While we are unable to sell Cuban cigars in the US, cigar nerds still get their hands on them and are curious as to how they rank year to year.  It seems that every year there is a Cuban Cohiba cigar on the Top 10 lists and this year is no different.

The Cuban Cohiba Siglo IV is hand-rolled at the legendary El Laguito factory in the heart of Havana, Cuba.  It has a complex yet balanced profile with hints of cocoa, coffee, and vanilla notes.  This handcrafted Robusto sized cigar represents the finest of Cuban tobaccos and manufacturing and deserves its spot on Best of Lists for years to come.

The focus of the past few years may have been to Nicaragua, but we cannot forget of the powerhouses coming out of the Dominican Republic including Montecristo, Arturo Fuente, and of course the legendary Davidoff.  This year, the cigar journal sought to award them for their newest and strongest release yet.

The Davidoff Winston Churchill The Late Hour combines the distinguished and regal qualities of the Davidoff White Label with the flavor and creativity of the black label and the use of barrel aging we have seen in the Camacho brand.  It uses a stunning Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan and Dominican tobaccos that have been aged to perfection in Scotch barrels.

This combination gives you a complex and bold profile with notes of wood, dark chocolate coffee, smoke, and a dash of smooth scotch to give you one of the strongest cigars Davidoff has ever created.

Back in 2016, Christian Eirora celebrated his 20^th Anniversary being in the cigar industry in the only way you can, with a top of the line celebratory cigar. Now, almost four years later, this cigar is still going strong and still represents the finest aspects of Honduran cigar making.  This makes sense, as Christian and his family are known as the first family of Honduran tobacco, and this cigar proves it.

Eiroa The First 20 Years is a hand-rolled gem that comes out of the families El Aladino factory in Honduras.  It is a puro, meaning it only uses Honduran tobacco for the filler binder and wrapper.  The binder actually a family heirloom tobacco that apparently has not been used in a cigar for over 50 years.

This is the epitome of a high-end Honduran cigar.  Notes of dark chocolate, leather and dark cherry combine with a subtle earthy tone for a medium to full-bodied, rich smoke.  While there have certainly been other top-notch Honduran cigars since this was released, it still remains a contender for one of the best.

Don Pepin and his team over at My Father Cigars have created some of the highest-rated and most popular cigars of the last decade.  The Flor de Las Antilles and My Father Le Bijou line were both named the #1 cigars of the year at various points, and now it seems they can add another award to their large mantle.

My Father La Opulencia was added to their core line of products back in 2017 and continues to smoke like a champion.  This cigar is hand-rolled at the legendary My Father factory in the heart of Esteli, Nicaragua using aged tobaccos including a stunning Mexican Rosado Oscuro wrapper.

The result is a rich, well-balanced smoke with plenty of flavors.  While it doesn’t have the spice many are accustomed to with a Pepin blend, it makes up for it with note soft leather, vanilla, and earth as well as top-notch construction.  This is yet another MY Father blend to top the charts.

It is becoming harder and harder to find high-end cigars being manufactured in the US.  Do not get me wrong they still exist, coming from manufacturers like J.C. Newman or El Titan de Bronze, but it is becoming a lost art in the country.  To celebrate the 15^th Anniversary of his Tatuaje brand, founder Pete Johnson wished to get back to his roots in Miami.  So he had this Anniversary cigar hand-rolled in the heart of American cigar country.

The Tatuaje 15^th Anniversary is hand-rolled at the El Rey de Los Habanos factory, which was Pepin’s first factory in Miami before he opened his bigger facility in Nicaragua.  While the blend is available with two different wrappers, it was the Habano Rosado that claimed this year 2019 trophy.