Oftentimes people ask me what my favorite cigar is. This is a tough question. I like a lot of different kinds of cigars. People often ask me this because they want to gift me a cigar (a really great idea!) but sometimes I don’t know whether the cigar they want to gift me will even be available in their geographic location.
I also may not know the price they want to spend. Most cigars I smoke are in the $10-12 range. However, sometimes I’ll splurge on a $15 cigar, and maybe once or twice a year, I may splurge on a $20-$25 cigar. That’s very rare!
Other times people ask me about cigars because they want to know which cigar to try if they are not familiar. Usually these are people who are brand new to smoking a cigar. I always recommend a very mild cigar for someone’s first time. It’s also important that newbies remember that you do not inhale cigars! If you smoke cigarettes (or anything else), you usually inhale. But cigars, you just taste. You bring the smoke in but not all the way into your lungs. That’s also why one cigar can be smoked for an hour or two at a time and why it’s not as unhealthy as smoking a cigarette.
And if you want to know why cigars are so great and why they are definitely superior to smoking anything else, just look at the photo above. Cigars bring people together. They require at least a 45-minute conversation if you start one from the beginning. And, as this 1997 First Things article by Michael Foley, “Tobacco and the Soul,” points out, cigars “correspond to the spirited part of the soul.”
On this list below, I really only have one really mild cigar, the Oliva Connecticut Reserve. It’s at #10 on my list because it’s rare I smoke it, but sometimes I do pick it up and you really can almost never go wrong with the Oliva brand, one of my favorites. As you can see, one of their cigars is #1 on my list!
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1. Oliva Serie V Melanio. This has become my favorite cigar for many reasons. It is a high quality smoke, not too strong, but not too mild. I really love the wrapper and tend to go with the Figuardo shape for this one, which was named the 2014 Cigar of the Year by Cigar Aficionado magazine. The Oliva website describes it as “hand rolled using expertly fermented ligero fillers, leaves known for their robust and rich flavor. This special cigar is sure to exceed a premium cigar smoker’s highest expectation. This carefully aged Jalapa blend produces a particularly flavored smoke.”
It is slightly above the price point for what I’m used to paying for a cigar, usually being found for around $15. That makes it not a daily or weekly smoke, but something I might have as often as once a month, wherever Oliva cigars are sold.
2. LSD Andalusian Bull. This is a SUPERB cigar, one of the best I’ve ever smoked, and one of my favorites, thanks to the obsession created by my friends Sunny Aggarwal and Lance Barnett.
As noted in Cigar Aficionado magazine: “The La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull is a truly new concept within La Flor’s portfolio of fine cigars. The size is based on that of an old cigar mold that Litto Gomez found in Belgium. Naming it after Andalusia was a nod to Spain, the country where Gomez was born. And the silhouette of a matador on the band represents the celebrated history of the sport of bullfighting in Andalusia. That eye-catching shade of green is similar to that found on the Andalusian flag. But there’s more to decode. The font on the band is based on Pablo Picasso’s handwriting—he loved to paint bulls—and the scrollwork reflects patterns found on a bullfighter’s uniform. Fittingly, with this combination of heavy-handed and subtle symbolism comes a blend that is both bold and refined (like a bull and a matador) …. It’s a combination of Corojo-seed Ecuador Habano wrapper on a blend that consists primarily of Dominican Criollo ’98 tobacco, a hybrid and a bit of Pelo d’Oro too. First impressions are bold and savory with strong notes of hickory and leather. But it continues to take on a complex spiciness of saffron and cumin as well as a slight tangy note that brings the strength and spice together quite gracefully—and it only gets better with every puff.”
That description is so true. Anytime I am privileged to smoke one of these — and they are not cheap and not easy to find in stock — it is a beautiful, long smoke, that just seems to get better throughout the experience. Again, a rare smoke for me, since they tend to be about $22-$24 per cigar. They are great for special occasions. One special occasion of note: I smoked one of these as a gift from Congressman Madison Cawthorn, one he gifted me and other friends who were at his home on the night he was first elected to Congress (I still have that wrapper!) I believe this is his favorite cigar (or at least one of his favorites) and he’s a man who knows his cigars.
3. Padron Serie 1926 No. 90 Natural This is a special blend to commemorate the birth year of company founder Jose O. Padrón. The blend is manufactured in a number of vitolas with the option of a natural or a maduro wrapper, with a Nicaraguan wrapper, binder, & filler. The cigars are also unique from all of the other 1926 Serie vitolas in two distinct ways. First, the No. 90 is cylindrically shaped instead of box-pressed. Also, the No. 90 is encased in an aluminum tube. It’s a beautiful presentation and the smoke is surprisingly long and absolutely exquisite. I rarely smoke these because they are usually in the $20-$22 range. But when I get the chance, they are quite amazing.
4. Liga Privada No. 9 by Drew Estate. When I want a cigar to kick my ass, this is what I love to smoke! It starts off very strong and spicy and becomes super smooth. This is not for a new cigar smoker, but if you’ve been smoking cigars for quite a while and want some new flavors and something strong, there are few better. For its high quality, it is also a great price point, usually about $12 a stick. And as you can tell, Drew Estate (of Nicaragua) has become one of my favorite cigar producers.
5. Rocky Patel Decade. Rocky Patel is known for his impeccable attention to detail, which is why his cigars are so consistent in construction and flavor, since he puts a massive amount of time and effort into quality assurance. Some say the Decade cigar remains on a pedestal of its own. Although Rocky earned many accolades for his cigars, including 90+ ratings for his Vintage lines, Decade is now his cream of the crop. This beauty features a dark, oily Sumatra wrapper that masks a unique Honduran blend of long leaves in the filler. Potent, very rich, smooth, creamy, yet powerful with a medium finish, this cigar is one of the finest blends on the market—well deserving of its ’95’ rating by Cigar Aficionado. It’s also a great price point, usually around $11-$13 a stick. It’s hard to pick my favorite Rocky Patel cigar as you really can’t go wrong with anything from his brand – and he has quite a number of different cigars from which to choose and they are some of the most widely available anywhere you go. He also boasts one of my favorite cigar lounges anywhere, “Burn” in Naples, Florida. Most of his cigars are grown and produced in Honduras and Nicaragua.
6. The American by J.C. Newman Cigars. What makes The American unique is that it is the first 100% American cigar. These luxury cigars are hand rolled by Americans in a historic U.S. cigar factory using heirloom American cigar tobaccos. I can also only find them at Corona Cigar Company, which is based in Orlando. The American is the first cigar rolled with Florida Sun Grown wrapper, grown by Corona Cigar Company’s Jeff Borysiewicz in Clermont, Florida, just 30 minutes from downtown Orlando. The binder is Connecticut Broadleaf grown by eighth-generation family farmer Jon Foster and the filler is a blend of Foster’s Connecticut Havana tobacco with tobacco grown by the Mennonites in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The first time I smoked one of these was courtesy of my friend Sunny Aggarwal when he hosted us at his Titusville condo in late May 2020 to watch the first SpaceX manned launch, the first time a private company launched men into space from American soil. It is a really smooth smoke. But it’s also on the pricier side for me, usually about $18-$20 per cigar, so maybe once twice a year for me. A great occasion is around the Fourth of July, of course!
7. My Father. There are many types of cigars under the My Father brand, but the title track is as good as any other. Last year, I smoked a special one branded exclusively for the Monte Cristo cigar lounges called the My Father Casa de Monte Cristo exclusive. The cigar uses an Ecuadorian habano oscuro wrapper, a double binder with leaves from Nicaragua’s Estelí and Jalapa regions, and a Nicaraguan filler that draws on three varieties. Specifically, the filler contains tobacco from Estelí and the Finca el Predero farm, from Jalapa and the Finca La Bonita farm, and from the Finca Las Quebradas farm in Namanji, a growing region located approximately 20 miles east of Estelí. A great, medium-bodied, smooth smoke that can never steer you wrong. It’s usually around $10-$13 a stick.
8. Drew Estate Herrera Esteli Habano. I’ve had many different cigars by Drew Estate, including the Herrera Esteli. It is produced in Nicaragua by Drew Estate. Created by Willy Herrera, the “Miami” version is rolled at the El Titan de Bronze factory in Miami’s Little Havana, not far from where my Cuban-born grandparents lived for the last four decades of their life. It’s a small factory, but one that has become the go-to operation for premium cigar companies looking for something made in Miami. This is a tasty toro with a core of semisweet chocolate, cedar and almonds with pleasant pops of citrus that lead to the espresso bean finish. It has an Ecuadorian binder and wrapper. A bit on the stronger side, but a little smoother than the Liga Privada (also by Drew Estate). It also goes for around $10-$12 per cigar.
9. FSG cigar by Drew Estate. Through a partnership with Drew Estate, Corona Cigars recently shared with us Florida Sun Grown cigars. This became one of my new favorites in 2020, though I haven’t had many at all in 2021 since I was living most of the year outside of Florida and they are hard to come by unless you order by mail.
It has a Honduran binder, Nicaraguan tobacco, which is grown in Central Florida, and was recently awarded the best Nicaraguan cigar!
For nearly 175 years, Florida had a rich and storied history of growing some of the world’s finest cigar tobacco. Florida was once the second largest producer of premium cigar tobacco in America. In the 1890’s, Cuba was fighting for their independence from Spain. To escape the war and the blockade on Havana harbor, some Cuban tobacco growers established large tobacco farms in Fort Meade, Florida so they could continue to supply American cigar factories with tobacco. Cigar factories also popped up in Key West and Ybor City where tobacco imported from Cuba was rolled in Florida cigar factories.
This is a moderately smooth smoke with nice flavors. It is also very affordable, usually around $10-11 per cigar.
10. Oliva Connecticut Reserve. This is a very mild cigar that the Oliva website accurately describes as one “that is blended from Nicaraguan long filers and binder. Finished with only the finest Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, this medium-bodied cigar shows rich flavors as a smooth, silky smoke. This mellow cigar is not short on flavor with subtle notes of wood. It’s the perfect ‘any time’ cigar.” It’s also the one I recommend the most for brand new cigar smokers. It’s high quality, but very mild and smooth, without compensating for good flavors. And you can usually find it for around $10 per cigar.
