Two versions exist, one made in Honduras by JRE Tobacco, and a limited edition made in the Dominican Republic by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, which we rated. The Torpedo was an impressive effort and, at 94 points, a nice re-entry for the brand. 

2021 Humidor Selections

The New World Dorado Robusto is made by A.J. Fernandez in Nicaragua. Most of the tobacco came from his Dorado farm in Estelí, making this an estate cigar of sorts. The farm is young, but its tobacco proved to be extraordinary, especially in the Robusto size, which scored 94 points. The cigars in this release represent the first harvest from the Dorado farm.

A dozen cigars scored 93 points this year, all ranging in styles, strength levels and price points. Usually in our upper rankings, Padrón appeared in the 93-point bracket with its Family Reserve No. 95, which came out this year. It’s a plump, 60-ring-gauge Nicaraguan smoke that’s meant to commemorate the birthday of the company’s late founder José Orlando Padrón, who would have been 95 years old in 2021 (the cigar came out late). Unlike most of the high-end Padróns, which are box-pressed, the No. 95 comes in a round parejo shape.

The Olmec line from Foundation, however, is undeniably box pressed. It’s made in Nicaragua by A.J. Fernandez and is composed of a Mexican wrapper and Nicaraguan tobacco. While Olmec comes in two versions, we rated the slightly lighter Claro line. Two cigars in the brand, the Robusto and Corona Gorda scored 93 points. 

Cuba produced four cigars that scored 93 points in the Insider this year, all of which are fairly new. The Romeo y Julieta Línea de Oro is the super-premium extension of the Cuban Romeo line and it’s supposedly stronger than regular Romeos. Out of the brand’s three sizes, the Nobles scored the highest. As a super-premium, the Romeo Línea de Oros cost more as well. Speaking of costing more, one of the most expensive Cuban Cohibas to ever go on sale hit the international market this year. It’s the Cohiba 55 Aniversario Edición Limitada 2021 released for the brand’s 55th birthday. Whether you’re buying it in Switzerland at 300 Swiss francs, or Germany at 300 euros, 300 is the global price set for each market. That’s 300 per cigar. More soberly priced, the Cohiba Medio Siglo also scored 93 points. For a short robusto, it’s still quite expensive (Habanos raised prices precipitously on the Cohiba brand this year), and was released when Cohiba turned 50 in 2016. Quai d’Orsay Clemenceau is a Regional Edition Cuban made just for France in commemoration of Coprova’s 50th anniversary. Coprova is the country’s official Habanos distributor. 

Three cigars from the Dominican Republic scored 93 points. The La Flor Dominicana Oro Chisel comes in a golden tube and is fitted with a golden band. The gold is a reference to brand owner Litto Gomez’s previous profession as a jeweler. The wrapper is similar to that found on his Coronado line, only it’s a higher-priming leaf for added strength. Moving from gold to pink, the Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Sophisticated Hooker is a large figurado with a funny name. It’s named after an old fishing boat (“hooker” is also a term for a fisherman). If pink seems an odd color for cigar packaging, the brand was created to bring awareness to breast cancer. Like Fuente’s Hemingway series, Rare Pinks are all figurados, but Fuente produced an outstanding Hemingway cigar as well. The Work of Art, with its Cameroon wrapper and Dominican blend, also scored 93 points.

Honduras and the U.S. are both represented in this top tier. From Miami’s El Titan de Bronze factory comes the La Palina Goldie Laguito No. 2, a long, thin panetela modeled after the Cuban size of the same name. Christian Eiroa’s namesake cigar, the Eiroa PCA 2021 50x5, is made in Honduras and Eiroa says that the wrapper is something he calls “Honduran Cameroon” because it’s grown from the same Sumatra seeds used to grow wrapper in Cameroon, Africa. 

Top-Scoring Brands

To widen the scope of the analysis, we’ve arranged the 251 cigars rated in 2022 by brand. The highest average of any cigar brand with more than one cigar rated during the calendar year came from Cohiba. The two Cuban Cohibas averaged 93 points. A point behind was Arturo Fuente with its Rare Pink Vintage 1960’s Séries. The Dominican brand averaged 92 points for its two cigars. Once we look at an entire brand vertical, the Nicaraguan Olmec Claro line averaged 91.8 points, which is quite impressive considering the average covers five sizes in total.

We rated two cigars from the Padrón Family Reserve this year from Nicaragua, and they averaged 91.5 points. Three brands turned in an average of 91.3 points: The Honduran Eiroa PCA 2021 line (three sizes), the Cuban H. Upmann (three sizes) and the Cuban Romeo y Julieta Línea de Oro brand (three sizes).

Average Score By Brand

Other notable brand performances include Fuente’s Hemingway series, which averaged 90.6 points over seven sizes; The Ferio Tego Timeless Panamericana at 90.3 points for four sizes; and the five-size Cuba Aliados By Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, which had an average of 90.2 points. All three brands are made in the Dominican Republic.

Analysis By Country

When examining Cigar Insider’s ratings by country, Cuba had the highest overall average at 90.8 points (down slightly from 91 points last year); we rated 22 Cuban cigars. Nicaragua was second with an average of 89.2 points (slightly up 0.2 points from last year), but Insider rated nearly five times as many Nicaraguans this year as it did Cubans. Considering the massive difference in sample size—Cuba’s 22 cigars to Nicaragua’s 104—this impressive average speaks directly to the consistency of Nicaragua. Between the pandemic-driven cigar boom of the last two years and Nicaragua being the highest exporter of handmade cigars to the United States, the demands on Nicaragua’s cigar industry have been particularly strenuous.

Given these factors, this overall average is quite telling of the country’s consistency and resiliency, which can be traced back directly to the farmers and cigar manufacturers who did not let high demand hurt quality in any significant way. Recall that more than 46 percent of Nicaragua’s cigars scored 90 points or higher. 

Average Score By Country

Analysis By Country

Few cigars are rolled by hand in the United States, and we rated only six in 2022. The quantity might be small, but the quality level is quite high, averaging 89.3 points, putting it in third place. Still, taking into consideration the small sample size, the average isn’t particularly telling. The Dominican Republic, on the other hand, came in fourth with an average of 89 points for 72 rated cigars—a much larger sample. This number is slightly higher than last year’s average (up from 88.6) and the Dominican Republic moves up a slot from fifth place in 2021. The No. 5 spot this year goes to Honduras, which averaged 88.6 points for 43 cigars. It dropped a bit from last year’s average of 89.1 points, but Insider only rated 28 Honduran cigars in 2021. Insider tested four cigars from Costa Rica, all from the El Septimo Sacred Arts Collection. It averaged 87.3 points. On the whole, the cigar-producing countries averaged within two points of each other. 

Bargain Cigars and Where They’re From

Judging by the abundance of cigars that scored more than 90 points this year, (including some extraordinary 94-pointers), it’s easy to say that there are plenty of great cigars in production. But cigars that are great and inexpensive? Those are more difficult to find, especially in this time of inflation where more cigars are climbing toward the $20 mark.

To show some perspective, look at all the cigars that scored 92 points or higher this year. Only one has a suggested retail price of less than $10 (generally considered to be the “sweet spot” price of premium cigars). The remainder of 2022’s top-scoring cigars are quite expensive, with many MSRPs exceeding $30 and one going all the way up to $300. Cigars aren’t getting any cheaper, so Best Buys are always welcome.

To be classified by Cigar Insider as a Best Buy, a cigar must have a suggested retail price of $7 or less and score at least 87 points. We raised the qualification up $1 from last year because of inflation. Even at a higher price point, the number of Best Buys in 2022 was dismally low. Of the 251 cigars Cigar Insider rated, only six qualified as Best Buys. The Dominican El Trovador Maduro Corona from PDR Cigars topped the Best Buy list, scoring 91 points and retailing for only $6.89.
 

2022 Best Buys

Like last year, the most inexpensive premium cigars are made in Nicaragua or Honduras. The average suggested retail price of the Honduran cigars we rated is $11.41, and the average price of a Nicaraguan is $12.33, up from last year’s $11.16 average. Dominican cigars come out to $15.46 with pricey cigars like Davidoff, La Aurora Preferidos and the new Agape by Freud bringing up the overall average. The six cigars Insider rated from the U.S. averaged $15.49, with the most expensive being the Cohiba Serie M, which retails for $29.99.

It’s no surprise that the most expensive cigars are Cuban. Cigars from that country have the highest average MSRP almost every year. Recent price hikes by Habanos S.A., most notably on the Cohiba and Trinidad brands, ensure that you’re reaching in your pocket the deepest for cigars made in Havana. The average price for the Cubans rated this year is £46.84 on the British market, which works out to about $57. Even more remarkable, last year’s average price for Cubans we rated was £27.66 (about $36.54). That’s an increase of 56 percent. Both this year and last, Cigar Insider rated 22 Cubans, so the sample size was identical. 

The Best-Scoring Sizes

Like strength levels and wrapper types, cigar sizes are very personal. Some shapes are quite popular while others fall out of fashion. Trends come and go with cigar sizes, but one thing is clear—most cigar brands have a toro. And, like last year, Cigar Insider rated more toros than any other size, but toros didn’t necessarily have the highest average. Insider tested 83 toros in 2022 with an overall average of 89.1 points. Given the high volume, that put toros in the No. 8 spot. “A” sizes and double coronas averaged 91 and 90 points, respectively. These two topped the rankings, but we only rated one each. 

Average Score By Size

After toros, the majority of sizes we rated turned out to be robustos and figurados, which is indicative of the current market. The five petit coronas rated this year averaged out to 89.8 while the 36 figurados—any cigar with a point, taper or curve—came out to 89.6 points, as did cigars from the odd or miscellaneous category. Our odd or category consists of cigars that too short, fat or thin to fall into typical classification. The 14 rated this year were mostly short, fat robustos. After toros, the next largest sample was the robusto category. At 45 cigars, the average ended up at 88.9 points, which is the No. 11 spot. Grandes, which are fat cigars with a minimal ring gauge of 60, had the lowest overall average: 88.8 points for 29 cigars. 

What It All Means

After reviewing a year’s worth of Cigar Insider ratings from different angles, there are a few clear takeaways:

• The industry has pretty much maintained quality, despite the high consumer demands, especially in Nicaragua, which is currently the market leader by volume. Fluctuations in overall averages from country to country were minimal when compared to last year.
• Cigars aren’t getting any cheaper. Between inflation and an additional price hike by Habanos, the coveted $10 cigar with a high score is getting more difficult to find. 
• There are still plenty of great cigars out there. Out of the 251 cigars that Insider rated, 104 scored 90 points or higher, which is a little more than 41 percent. 

One can’t help but compare 2022 to the boom-time of the 1990s, where quality took a serious dip. The industry obviously learned something from the last boom and the consumer has benefitted, though smokers are paying a little more. The boom might be leveling off now, but it’s still an exciting and interesting time for smokers as cigarmakers continue to innovate and find new ways to express creativity. 

Data compiled by Thomas Pappalardo