Connoisseurs Corner | Cigar Aficionado

Connoisseur’s Corner: Punch Punch

Wide and majestic cabinets of 50 cigars are becoming a rare sight in humidors, and that’s unfortunate. There’s a regal air to these boxes, which have a beauty in their plain nature, the cigars unbanded, the boxes devoid of color, the only flair a ribbon around the smokes inside. …

Connoisseur’s Corner: Hoyo de Monterrey Exclusivo

This big cigar comes from an intriguing box of 50: half of the cigars are traditional, box-pressed Hoyo Double Coronas, while the other half are Exclusivos, the same size as the Double Corona but presented in the round, and with a different band. The Exclusivos are flavorful …

Connoisseur’s Corner: El Rey Del Mundo Taino

El Rey del Mundo is Spanish for “king of the world,” and this cigar brand dates back to the mid 1800s. It once had a vast array of sizes, from the diminutive to the grand, but today it’s been whittled down to a mere two. This Taino, a Churchill, is among the many sizes that are …

Connoisseur’s Corner: Don Candido Dunhill Selección No. 500

One of the most delicious cigars I’ve ever smoked. At 6 1/2 inches by 48 ring, it’s nearly a Churchill, and the largest size in the long gone Don Candido brand. The draw remains flawless and the beautiful brown wrapper is still silky after all these years. It’s a very creamy …

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 …