Connoisseurs Corner | Cigar Aficionado

Connoisseur’s Corner: Partagás Corona Inmensas Extra Maduro

Back in the pre-Castro days of Havana, cigars would often be marked with the designation “maduro.” It’s a practice that fell out of favor after the revolution. This dark, long cigar is a throwback from the early 1950s, and despite its age, it’s vibrant from the first puff, with …

Connoisseur’s Corner: Romeo y Julieta Fabuloso (1985)

It’s surprising how little this “A”-sized cigar tastes like cedar, seeing how it spent so many years in a cedar box. Instead, this is a nutty, fruity smoke, with light hints of peach tea that transition to more festive, concentrated notes of dried apricot and fig paste. There’s …

Connoisseur’s Corner: Punch Super Selection No. 1

Even though this long corona has been sitting in a 50-count cabinet for 24 years, the dark, gleaming wrapper hasn’t lost any of its oils. Each puff delivers dense smoke that’s both sweet and savory with a palate of mocha, caramel and graham cracker atop salty notes of leather, …

Connoisseur’s Corner: Pre-Castro Romeo y Julietas

This cabinet of 50 pre-Castro cigars has unusual packaging, and the smaller cigars inside come packed in foil. The smokes are dark brown, and roughish in texture, a nod to the sun-grown wrappers with which they are made, and they measure a little more than five inches in length, …

Connoisseur’s Corner: The First Cigar of the Year

This Padrón was the first Cigar of the Year ever bestowed by this magazine, and came from one of the original painted boxes. Fourteen years later, the cigar is still full of life, nuance and character. Every puff has subtle, yet delicious notes of nutmeg and chestnuts with hints …

Connoisseur’s Corner: A Flawless Hoyo de Monterrey

When you think of superb, big cigars, this one immediately comes to mind, for Hoyo Double Coronas are a benchmark for that Cuban size, which also goes by the name prominente. The wrapper on this large cigar—it measures 7 5/8 inches long, with a 49 ring gauge—is the texture of …

Connoisseur’s Corner: A Churchill For Sir Winston

This Churchill-sized cigar is named for Sir Winston Churchill himself. At seven inches long by 47 ring, it’s the same size as a Romeo y Julieta Churchill, but far harder to find. Its packaging is distinctive, with a dark green box. The smoke itself, medium-brown in color and 23 …

Connoisseur’s Corner: A 98-Point Montecristo

Monte 5s are the lesser-known, smaller siblings of the ubiquitous Montecristo No. 4s. This well-aged example comes from a box of 25, which looks similar to modern-day boxes, but a closer look shows the far thicker lid, older Cuban tax seal and the absence of the “Habanos” …

Connoisseur’s Corner, A 99-Point Hoyo de Monterrey Corona

There are two reasons why pre-Castro Cuban cigars sell for such high prices at auction. They get rarer by the day (the world supply gets smaller every time one is fired up) and in many cases they have aged into phenomenal smokes. Take, for example, this Hoyo de Monterrey Corona …

Connoisseur’s Corner: Pre-Castro Cubans Aged To Perfection

(From the December 2017 Cigar Aficionado ) There was a time before Fidel Castro’s Revolution when Cuban brands were privately owned, giving each owner the freedom to produce bespoke cigars for certain institutions around the world as he saw fit. The H. Upmann Tivoli was one …