Cigar Aficionado

And just like that, the year 2022 has neared its end. While we still have family holiday gatherings and glass-raising New Year’s parties to look forward to, this year there is something to celebrate even sooner: Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 cigars of 2022. Click here to follow along as the full list is revealed, complete with video reviews from our editors.

Over the course of a week, starting December 12, we will unveil the 25 best cigars of the year. The full list and rankings are a product of a year-long journey and quite literally hundreds and hundreds of cigars. 

Throughout every year, week after week, the Cigar Aficionado tasting panel goes through a constant cycle of smoking and rating cigars given to them by the tasting coordinator. These smokes come from all over the world in every size and shape and with a full spectrum of strengths and brands. Each cigar is smoked blind, their identifying band (or bands) removed and replaced with a white, coded band. The tasting coordinator is the only one with the code, and is not part of the testing panel. Ultimately, a list of the top-scoring cigars is created and they go through our blind smoking process once again in a sort of March Madness-like tournament to decide our Top 25. 

This year, our prestigious list will be revealed before the year’s end, starting with daily announcements on December 12 through December 16. See the full schedule for the Top 25 reveal below:

Monday, December 12: Cigars 10, 9 and 8
Tuesday, December 13: Cigars 7, 6 and 5
Wednesday, December 14: Cigars 4, 3 and 2
Thursday, December 15: The 2022 Cigar of the Year
Friday, December 16: Cigars 11 through 25

Join us every day at 10 a.m. Eastern to see each stage of the reveal, complete with video reviews from executive editor David Savona and managing editor Gregory Mottola.

Last year, our Cigar of the Year was the Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series Torpedo (Natural). The 97-point Cigar of the Year was the fourth in Padrón’s history, the most ever by any cigarmaker. Can Padrón add another trophy to its legacy this year? Will a new cigarmaker emerge? What country will the winner hail from? Find out starting Monday, December 12.

To see all past winners, see the table below. 

Cigar Aficionado's Cigars Of The Year