Top 10 Best New Cigars of 2023
CIGAR ADVISOR’S TOP 10 CIGARS OF THE YEAR: BEST IN SMOKE OF 2023
2023’s Cigar of the Year season has arrived. And with so many great new cigars released this year, there was lots of disappointment left on the cutting room floor. As good friends the four of us are, we vary significantly in our individual tastes. But there’s only one bottom line. They all can’t be winners.
One thing we unanimously agree on, however, is that Cigar of the Year lists tend to be stuffy. Bougie rags give a New Year’s Eve-like countdown and spread it out over a couple days’ time. And then they crown one cigar the winner. The thing is, cigars are apples and oranges. What makes one great isn’t an objective feature like better gas mileage or air conditioning. It’s subjective and open to interpretation. Instead of choosing one cigar, we pick 10—in alphabetical order—as the blends that impressed us most.
Speaking of unanimous, we don’t leave our meeting until everyone agrees on the total list. We all get a chance to make our case for or against cigars when it comes to the final list. A few expletives, personal attacks, and some light domestic disturbances later, we’ve carved out the list you’ll find below with some of our dignity in tow.
Aganorsa Rare Leaf Maduro Toro
Born out of fan demand for Aganorsa’s original Rare Leaf cigars, Rare Leaf Maduro certainly got our attention—as evidenced by our recent Advisor Rare Leaf panel review. This full-bodied, but non-aggressive smoke is beautifully layered and creamy offering a virtual smorgasbord of flavors including bittersweet chocolate, coffee, cedar, and much more underscored by a dominant layer of earth and a smattering of peppery spice on the finish.
AJ Fernandez New World Dorado
Once again, AJ proves that he’s capable of much more than just the pepper bombs that made him famous. New World Dorado, named after the first harvest of tobaccos on his El Dorado farm, smokes sweet with an earthy, yet aromatic appeal thanks to the blend’s Sun Grown Nicaraguan wrapper. Its approach-ability is what won us over. Let us know what you think when you smoke it.
Blackened (Metallica) M81 by Drew Estate
Easily one of the strongest cigars released this year, Blackened M81 by Drew Estate was born out of a partnership among Drew Estate, Metallica’s James Hetfield, and BLACKENED®American Whiskey, which Hetfield co-founded. Notes of dark chocolate, coffee, and spices gave the blend a nearly unanimous (one of the few) vote from our ranks and has remained a memorable smoke throughout 2023.
Caldwell Long Live the Queen
Caldwell really surprised us with the Cameroon-wrapped Long Live the Queen. Not only is the cigar easily their best release in recent memory—it might be their best of all time. We found notes of cedar, oak, and even a dollop of cream on the finish. If you ignore the price tag on one cigar in this list, let it be this one. As Jared said in his original review, “…the ends justify the means.”
Cuba Aliados Cabinet by EPC
During the 90s Cigar Boom, cigars made by the late, legendary Rolando Reyes Sr. were household names. Today, Oliva’s parent company is running the show and they brought in another blending legend to revive Reyes’s Cuba Aliados in a Cabinet selection: Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. Our Advisor Regordo panel review thought the cigar was impressive enough to make our Top 10 for its medium-bodied smoke that handles flavor and complexity in an understated experience.
El Gueguense Exclusivo by Foundation
Almost every year, there’s a Famous exclusive cigar on this list. And every time there is, without fail, we get accused of being shills. Call us what you want, but we dare you to try El Gueguense Exclusivo and disagree. Based on the blend that earned a #3 slot in Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year, we tasted caramel, spices, sweet cedar, and plenty of pepper. If you don’t like it, send your leftovers to us!
Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Edición Diamante
This Rafael Nodal & AJ Fernandez collab actually preceded the hit Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua series in terms of aging, and was designed to, in essence, echo an experience on par with the great Havana Golden Era Montecristos. We liked how this elegant box-pressed Toro, embraced by a flawless Nicaraguan Jalapa Criollo wrapper aced every technical detail. Yet even more impressive was how gracefully this Nicaraguan puro blossoms into a very rich, layered, and complex smoke.
Partagas Valle Verde
This full-production line marks a first for the historic Partagas cigar brand. It’s the first Partagas to sport Mexican couture. Aged three years, the San Andrés wrapper is grown in the “Green Valley” region of Mexico where the perfect climate yields amazing results. We thought the blend offered smooth, full-bodied smoke overall. Baking spices, sweet tobacco, and peppery spice carve some impressive turns shifting between the understated and the more colorful. All-in-all, it does its heritage proud.
Rojas Unfinished Business
In another American Dream story, Noel Rojas has been doing some amazing things by way of Nicaragua since his escape from Cuba. Unfinished Business was one of the bigger surprises of the year for its spot-on construction and richly-layered, medium-full-bodied blend. Complex right out of the gate with a street mob of sweet and nutty flavors, it was amazing in many ways.
Warped Bits of Havana Seleccion de Capital
This limited Kyle Gellis production is a softly box pressed Toro that features an all-Aganorsa-grown Nicaraguan core capped by a lustrous Mexican San Andrés wrapper. We were pretty impressed by how this cigar lived up to its name, too. It’s full-bodied without constantly poking its finger into your chest, well balanced, and delightfully flavorful. What’s unique is that among the light earthy spice, nuts, leather, sweet cocoa, and baking spices, the magic trick here was how the cigar exhibited a number of striking Cuban snapshots along the journey.