The Lenten Season has arrived, and for Christians around the world, it is a time for deep reflection and sacrifice.  I won’t get too much into the religious aspect, but Lent is a very profound holiday, particularly for us Catholics.  The weeks of no meat on Fridays and personal sacrifice end in April, when we get to celebrate Easter Sunday.

So in the spirit of this solemn holiday, I’ve decided to put together a top list of cigars that fit perfectly in with the religious theme of the season.  As always, this top five has been made into a very limited sampler that you can pick up right below.

One of the more robust options to come from E.P. Carrillo in the past few years, it saddens me that the Cardinal Impact doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.  It is among my favorite cigars from him.  This Nicaraguan smoke delivers on all fronts including price, construction, and flavor.

The Cardinal Impact is available in two wrapper variety, including my absolute favorite, Connecticut broadleaf.  I chose this due to its name and the famed religious rank of Cardinal.

The reason this cigar appears on this Top 5 is the same reason why I didn’t rank it higher on our Top 25.  The name and theme have been done before, but in this case, it fits perfectly well into our theme.  The Dias de Gloria is a reference to the glory days of tobacco, the Cuban heyday if you will.

This top-notch smoke is a Nicaraguan puro that uses tobacco from four different farms, all owned by AJ.  It is smooth, zesty and incredibly well balanced.

One of my favorite cigars of all time, the Jacobs Ladder can be found on several of our top lists.  It just so happens to fit perfectly into this week’s theme.  The name Jacobs Ladder not only reference founder Robert Holt’s son but is also right from the Old Testament.  That makes it quite the match for the Lent season.

The Jacobs Ladder is hand-rolled at the AJ Fernandez factory using aged Ligero tobaccos and a stunning Pennsylvania broadleaf wrapper.  Notes of dark chocolate coffee, earth, and wood make this quite the treat.

Over the past few years, I’ve really fallen in love with Black Label.  It’s not just their blends, which by the way are beyond amazing, but their artwork, themes, and overall business model.  Among their entire portfolio, I’d have to say that the limited release Bishops Blend.  This annual release is among the most coveted by cigar nerds such as myself.

This Bishops Blend is as strong as it looks.  It uses an Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper with broadleaf filler from Pennsylvania and Connecticut.  The fact that is has Bishop in the name and resembles a Bishops had is why it made this week’s list.

It couldn’t be a religious or history-themed list without something from Nick Melillo.  I decided upon my daily go-to, the Tabernacle.  Its name is derived from the container that allegedly held the Ark of the Covenant.  While I’m not sure about that, I do know this cigar contains some immense flavor.

Using a Broadleaf wrapper, a San Andres binder, and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers, this is an intense and complex cigar with rich notes of coffee, leather and a slight dash of sweetness.