G R E AT G O L F I N V E G A S • H O W T O B E T T H E S U P E R B O W L

the good life magazine for men www.cigaraficionado.com

CIGAR
S P EC I A L TO P 2 5 I SS U E

OF
THE

YEAR PLUS

TOP
25
REVEALED!
 contents january/february 2020
33

up front
12 cigar highlights
15 editors’ note
letters 17 out of the humidor
66
the best 23 the good life guide

25 cigars A humidor that keeps its cool.

26 drink Bloody Mary: dawn’s cure for New Year’s Eve.
29 style The racecar of winter coats.
33 places Hard Rock-ing yourself to sleep.
34 wheels The lush side of retro trailers.
37 gourmet The dark pig with the big taste.
38 time A watch that won’t lose a day. 44

39 sport Driving in snow without slip-sliding away. on the cover

It’s good to be No. 1.
40 tools Learn the secrets of knife wielding. Photographed by Jeff Harris

features
cover 44 top 25
We rate hundreds of cigars a year, but there can be
TOP: YAROSLAV SABITOV / ALAMY; CENTER: BRIAN OAR

only one No. 1. Find out which cigars passed our

toughest test to make Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 in
another great year for smokers. Plus, the best value-
priced cigars of 2019, and the intrepid soul who
smoked his way through last year’s winners.

golf 66 the best courses in vegas

In a city known for gambling, there are plenty of
opportunities to take a break from sinning on some of
Las Vegas’ renowned golf courses. We rank the best.
 gambling 80 super wagers
The Super Bowl is a yearly bonanza for
sports books. Our pigskin prognosticator
Danny Sheridan shares the dos and
don’ts of betting on the NFL’s big day.

sports 86 triumphal cigars

Because victory tastes so much better when
paired with a smoke, there’s always plenty of
cigars at any championship celebration—be
it baseball, basketball, football or hockey.
86

cigars
tasting 100 Our expert analysis of 80 cigars covers all sizes
and shapes: Churchills (100), coronas (102),
figurados (104), lonsdales (106), robustos
(108) and toros/corona gordas (110). Plus
the Buying Guide (112) and Connoisseur’s
Corner, our vintage cigar tasting (115).

industry 119 the habanos co-presidents

Habanos S.A., the company that
controls Cuba’s cigar industry, may be a
monopoly, but at its top, two executives
FROM TOP: HERB SCHARFMAN/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED/GETTY IMAGES; ZAK BENNETT; JACOB KEPLER

share power over its storied cigars.

profile 126 shaun deeb 119

The bodacious bad boy of poker, who once
played in two tournaments at once, says
he owes his success to his grandmother.

events 130 big smoke las vegas

Nearly 4,000 people attended the 24th Big
Smoke Las Vegas, enjoying superb smokes,
educational seminars and camaraderie.

132 moments to remember

Photos from our readers as they enjoy
themselves and their cigars.

last leaf 140 the pride of cuba

In a new pictorial feature, we bring you
an image of tobacco growing in Cuba’s
Vuelta Abajo, just as the harvest begins.
130
highlights
Thirty-two of the 80 cigars we reviewed blind for this tasting scored 90 points or higher, an impressive showing.
Cuba and Nicaragua continue to shine as cigars from both countries each led three of our six size categories,
with the slim but flavorful Cohiba Siglo V (Tubo) taking the top score for this issue.

TOP LONSDALE
COHIBA SIGLO V (TUBO)
Packed in glossy tubes that come in convenient three-packs, this slender
CUBA 94
smoke was the top-scoring cigar in this tasting.

TOP CHURCHILL
PADRÓN 1964 ANNIVERSARY SERIES
DIPLOMATICO MADURO
NICARAGUA 93
The second-longest cigar in this highly praised line, the 1964
Anniversary Series first hit stores in 1994.

TOP FIGURADO
BOLIVAR BELICOSO FINO
This cigar is one of the few Cubans to come in both wooden cabinets
CUBA 93
and dress boxes. It’s a good candidate for aging either way.

TOP CORONA
PARTAGÁS DE LUXE (TUBO)
Despite its slim girth this smoke packs loads of flavor. It comes
CUBA 92
in a tube with a screw cap, which should help maintain
the cigar’s strength as it ages.

TOP ROBUSTO
PSYKO SEVEN NICARAGUA ROBUSTO
Rolled entirely with Nicaraguan tobacco, the striking wrapper on
NICARAGUA 92
this smoke is said to be from a crop cultivated in 2007.

TOP TORO/CORONA GORDA

PAPPY VAN WINKLE TRADITION ROBUSTO GRANDE
This blend is a collaboration between Nicaragua’s Drew Estate and the
NICARAGUA 92
Van Winkle family, makers of the coveted Pappy Van Winkle line of Bourbons.

BEST BUY
ARTURO FUENTE SPANISH LONSDALE
Part of the popular Gran Reserva line, this thinner smoke is covered in
DOM. REP. 89
a gorgeous cover leaf from Cameroon and retails for only $6.25.

12

New Things for the New Year
I
t will be 2020 when you read this note, and we have some
novel things in store for the new year. The most exciting is
an event. Many of you have been to a Big Smoke, at which
you can puff away in a cigar-friendly environment, meet some of
the most famous faces in the world of fine cigars and enjoy some
great drinks. It’s a fantastic party—and it just got even better.
On April 3 and 4, the Big Smoke will
be combined with WhiskyFest. If you’ve
never been to a WhiskyFest, imagine a Big
Smoke of whisky, with some of the finest
Scotch, Bourbon and rye, plus Japanese,
American and Canadian whiskies, poured
by many of the people who craft the
brands. In short, it’s whisky heaven.
Now imagine the best of both worlds,
for two nights, and you have Big Smoke
Meets WhiskyFest. You can sample incred-
ible spirits (there will be hundreds in the
TOP: ZAK BENNETT; BOTTOM: DAVID YELLEN
room) and you can smoke incredible
cigars (you will go home with more than
25). There will be seminars on whisky
during the evenings and a special cigar
seminar on Saturday morning. And it’s
all taking place in a wonderful, recently renovated and expanded
hotel, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood,
Florida. You can read more about the hotel on page 33, and find
out even more about the event at BigSmokeWhiskyFest.com.
editors’ note
Big Smoke and WhiskyFest
will meet this spring at the
Seminole Hard Rock in
Hollywood, Florida.
It’s a wonderful time of the year to be in Florida. We’ll both
be there, and we hope you will too.
This issue is always one of our most popular, as it contains
our Top 25 Cigars, when our editors resmoke the top-scoring
cigars of the year and find out which deserve to make the list,
and which should be crowned Cigar of the Year. And this year we
found a new angle: an ambitious man
who smoked nearly all of the winners
from our 2018 list during an epic, week-
long 50th birthday celebration. His story
begins on page 63.
You’ll also notice a few changes in
this issue. Our Corona Gorda category
(thicker cigars that are longer than
robustos, but shorter than Churchills)
has been renamed Toros/Corona Gordas.
When Cigar Aficionado debuted in
1992, the term “corona gorda” was quite
popular, but over the years it has been
replaced by the synonym toro, a size that’s
become one of the most popular in the
non-Cuban cigar world. Finally, you will
notice a new page in the back of our book,
called Last Leaf. We will be closing out each magazine with a great
photograph from the world of Cigar Aficionado.
We hope you enjoy the changes, and hope you enjoy smoking
the Top 25.
marvin r. shanken david savona
editor & publisher executive editor
15
 out of the humidor

Dear Marvin,
When I saw Governor Arnold on your December issue
I just had to buy Cigar Aficionado. While reading
about the governor and his feeling of responsibility to
help America, his new home, I thought, why doesn’t he
run for U.S. Senate from California? Though he can’t be
president, with his Republican centrist politics he could
get Washington moving for the people. Plus, a bit of cigar
smoke wouldn’t hurt, either.
Bob Blauvelt
Tappan, New York

Dear Marvin,
Great photos and article about The Terminator [“The
Terminator Is Back,” November/December 2019], but I
was perplexed with Arnold’s comments, “California is an
extraordinary place. Always has been.”
In my personal opinion I think that it used to be all
that, but it’s changed dramatically for the worse and
that’s why so many residents are moving out, as are
major corporations. The ex-governor further states in
the article, “California is in really good shape. That
doesn’t mean we don’t have flaws. Our budget system
sucks, our tax system sucks and at any given time, if While reading about the governor and his feeling of
there is a decline economically, California could be in responsibility to help America, his new home, I thought,
very deep trouble.” He further comments on the homeless
situation in the state, about what a mess it is, and how it’s
why doesn’t he run for U.S. Senate from California?
getting worse. Regarding the homeless crisis in California, —Bob Blauvelt, Tappan, New York
he says, “It’s out of control.”
So I found it befuddling that Mr. Schwarzenegger finished the article about Paul Huston’s Man Cave [“The
called the state extraordinary, and further states that it is Clan of the Man Cave,” November/December 2019]. What
in really good shape, but then proceeds to bash it regarding a place! That story, coupled with reading some letters to
all the things that suck (his words). I found it amusing you about the choice of Nick Jonas for your cover in the
that The Terminator could talk out of both sides of his September/October issue, inspired me to write to you.
mouth so fluently. I started smoking cigars in earnest at my engage-
I love the magazine and have been a subscriber for years. ment party in 2004, and have been at it ever since. As a
Ajay Mathison Minnesotan, smoking in the winter can be a Herculean
Everett, Washington effort, so in 2009 a few friends and I crafted an idea of
converting a part of my unfinished basement into a cigar
Dear Marvin, room. Fortunately, my friends had contracting experi-
I’m writing this from down in my lounge, enjoying a smoke ence, and in 2010, our lounge was born. It isn’t as
(or two) and catching up on my Cigar Aficionado. I just immaculate as Huston’s—I’m a humble high school

CONTACT US TWITTER @cigaraficmag • FACEBOOK facebook.com/CigarAficionado • INSTAGRAM @cigaraficmag

E-MAIL letters@cigaraficionado.com • LETTERS 825 8th Ave., 33rd floor, New York, NY 10019 • EDITORS’ BLOGS Find out what the editors
of CIGAR AFICIONADO are thinking—and smoking—in our editors’ blogs. David Savona, Gordon Mott, Jack Bettridge, Gregory Mottola and Andrew Nagy
want to hear from you. The conversation is taking place on cigaraficionado.com.

17
 teacher and coach—and I’m still relatively young
(I’m nearly 42), but it is a cozy place that I’m proud
Printed in the U.S.A.
of, despite my poor drywall. It has a lot of the
A publication of M. Shanken Communications, Inc. amenities that we all value in a smoking room. I
Worldwide Plaza, 825 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019
212/684-4224 fax: 212/684-5424 e-mail: letters@cigaraficionado.com
was fortunate to have had a smoke in the Hotel
vol. 28 no. 2 Nacional in Havana, among other places, and it gave
me an idea: I think you should highlight a series of
Editor & Publisher marvin r. shanken such cigar rooms. I believe it would be a welcome
Executive Editor david savona addition to the magazine.
Managing Editor gregory mottola
Senior Features Editor jack bettridge Thank you for your magazine, and the work of
Art Director john thompson your staff. It is a welcome respite from the day-to-
Senior Editor andrew nagy
Assistant Editor david clough
day, and I look forward to it arriving.
Editorial Assistant/Tasting Coordinator thomas pappalardo Brian McCarthy
Senior Contributing Editor gordon mott St. Paul, Minnesota
Contributing Editors paul a. eisenstein, marshall fine, laurie kahle,
michael kaplan, larry olmsted, jeff williams
Editors’ Response: There’s nothing like a smoking
Photo Editor casey oto room of your own. And you’ve inspired us: we are
Associate Art Director todd miller
Associate Art Director lisa aurigemma going to reach out to our readers to collect photos of
Designer henry eng their smoking rooms, which we plan to feature on
Designer diana witkowski our website cigaraficionado.com. We look forward to
Promotions Designer lisa george
Assistant Photo Editor karissa maggio seeing yours.
Manager, Cigar Aficionado Online andrew nagy
Production Associate, New Media edison a. leon Dear Marvin,
Director of Digital Media james laporte Great article on “Steakhouses for Cigar Lovers”
Site Developer anuradha udyaver
[November/December 2019]. Travelers need this
Senior Vice President, Ad Sales and Services constance mcgilvray
Vice President/Associate Publisher barry abrams
information as so few restaurants include cigar
Corporate Advertising miriam morgenstern smoking as part of their offering. Please add Cioppino
Director, Beverage/Alcohol Advertising michael mcgoldrick Restaurant & Cigar Bar in Pittsburgh as another
Account Director michael dichiara
Senior Account Director, West Coast cheryl lewis great steak and cigar resource. It’s located in the
Southeast Advertising Sales wheeler morrison, green leaves media Strip District. The steaks and food are terrific and
Arizona Golf Advertising Sales steve bliman they have a beautiful indoor cigar lounge attached
Texas Advertising Sales lucinda weikel, wpn media
Advertising Events Manager jennifer arcella to the restaurant.
Sales Assistants jenny jaikaran, maggie kotraba Tom Aucella
Vice President, Shanken Creative Group don gatterdam Boston, Massachusetts
New Media Coordinator hilary chalson
Chief Technology Officer greg shakar Editors’ Response: We’re glad you enjoyed the article,
Director of Technology michael turro
Lead Developer richard owens and thanks for pointing out another cigar-friendly
I.T. Manager enrique velez steakhouse. We are updating the story for online use,
Imaging samantha saffer, eli halpern which will include restaurants we didn’t list in the
Prepress dave boulanger, eric cheung
original printed version.
Senior Vice President, Events lynn rittenband
Senior Events Director liz mott
Events Director susannah nolan Dear Marvin,
Senior Events Manager lisa gribbin I can remember, when I was growing up, my dad
Events Manager shauntay dunbar
Executive Vice President, Marketing and Circulation laura zandi occasionally breaking from his normal routine and
Senior Circulation Director phylicia bedoya enjoying a cigar. He was a survivor of the Pacific
Assistant Circulation Manager tina ratwani theatre in World War II.
Senior Retail Sales Director jeanne holly
Retail Account Manager shiren felicien He passed on nearly 30 years ago. I was young at
Chairman and CEO marvin r. shanken the time and not a cigar fan and it never occurred to
Vice Chairman michael d. moaba me to ask him if he was celebrating. Now, every two
Executive Vice President laura zandi months, I sit and relax and enjoy “the good life” and
Senior Advisor to the Chairman mel mannion
Senior Vice President constance mcgilvray your fine publication and I ponder what my dad
Senior Vice President lynn rittenband was thinking.
Chief Financial Officer steven gordon
Jim Edwards
Vice President, Business Development jessica shanken
Vice President, Production kevin mulligan Bedford, Indiana
Executive Assistant to the Chairman sheena dellanzo

Questions about your subscription? Call 800/365-4929 Editors’ Response: Thanks to your father for his service,
Questions about your retail sales account? Call 800/344-0763 and thank you for sharing that memory. ™

18
 good
life
guide Living well demands that we indulge in
things that are of superior quality and
excellent origin. This guide aspires to
find and recommend the best of
everything to aficionados of the good life.

cigars 25 newair cc-300h humidor

drink 26 the bloody mary
style 29 the classic cashmere coat
places 33 seminole hard rock hotel & casino
wheels 34 bowlus road chief trailer
gourmet 37 kurobuta pork
time 38 iwc perpetual calendar
sport 39 winter driving school
tools 40 knife skills

23

NewAir CC-300H Humidor
Y
ou expect your humidor to humidify—hence the name—
but what about the havoc that temperature shifts can
wreak on your cigar collection? Blasting the AC in the
summer and cranking up the heat in the winter can make your
precious sticks swell, crack, develop mold, or, worst of all, suffer
a dreaded beetle outbreak. NewAir, a maker of heating and cool-
ing appliances, thinks your humidor should regulate its own
temperature.
With both heating and cooling elements under electronic
temperature control, the company’s 400-count CC-300H humi-
dor maintains optimal conditions all year long. Set the digital
thermostat to your desired temperature and the humidor will
handle the rest, working day and night to achieve that internal
climate for your cigars. The humidor’s thermostat adjusts between
JEFF HARRIS
60° to 74° F. (For everyday cigar smoking, we recommend setting
the temperature between 65° to 70° degrees, but for aging you
good life guide cigars
might want to set it a bit lower.) An internal fan gently moves the
air, allowing for even temperature distribution throughout.
The CC-300H measures 20.8 inches deep by 18.2 inches wide by
29.1 inches high and weighs 45 pounds. Shorter and smaller than a
full-sized tower or cabinet humidor, it still offers plenty of space for
your cigars—especially compared to a desktop humidor.
Behind the tempered glass door are Spanish cedar drawers and
shelves. As well as emitting a pleasant aroma, they assist in humidity
control. The humidification container can be filled with distilled
water, humidity beads or gel, but we found a Boveda humidity pack
(available on the NewAir website) on each shelf to be best.
The humidor, which retails for $599.95, has yet another cigar-
security device: a lock and key mechanism to protect your cigar
collection from prying fingers.
Visit newair.com
—David Clough
25
drink good life guide
The Bloody Mary
W
hile Champagne is traditional for New Year’s Eve, so
much else gets slurped down in between toasts that
come morning only one remedy is suited for the sins
of the night before. In the tassel-loafer panhandle of Connecticut
from which I hail, a riot would break out were there a lack of
Bloody Mary ingredients at dawn on New Year’s Day.
The bright-red highball with the gory name contains the
makings of a sublime restorative: vitamins (tomato juice), palate
stimulants (hot spices) and hair of the dog (vodka). But it took
surprisingly long to catch on. Not old enough to be a real classic
(tomato juice wasn’t available until 1917), nor strictly a cocktail
(no bitters), the drink was invented in the 1920s. Its creation was
claimed both by the renowned bartender Fernand Petiot and
George Jessel, an anticommunist entertainer who normally
eschewed things that were “red” and had Russian ingredients.
26
Today, time is better spent arguing over the recipe, not the
origin. At its simplest, it combines two parts vodka with four to six
parts tomato juice over ice. But the fun is in the seasoning (perhaps
sea salt, black or red pepper, basil, horseradish, Worcestershire
sauce, even Tabasco or chipotle). Heretics add beef consommé, but
that’s really a Bloody Bull. Limes or lemons add acidity and, of
course, you’ll need celery for swizzling. Those with forethought
mix the nonalcoholic ingredients days in advance and let the
flavors steep. You might also present the ingredients to your guests
and let them build their own.
DARREN MUIR/STOCKSY
With a drink so pungent, the choice of vodka brand isn’t that
critical. If the spirit makes the tomato part too watery, use the
thickest juice you can find or add puree. Even blend with fresh
cherry tomatoes. Alternatively, you could use less vodka—but I jest.
—Jack Bettridge
 good life guide style

The Classic
Cashmere Coat
I
t’s the super sports car of overcoats. You
don’t need a cashmere coat. You want one.
You crave its sleek lines, its racy perfor-
mance and the way it purrs when you touch it.
And like an aspirational Aston Martin DB11
that you never use as a station car, this is not
your everyday coat—even while it’s built for
both comfort and speed.
Of course, what makes this pricey coat go is
the cashmere, the original luxury fiber, named
for the Kashmir region of India. Its mountainous
terrain spawned the double-fleeced goat that
gives up its hair for our comfort. The animal has
an outer coat of rough hair that protects the
downy fur below. The latter wool (it’s almost an
insult to its fineness to use that term) is what
makes up the fabric we call cashmere. While this
goat fiber has been used for centuries, it’s easily
kept pace with modern developments in sheep
wool. Cashmere already matches the thinness—
and therefore softness—of Super 220 wool.
That same quality also translates into a cloth
that delivers warmth at a weight that is markedly
light. The sacrifice is that cashmere coats are not
as hard wearing as garments like pea coats. But
that’s not why you buy one. Martin Nicholls,
managing director at Norton & Sons of Savile
Row, reveals that its delicateness makes it more
difficult to tailor, adding to the expense (often
upwards of $5,000). He adds that cashmere has a
one-way ply that lets rain sheet off easily, but that
also means more fabric is needed to make sure
the grain is always directed downward.
Given the expense, these garments should
be bought for longevity and not the whims of
fashion. You’ll quickly regret shelling out for one
with an odd pattern or that is hemmed at the
thigh. Knee-length coats, either in sleek single-
TRANSCENDENTAL GRAPHICS/GETTY IMAGES

breasted or more commodious double-breasted

cuts, have staying power. Similarly, a safe color
palette includes navy, black, gray and the fabric’s
natural color: camel. To trick it out, consider
Norton’s feature of pocket liners made from
Selvyt, the cloth that jewelry is polished with.
Your hands will thank you, too.
Visit nortonandsons.co.uk
—Jack Bettridge

29

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Y
ou might think that the world’s first guitar-shaped hotel
would land in a place like Nashville or Las Vegas or maybe
somewhere near the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame. Instead,
this spectacle rises 450 feet into the sky from the Seminole Hard
Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood—that’s Hollywood, Florida, not
Tinseltown. The colossal guitar not only holds 638 new hotel
rooms, but is part of Hard Rock’s $1.5 billion expansion that
includes lagoon-like pool areas, 150,000 square feet of gambling,
and a gleaming marble promenade lined with boutique retail shops.
YAROSLAV SABITOV/ALAMY
Dining, as you’d expect, runs the gamut from high-end restau-
rants to more approachable, casual fare. Smoking is allowed in
most of the casino areas, and the retail promenade has a Davidoff
cigar shop and lounge where you can light up before and after
dinner. In April, the hotel will become cigar central when it hosts
good life guide places
Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest, an unprecedented, cigar-friendly
event that combines the best of the premium cigar world with the
finest in Scotch, Bourbon and other craft spirits.
The guitar hotel officially opened this past October and hopes
to entice a world-class clientele, not only with its oasis of
meandering pools and private cabanas, but also with a concert
hall dubbed Hard Rock Live, a venue that can accommodate up to
7,000 people. If you really want to live out your rock-star fantasies,
you can book a Platinum King Suite at the exclusive Oasis Tower,
another upscale addition to the Hard Rock in Hollywood. Just try
not to throw a television off the balcony or trash the room before
you check out.
Visit seminolehardrockhollywood.com
—Gregory Mottola
33
wheels good life guide

Bowlus Road Chief

S
leek. That’s the word for the born-again Bowlus Road Chief
trailers. These are not your father’s boxy recreational vehicles.
They are the born-again editions of what your grandfather
might have craved: classic, stream-lined, aluminum-clad, off-grid
RVs. Except that today’s target customer—as imagined on the com-
pany’s website—tows one with a Porsche Panamera, not a Cadillac.
Dubbed a “luxury aluminum travel trailer,” this is the reincar-
nation of the 1934 Bowlus, designed by aircraft engineer and
builder (The Spirit of St. Louis) Hawley Bowlus. Even while the
original production lasted only two years, it would set the standard
for aerodynamic trailers, predating by two years (and inspiring)
the Airstream. Its rebirth was serendipity. The parents of Geneva
Long found a 1935 version in a field in Washington in 2000 and
restored it. In 2011, they took Long, then 20, on a cross-country
trip—and she was hooked. By 2014, she had a Wharton MBA and
had revived the company in Oxnard, California.
The state-of-the-art design, explains Long, results in a towing
weight (4,000 pounds, fully loaded) that is nearly 3,000 pounds
lighter than most similar trailers—meaning you don’t need a
pickup to pull it. Its aluminum sheets are fastened with about
5,000 aircraft rivets. The monocoque construction integrates the
chassis and body of the trailer, preventing mold and mildew and
keeping dust from getting in. The ride is very smooth.
Where the shiny Road Chief really sparkles is inside. The
wood-lined cabin sleeps four and features USB ports under the
dining table, a Wi-Fi network just for Bowlus owners and batteries
that last about a week without recharging. The toilet system is
odor-free. The showerhead can be used inside or outside. The
kitchen includes a propane stove and a microwave. Awnings come
out on either side.
The Bowlus Road Chief is available in two state-of-the-art
versions. The 24-foot On the Road has a base price of $137,000.
The Endless Highways ($185,000) stretches 26 feet. The six basic
design packages have bespoke upgrades beginning at $20,000.
Long, who occasionally designs special editions, says she already
knows where she’ll put the cigar humidor.
Visit bowlusroadchief.com
—Alejandro Benes

34

Kurobuta Pork
W
hile the term is Japanese for “black pig” and today’s
gourmets call it the “Wagyu of pork,” the breed arose
in an English county, where it got the name Berkshire.
But whatever you call Kurobuta, this distinctly pink-hued and
heavily marbled meat has been prized for
centuries for its melt-in-your-mouth ten-
derness, juicy flavors and clean-tasting fat.
Jet-black, save for white hooves and
snout, the Berkshire is one of the world’s
oldest pig breeds—and the first to record
pedigrees. Berkshire pigs were originally
a sandy-brown color until they were
crossbred with a Chinese and Siamese
breed in the 1700s. In the 19th century,
a strain of Berkshire pig was imported to
Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture and some
BOTTOM: JEFF MORGAN 10 / ALAMY
are now named for that district. The Asian
nation had long had a healthy taste for pigs, with Shoguns dubbing
them “walking vegetables” for their high nutritional value. Soon
after, the breed was also introduced to America, and in 1875, the
American Berkshire Association began documenting pedigrees.
Kurobuta pigs, though, are not raised like other Berkshires.
The Japanese typically allow the breed to free-range while feeding
good life guide gourmet
them a diet of corn, nuts, clover, apples or milk. American purveyor
Snake River Farms raises its hogs on a co-op of small family farms
in the midwest and Idaho, where they are fed a combination of
corn, soybean meal, oats, vitamins and minerals. That product
appears on the menus of such lauded res-
taurants as The French Laundry in Napa
Valley, San Francisco’s Mourad and New
York’s Per Se, Eleven Madison Park and La
Bernardin. However, you can also lay your
hands on this gourmet pork through the
company’s delivery service. Cuts include
hams, pork bellies, hardwood-smoked
bacon, baby-back ribs and more. The cost
is about double what you would pay for
standard pork, but the quality is worth it.
Kurobuta’s fatty marbling makes it
perfect for slow roasting or smoking,
while the cleanliness of the meat means you can grill a Kurobuta
pork chop like you would a good steak. No matter how you cook
it, just do everyone a favor and refrain from referring to as “the
other white meat.”
Visit snakeriverfarms.com
—Andrew Nagy
37
time good life guide

IWC Perpetual Calendar

W
hether your notion of a motoring adventure is clocking laps at the
racetrack, attending a Formula 1 race or just fighting traffic, IWC’s
latest Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month ($37,400) in
titanium fuses the rugged reliability you demand in a sport watch with one of
watchmaking’s most revered complications, the perpetual calendar.
Perpetual calendars are watchmaking’s response to our quirky calendar.
These ingenious mechanisms automatically adjust for months of different
lengths and even factor in leap years until March 1, 2100, when—should
you make it that long—you’ll need to skip the leap year because of a
correction instituted by Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th century.
First launched in red gold in 2017, the Ingenieur Perpetual
Calendar Digital Date-Month is now available in robust grade 5
titanium, the lightweight, anticorrosive metal commonly used in
the aerospace industry and, fittingly, motorsports.
The durable alloy is ideal for the brawny, 45-mm Ingenieur,
which debuted in the 1950s as a testament to muscular engi-
neering designed to deliver precision and clear readability
with features like extreme resistance to shocks and magnetic
fields, as well as water resistance.
Since then, the no-nonsense Ingenieur has taken a number
of different forms, including a notable modern redesign by the
legendary Gerald Genta in 1976 with the Ingenieur SL Automatic.
In 2013, the model underwent a complete overhaul and introduced
a high complication with the Constant-Force Tourbillon merging
sport and high horology for the first time.
Traditionally, perpetual calendars tend to be quite classical and
sometimes difficult to read with multiple displays on the dial. But this one
is resolutely modern, breaking convention with bold, double-digit displays for
date and month, while the leap year
indicator appears in an aperture within
the seconds dial at 6 o’clock.
Limited to 100 numbered pieces, the
titanium model is powered by the IWC-
manufactured 89801 calibre automatic
movement, with a solid 18-karat red-gold
rotor that generates 68 hours of power
reserve.
And in keeping with Ingenieur’s
sporty history, the perpetual calendar
function is paired with a flyback chro-
nograph with hour and minute counters
combined in a totalizer at 12 o’clock for
measuring those lap times should you
ever make it to the track.
Visit iwc.com
—Laurie Kahle

38
 good life guide sport

McLaren Arctic Experience

Winter Driving School

T
he reaction of most sane drivers to snow or ice is to slow in high-performance vehicles should consider the McLaren
down and avoid dangerous maneuvers. The Bridgestone Arctic Experience.
Winter Driving School in Colorado takes the opposite The Colorado school operates seven days a week from mid-
tack. In the name of training safe drivers, they put students in December through early March, offering five packages of varying
calamitous situations on a closed course and have them rehearse lengths and intensity. Safety Classes range in price from $299 to
the most common problems—over and over again. $549 and Performance Classes from $1,185 to $2,995. Programs
The oversteer skid is the scariest. The rear tires lose grip and draw heavily on techniques borrowed from the world of off-road
the car’s back end suddenly wants to be in front. It occurs when rally racing. All are applicable to any vehicle, even a motorhome.
you enter a corner too fast, so, of course, the instructors urge the Rule No. 1? Look where you want to go. Seems simple, but
members of the class to do just that. The solution—at least for most students are shocked to learn that instead they instinctively
front- and all-wheel drive cars—is totally counterintuitive: accel- stare at impending doom—the tree or guardrail we pray to not
erate, albeit gently. This transfers weight and traction back to the hit—rather than steering to open space.
rear tires. Once you’ve corrected a skid on the safety of the track, Visit winterdrive.com and cars.mclaren.com
it’s hard not to feel like a hero. —Larry Olmsted
Since its founding in 1983, the BWDS has churned out
about 89,000 such heroes, among them professionals (truck,
bus and fleet drivers), government employees (state police,
FBI and Secret Service agents), auto enthusiasts and the
general public. This is its 37th consecutive season.
Instructors are all veterans of ice, road and stock car
racing. The 77-acre driving campus includes three ice- and
snow-covered tracks representing a variety of conditions.
Tracks are ultra-slippery, coated with water and feature
numerous challenges. Snowbanks separate oncoming
lanes to protect you when you spin or slide out of control—
and you will. To further simulate real driving conditions,
Bridgestone’s Blizzak snow tires are paired with a range of
Bridgestone Winter Driving School
street-legal Toyota vehicles. Those looking for instruction

39
tools good life guide

Knife Skills
B
rendan McDermott grasps his intimidating chef’s knife and, wielding it with the
grace of Roger Federer slicing a backhand, feathers a celery stalk into a hundred
wafer thin slivers.
“You can cut prep time in half by knowing how the knife works,” McDermott, a
professional chef, informs his students at the start of his three-hour knife skills class at
New York City’s Institute for Culinary Education. (His course is also available at
Bluprint online.) “Speed and accuracy come from using the back half of the knife,”
McDermott explains. That allows you to exercise maximum control and leverage.
Oh, and if you’re trying to cut through something that’s resisting, don’t tempt fate.
Pull back and try again.
Proper technique in clutching the knife is paramount. It may not be the way
your mother taught you, but you place the index finger and thumb on opposite
sides of the blade for maximum control. Then curl your other three fingers
loosely around the handle.
The hand that anchors the food may undergo the steepest learning curve.
To keep the target in the path of the blade without your fingers straying near
it, you use a claw grip. The ends of the middle three are curled inward with
the pinkie and thumb tucked under the palm. That way the fingertips are
safe from the cutting edge and the knuckles act as a fender against the
knife’s broad side.
The term “chopped onion” is something of a misnomer. Professional
chefs actually slice forward into the bulb and then rock the blade
back. Chopping not only hacks up the onion, but releases more of
the moisture that makes your eyes tear up. Leaving the root ends on
also helps in that regard.
High-quality knives, while pricy, are a good idea, but Chef
McDermott says you needn’t buy a wooden block set with steak
knives and kitchen shears. A chef’s knife, a paring knife and one
with a serrated edge will meet most challenges. A good knife
store, like the New York City chefs’ destination, Korin, can
also adapt a right-handed blade for a left-handed person.
But no matter the quality, a knife must have an edge. A
honing rod will keep it sharp, but once it is dull it needs a

FUSE/GETTY IMAGES
whetstone to revive it. Better yet, have it sharpened pro-
fessionally. After all you’re cutting celery, not fingers.
Visit shopmybluprint.com and korin.com.
—Ralph Gardner Jr.

40
 CIGAR AFICIONADO’S

OUR PANEL OF EDITORS NAME

THE VERY BEST CIGARS OF 2019

R
evealing our annual Top 25 list is always an
exciting event. The cigars here represent the
finest examples of creativity and craftsman-
ship in the premium, handmade industry, but
naming a cigar of the year is no quick or easy task. First,
we create a list of the highest-scoring cigars that were
rated in the magazine and in Cigar Insider throughout
the year via our blind-tasting process. Then, we elimi-
nate duplicate brands to avoid redundancy. Once we’ve
chosen our candidates, a tasting coordinator purchases
the cigars at retail and we smoke them all over again
using the same blind tasting methodology.
Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 is less of an awards
ceremony and more of a tournament, where consistency
is as important as quality. The cigars that could perform
repeatedly at a high level advanced in the rankings, while
those that couldn’t were eliminated. It’s not easy to make
it to this list, and because of our stringent test, we can say
with confidence that these 25 smokes are truly in an elite
class. They vary in style, origin and price, but all have
proven themselves to be the very best cigars of the year.

BY GREGORY MOTTOLA | PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF HARRIS

45
 1
Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro
The story of Aging Room revolves around a
central character who had no idea he was
headed for the cigar business: Rafael Nodal.
It’s a timeline of transitions, partnerships
and collaborations that ultimately lead to
the creation of the Aging Room Quattro
Nicaragua Maestro, Cigar Aficionado’s
2019 Cigar of the Year.
But first we rewind back almost 40
years ago to 1980, when Nodal came to the
U.S. from Cuba as a refugee on the infamous
Mariel boatlift. With no background in
cigars, Nodal sought a career in music that
brought him to New York City, then to
Miami where he embarked on a more prac-
tical career in healthcare. There, he met his
future business partners Hank Bischoff and
Dr. Alina Cordoves (now his wife).
Nodal’s foray into the cigar world was
slow. In 1998, he and his partners began
selling cigars online, and in 2002 they took
over the Habana Cuba Cigar Co., a strug-
gling company with a mediocre portfolio
of forgettable cigars. For awhile, the business
situation was looking quite grim.
Not one to be easily discouraged,
Nodal explored the concept of producing
cigars in small batches. In 2011, he came
out with a new brand called Aging Room
Small Batch M356. He also changed the
CIGAR: JOHN CURRY; NODAL: PETER GARRITANO; PREVIOUS SPREAD: JEFF HARRIS
name of his company from Habana Cuba
Cigar Co. to Boutique Blends. The first
Aging Rooms were made by José “Jochy”
Blanco in the Dominican Republic. (Blanco
is also a partner in the brand.) The cigars
scored well in Cigar Aficionado, and the
Presto size was named to the 2011 Top 25.
Nodal got his first taste of critical success—
and he kept going.
Today, you’d be forgiven if the name
Aging Room creates a bit of confusion.
There are a lot of different Aging Rooms
made in different factories. The crowning
achievement, however, is the Aging Room
Quattro Nicaragua Maestro made by A.J.
Fernandez in Nicaragua.
The cigar is essentially Nodal’s vision,
crafted by Fernandez with his distinct
tobacco and signature factory style. Every
last leaf in this blend is Nicaraguan and
every puff is an overture of flavors that’s at
times heavy and rich with notes of dark
chocolate and wood, and other times, subtle
and understated with hints of fine caramel
and toasted almonds. In musical terms, the
word for this box-pressed torpedo would
be dynamic.
Nodal is still an artist at heart and
cigars continue to be his creative outlet. If
the birth of Aging Room was his break-
through, consider the Aging Room Quattro
Nicaragua Maestro his masterpiece.
96
POINTS MADE BY Tabacalera
A.J. Fernandez Cigars de
Nicaragua S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua
WRAPPER Nicaragua
BINDER Nicaragua
FILLER Nicaragua
DIMENSIONS 6" by 52
PRICE $10.95
RAFAEL NODAL
47
2 Padrón Serie 1926
No. 6
Cigar Aficionado has been putting out a
Top 25 list since 2004, and Padrón has never
failed to place in the top 10 no matter the year.
The family-owned company, which makes its
cigars in Nicaragua, has produced a Cigar of
the Year a record three times. To say that
Padrón is consistent would be an understate-
ment. Excellence seems to be the factory
standard and the Padrón Serie 1926 No. 6 is
a perfect encapsulation of everything the
company signifies—richness, body, balance,
and, most important, consistency.
Unlike most handmade cigars, Padróns do
not undergo a subsequent aging process after
they’re made. The cigars are rolled, pressed,
banded up and boxed. According to Jorge
Padrón, his cigars don’t need to spend any
time in an aging room because the tobaccos
are adequately aged before production. It’s an
unorthodox method but one that produces
stellar results.
The Serie 1926 is named after the birth
year of the company’s founder, José Orlando
Padrón, who passed away in 2017. The Serie
1926 No. 6 smokes beautifully, offering rich
layers of cocoa and earth atop a core of
chocolate-covered espresso beans. A subtle
note of dried cherry adds some elegance to
the smoke, making the Padrón Serie 1926 No. 6
a true cigar smoker’s cigar.
95
POINTS MADE BY Tabacos
Cubanica S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua
WRAPPER Nicaragua
BINDER Nicaragua
FILLER Nicaragua
DIMENSIONS 4 3/4" by 50
PRICE $14.40
JORGE PADRÓN
48
3 Warped Serie Gran
Reserva 1988 Robusto
There’s something about the spartan packaging
of the Warped Serie Gran Reserva 1988 that
makes one instantly curious. It’s a simple,
unvarnished slide-lid box—nothing too unusual
there. But the lone crown burned into the lid
and the clean label on the side of the cabinet
really make you want to know what’s inside.
Adding to the mystique is the number 976212
printed on each band.
Brand owner Kyle Gellis knows that design
in the cigar world is extremely important. An
intriguing aesthetic builds anticipation, and
that’s a precursor to the overall smoking
experience. Over the past few years, Warped
has accrued a dedicated following, and smokers
have truly responded to his business model,
combining small-batch production and quaint
packaging evocative of old lithography with a
sophisticated, modern twist that can span from
the understated to the ornate.
The number 1988 refers to the birth year of
Gellis, who will turn 32 in 2020. The Serie
Gran Reserva only comes in one size, a robusto,
but one size may be all he needs. It’s difficult to
imagine that this cigar could be improved
upon in another format. The blend is a mélange
of Nicaraguan tobacco grown by agricultural
giant Aganorsa that comes together brilliantly
with a balanced profile of malted chocolate,
coffee bean and an earthy undertone, all of
which reflect the packaging: noticeable but
never obtrusive and with tasteful restraint.
95
POINTS MADE BY
CIGARS: JOHN CURRY; PADRON: JEFFERY SALTER
Aganorsa Leaf
FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua
WRAPPER Nicaragua
BINDER Nicaragua
FILLER Nicaragua
DIMENSIONS 5 1/4" by 50
PRICE $9.00
KYLE GELLIS
 4 Cohiba
Robusto
No brand in the premium cigar world has more
recognition or fanfare than Cuba’s Cohiba.
Even people who don’t smoke cigars know the
name, and while too much hype often leads to
unrealistic expectations, the Cohiba Robusto
more than lives up to its lofty reputation.
When Cohiba was born in 1966, it had
only one size, a long, thin Lancero created for
Fidel Castro’s personal consumption. In 1982,
when the brand went on sale in Spain, it was
expanded to three sizes. It wasn’t until 1989
that the Robusto was added, coinciding with
the cigar brand’s global sales debut. At the
time, the Robusto was the thickest size in
Cohiba’s portfolio.
Now 30 years later, the Cohiba Robusto is
still in high demand and can still command
high prices at retail. According to Habanos,
only the highest-grade tobacco from the five
finest farms in Cuba’s Vuelta Abajo zone are
selected for Cohibas, but the Cuban monopoly
won’t name the plantations. The only thing
we can verify with certainty is that Cohiba
Robustos are sophisticated and delicious
smokes, powerful cigars with notes of oak,
vanilla and almonds. There’s a reason why
people have been buying them with passion
for so long.
CIGARS: JOHN CURRY; CUBA: HABANOS S.A.; PATEL: RICHARD LEONARDI
95
POINTS MADE BY
Habanos S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Cuba
WRAPPER Cuba
BINDER Cuba
FILLER Cuba
DIMENSIONS 4 7/8" by 50
PRICE £34.30
CUBA
5 Rocky Patel A.L.R.
Second Edition Toro
Buzzwords like “aged,” “limited” and “rare”
are thrown around quite a bit, especially in the
cigar world, but Rocky Patel gives these words
new meaning in his new A.L.R. brand. The
cigars are limited, as they’re produced in small
quantities; rare because Patel doesn’t release as
many of these cigars into the market as he does
other brands; and finally, aged, the most crucial
and defining claim of these smokes.
According to Patel, each A.L.R. Second
Edition cigar is aged for two years after it’s
rolled before going to market. While the com-
ponent tobaccos are already aged, Patel claims
that these cigars get a two-year resting period
for maturation and added levels of complexity.
This probably contributes to the cost. Few
Rocky Patel cigars are this expensive.
Astute smokers will recall the First Edition,
which came out in 2018. The Second Edition
here is a completely new blend consisting of a
Mexican San Andrés wrapper and Nicaraguan
tobaccos grown on Patel’s farms in Estelí and
Condega. Patel started growing tobacco a few
years ago and now his tobaccos are starting to
appear in his cigars, giving the portfolio an
entirely new facet.
This box-pressed Toro has all the sweet,
satisfying qualities of malted chocolate and
vanilla bean, balanced by an uplifting hint of
fresh, shredded coconut. Only 2,000 boxes of
this size were created, but Patel will be releasing
these smokes in batches as they come of age in
his Nicaraguan factory.
94
POINTS MADE BY
Tabacalera Villa Cuba S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua
WRAPPER Mexico
BINDER Nicaragua
FILLER Nicaragua
DIMENSIONS 6 1/2" by 52
PRICE $14.00
ROCKY PATEL
49
6 Oliva Serie V
Lancero
Long, thin cigars don’t often appear in Cigar
Aficionado’s Top 10, but this year, the Oliva
Serie V Lancero impressed us with its focused
flavors and unrelenting intensity. Made in
Nicaragua, the Lancero is essentially every-
thing we love about the Serie V line, only
concentrated into a slender format, resulting
in a very dense, amplified smoke that hits the
center of the tongue with a solid earthy note
and then blossoms beautifully across the palate,
leaving precise impressions of pistachios,
nutmeg and chocolate-covered almonds.
While thin cigars like lanceros are prized
by connoisseurs, they’re not necessarily top
sellers in cigar shops, as the market presently
favors thick ring gauges. In factories, small
mistakes on the rolling table can mean a
lancero that doesn’t draw. But Oliva continues
to produce this slender format despite market
trends. It’s found its audience and this is
partly due to the remarkable consistency. The
blend here is entirely Nicaraguan with the
wrapper naturally playing a larger role in the
overall effect of the cigar.
Oliva has undergone some major changes in
the last few years. The company transitioned
from a family-owned operation into a corporate
entity. And a new factory in Nicaragua meant
increased production capacity. Changes like
that don’t usually bode well for cigar companies,
but Oliva has been a delightful exception.
94
POINTS MADE BY Tabacalera
Oliva S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua
WRAPPER Nicaragua
BINDER Nicaragua
FILLER Nicaragua
DIMENSIONS 7" by 38
PRICE $8.08
FRED VANDERMARLIERE
50
7 Illusione Epernay
10th Anniversary D’Aosta
The Illusione Epernay series turned 10 years
old in 2019, and to highlight this milestone,
brand owner Dion Giolito released an extraor-
dinary cigar: the 10th Anniversary D’Aosta, a
typical toro size blended with atypical tobacco.
Epernays aren’t strong smokes, nor were
they ever intended to be. Giolito wanted to
stress refinement and subtlety over strength,
so Epernays are made without ligero, the
most powerful tobacco on the plant. Rather,
Epernays are made with lower-priming
tobaccos to give each puff the elegant, effer-
vescent qualities of a fine Champagne, hence
the name (Epernay is named after the town in
France’s famed Champagne region). The
blend for the 10th Anniversary D’Aosta is the
same formulation of tobaccos as the rest of
the line, save for a different binder to better
showcase the filler.
Unlike other Illusiones, which are made in
Nicaragua, Epernays are produced in Honduras.
At one time, the Illusione core line was made
in Honduras as well, but Giolito moved pro-
duction to Estelí. Since Epernay’s inception,
however, Giolito believed that the Honduran
Raices Cubanas factory understood the intri-
cacies and logistics of the brand, so he kept
Epernay where it was.
The D’Aosta, with its luxurious layers of
gingerbread, orange peel and caramel marks
the fourth time an Epernay has made it to the
Top 25 list.
94
POINTS MADE BY Fabrica de
Tabacos Raices
CIGARS: JOHN CURRY; GIOLITO: TIFFANY BROWN ANDERSON
Cubanas S. de R.L.
FACTORY LOCATION Honduras
WRAPPER Nicaragua
BINDER Nicaragua
FILLER Nicaragua
DIMENSIONS 6" by 50
PRICE $12.00
DION GIOLITO
8 Fuente Fuente OpusX
Reserva d’Chateau
It’s hard to believe that the Fuente Fuente OpusX
has been on the market nearly 25 years. When
the brand was first released in late 1995, it gained
instant cult status among cigar smokers for a
number of reasons: the name was unusual, the
packaging mysterious, the production extremely
limited, and—most importantly—it was made
with a Dominican wrapper.
In the ’90s, the common consensus was
that good wrapper leaf could not be grown in
Dominican soil, but Carlos “Carlito” Fuente
Jr. wasn’t willing to accept conventional
wisdom and insisted that Dominican wrapper
was possible with the confluence of the right
climate, soil and seed. He found it. The seeds
are Cuban, the microclimate is found in the
region of Bonao and the soil is on the majestic
plantation known as Chateau de la Fuente.
The finest example of OpusX we smoked this
year was the Reserva d’Chateau, a Churchill
that’s fairly thin by today’s standards. Even if
you have a penchant for thicker cigars, it’s best
to lean thinner when smoking an OpusX. That
way, you taste more of the wrapper, which is
really what OpusX is all about. This isn’t a mild
cigar, and every puff offers a range of earth,
leather, spice, a touch of nutmeg and that
unique, inimitable taste found only in tobacco
from Chateau de la Fuente.
93
POINTS MADE BY Tabacalera
A. Fuente y Cia.
FACTORY LOCATION Dom. Rep.
WRAPPER Dom. Rep.
BINDER Dom. Rep.
FILLER Dom. Rep.
DIMENSIONS 7" by 48
PRICE $16.60
CARLOS FUENTE JR.
52
9 Tatuaje Nuevitas
Jibaro No. 1
If the Nuevitas Jibaro No. 1 doesn’t look
familiar to you, it should at least look interest-
ing. Familiar because Nuevitas is a brand that
Pete Johnson discontinued more than a decade
ago and resurrected in 2018. Interesting
because of the quarter inch or so of exposed
binder at the foot. It’s also unusual in its
presentation. The boxes are taped at the joints
and hold 50 cigars each. Big 50-count boxes
are a rarity in the premium cigar world. Now
that the brand is back on the market, there are
a few differences. Nuevitas is produced in
Nicaragua at My Father Cigars, the factory
owned by the Garcia family. The blend also
consists of tobacco grown by the Garcias in
Nicaragua. And the cigars, which used to come
packaged nude, now wear bands.
The Jibaro No. 1 smokes quite unlike any of
the other cigars on the Top 25. Upon first puffs,
that exposed binder gives the cigar an up-front
blast of spice that sets the tone for the rest of
the smoke. Once the Nicaraguan Corojo ’99
wrapper starts to burn, the entire cigar really
rounds out. The intense spice then recedes a
bit to the background, making way for a bold
but balanced smoking experience of leather,
chocolate, almonds and wood.
CIGARS: JOHN CURRY; FUENTE: JEFFERY SALTER; JOHNSON: JEFFERY SALTER
93
POINTS MADE BY My Father
Cigars S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua
WRAPPER Nicaragua
BINDER Nicaragua
FILLER Nicaragua
DIMENSIONS 5" by 54
PRICE $9.00
PETE JOHNSON
10
TOP 25 AT A GLANCE
1 Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro
Nicaragua • 6" by 52 • $10.95 96

2 Padrón Serie 1926 No. 6

Nicaragua • 4 3/4" by 50 • $14.00 95

H. Upmann 175th 3 Warped Serie Gran Reserva 1988 Robusto

Nicaragua • 5 1/4" by 50 • $9.00 95
Anniversary Churchill 4 Cohiba Robusto
Cuba • 4 7/8" by 50 • £34.30 95
Legacy lines like H. Upmann can sometimes
pose a challenge. How do you maintain the
tradition of such an iconic brand while 5 Rocky Patel A.L.R. Second Edition Toro
Nicaragua • 6 1/2" by 52 • $14.40 94
keeping it fresh and engaging? To solve this
conundrum, Altadis U.S.A., which owns the 6 Oliva Serie V Lancero
Nicaragua • 7" by 38 • $8.08 94
U.S. distribution rights for the many non-
Cuban versions of H. Upmann, turned to 7 Illusione Epernay 10th Anniversary D’Aosta
Honduras • 6" by 50 • $12.00 94
cigarmaker A.J. Fernandez to celebrate the
175th anniversary of the H. Upmann brand, a 8 Fuente Fuente OpusX Reserva d’Chateau
Dom. Rep. • 7" by 48 • $16.60 93
historic smoke created in Cuba by German
banker Hermann Upmann. 9 Tatuaje Nuevitas Jibaro No. 1
Nicaragua • 5" by 54 • $9.00 93
Letting Fernandez formulate a blend to
celebrate the momentous anniversary turned 10 H. Upmann 175th Anniversary Churchill
Nicaragua • 7" by 50 • $18.00 93
out to be a good move, as this Churchill is quite
spectacular. The tobacco in the cigar is all 11 Espinosa Habano No. 4
Nicaragua • 5 1/2" by 50 • $7.10 93
Nicaraguan, culled from Fernandez’s farms,
including a wrapper that Altadis claims is 12 La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Lancero
Dom. Rep. • 7 1/2" by 38 • $11.80 93
medio tiempo, a high-priming cluster of
tobacco leaves that grows atop the plant. But 13 Plasencia Alma del Fuego Concepción
Nicaragua • 6" by 54 • $16.00 93
these leaves don’t always sprout, making the
tobacco prized for its rarity and strength. 14 Juan Lopez Selección No. 2
Cuba • 4 7/8" by 50 • £20.80 93
The H. Upmann 175th Anniversary Churchill
is a limited-edition cigar, available in 10-count 15 La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Churchill
Nicaragua • 7" by 50 • $8.50 93
boxes or a commemorative humidor. In the
box, each Churchill sits in its own dignified 16 Punch Diablo Scamp
Nicaragua • 6 1/8" by 50 • $7.19 93
slot, and all are beautifully adorned with a
gold band that looks as though it were struck 17 Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo de Río Seco
Cuba • 5 1/2" by 56 • £33.20 92
by the U.S. mint. The flavors are as opulent as
the presentation, each puff rich with chocolate, 18 Aladino Toro
Honduras • 6" by 50 • $11.00 92
dried cherry and salty leather notes that
continue to pay dividends on the finish. 19 Enclave Broadleaf Churchill
Nicaragua • 7" by 52 • $9.50 92

20 La Antiguedad Toro Gordo

Nicaragua • 6" by 60 • $8.80 92

21 Joya Silver Corona

Nicaragua • 5 1/4" by 42 • $6.30 92

22
93
Room101 Farce It Is a Lonsdale
Dom. Rep. • 6 1/2" by 42 • $10.50 92
CIGAR: JOHN CURRY; FERNANDEZ: RICHARD LEONARDI

MADE BY Tabacalera
23 E.P. Carrillo Core Plus Maduro Churchill Especial No. 7
Dom. Rep. • 7" by 49 • $8.50 92
POINTS A.J. Fernandez Cigars
de Nicaragua S.A. 24 Alec Bradley Project 40 06.52
Nicaragua • 6" by 52 • $5.50 92
FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua
WRAPPER Nicaragua 25 Herrera Esteli Miami Toro Especial
U.S.A. • 6" by 52 • $11.75 92
BINDER Nicaragua
FILLER Nicaragua For more coverage of our Top 25, and videos of the
DIMENSIONS 7" by 50 editors smoking the top cigars of 2019, go to
PRICE $18.00
A.J. FERNANDEZ
CigarAficionado.com
53
11
Espinosa Habano No. 4
Ever since the Espinosa Habano line was repackaged and slightly reblended in 2015, the No. 4
size has scored at least 92 points every time it’s been rated. This year was no exception.
Slightly longer than a robusto, but a little shorter than a typical toro, the No. 4 is made at
MADE BY
La Zona Cigars S.A.
93
POINTS

FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua

WRAPPER Ecuador
La Zona in Nicaragua, along with the rest of the line. It’s the namesake cigar of brand owner BINDER Nicaragua
Erik Espinosa and owes its complex flavor profile to the blend of hearty Nicaraguan tobacco FILLER Nicaragua
and a lush Ecuador Habano wrapper, which isn’t too dark nor too light, but the perfect DIMENSIONS 5 1/2" by 50
reddish shade of colorado. The smoke is driven by a persistent leathery core framed by a PRICE $7.10
procession of vanilla, baking spices and brown sugar.

12
La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Lancero
It’s quite unusual to see two lanceros on our Top 25 list, but the La Flor Dominicana Double
Ligero Lancero has earned a spot here for the second time, and this year with a better showing
(it was No. 23 in 2017). Any time you read the words “double ligero” on a cigar band from
MADE BY Tabacalera
La Flor S.A.
93
POINTS

FACTORY LOCATION Dom. Rep.

WRAPPER Ecuador
La Flor, you know you’re in for a strong, spicy smoking experience. And the Lancero did BINDER Dom. Rep.
indeed impart all of that, but with this cigar, you also get the sense of an estate and region. FILLER Dom. Rep.
The internal tobaccos all came from the same farm in La Canela, a dry, hot area of the
DIMENSIONS 7 1/2" by 38
Dominican Republic that makes the strong ligero tobaccos even stronger, and the flavors
PRICE $11.80
more pronounced.

13
Plasencia Alma del Fuego Concepción
The Alma del Fuego Concepción was created by prolific tobacco grower Nestor Andrés
Plasencia to emphasize Nicaraguan leaf from the volcanic island of Ometepe. This is the third
MADE BY Plasencia
Cigars S.A.
93
POINTS

FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua

WRAPPER Nicaragua
installment of Plasencia’s Alma Series and made with only Nicaraguan tobacco. One of the two
binders is from Ometepe as is half the filler. According to Plasencia, all the Ometepe tobacco BINDER Nicaragua
was aged for seven years, which is longer than the rest of the components in the blend. “I love FILLER Nicaragua
tobacco from Ometepe,” he says, “but you really need to age it well if you want it to reach its DIMENSIONS 6" by 54
JOHN CURRY

full potential.” It’s spicy and woody with touches of coffee bean, dried fruit and cloves. The finish PRICE $16.00
is nutty and sweet.

56
 14
Juan Lopez Selección No. 2
Perhaps Cuban monopoly Habanos S.A. has decided to marginalize this brand, but if you’re
a serious smoker, we suggest you give the Juan Lopez Selección No. 2 your full attention.
Juan Lopez might be one of the lesser-known Cuban brands in production, but the Selección
MADE BY
Habanos S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Cuba
WRAPPER Cuba
93
POINTS

No. 2 is one of the best robustos from Cuba we smoked all year. Sadly, it’s one of only two BINDER Cuba
sizes still left in the line. Obviously, Juan Lopez has enough of a following to justify its FILLER Cuba
existence, but as Habanos seems to concentrate more on its larger, global brands, one can’t DIMENSIONS 4 7/8" by 50
help but wonder about the future of tasty gems like this that blossom with notes of dried PRICE £20.80
fruit, roasted chestnuts and salted caramel.

15
La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Churchill
An offshoot of the original La Aroma de Cuba line, Mi Amor distinguishes itself with a dark,
Mexican wrapper, sharp box-pressing and a different blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos to better
suit the cover leaf. The cigars aren’t at all new to the market, but have managed to stay relevant
MADE BY My Father
Cigars S.A.
93
POINTS

FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua

WRAPPER Mexico
to cigar smokers and excel in our tastings. The reasons are quite elementary: it’s a delicious BINDER Nicaragua
smoke at a very reasonable price. Mi Amors are made in Nicaragua for Ashton Distributors FILLER Nicaragua
Inc. at My Father Cigars, a factory owned by the Garcia family. At 7 inches long by 50 ring
DIMENSIONS 7" by 50
gauge, and with a retail price of only $8.50, this is quite the value, and that’s something that
PRICE $8.50
never goes out of style.

16
Punch Diablo Scamp
No product in General Cigar’s large portfolio is more powerful and full bodied than the Punch
Diablo, but the cigar isn’t just an excessive display of power for power’s sake alone. The strength
is justified because it serves as a vehicle to deliver levels of richness that no Punch has ever
MADE BY Tabacalera
A.J. Fernandez Cigars
de Nicaragua S.A.
93
POINTS

FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua

WRAPPER Ecuador
achieved. Each puff of the El Diablo Scamp is like biting into a dense piece of chocolate fudge BINDER U.S.A./Conn. Broadleaf
studded with espresso beans and walnuts. To conjure such decadence, General enlisted the FILLER Nicaragua, Honduras
services of A.J. Fernandez, who devised this blend by incorporating an Ecuadoran Sumatra
JOHN CURRY

DIMENSIONS 6 1/8" by 50
wrapper with a broadleaf binder and Cuban-seed tobaccos from Nicaragua and Honduras. PRICE $7.19
This is the first Punch owned by General to be made outside Honduras.

57
17
Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo de Río Seco
There’s no denying that Cuban cigars are getting thicker while thinner, traditional sizes are
disappearing. The Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo de Río Seco is a perfect example. At a ring
gauge of 56, it’s the thickest regular-production cigar to come out of Cuba. Habanos began
MADE BY
Habanos S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Cuba
WRAPPER Cuba
92
POINTS

fattening its Le Hoyo series in 2014 with the Le Hoyo de San Juan (54 ring). Four years later, BINDER Cuba
it came out with this hefty smoke. The Río Seco represents a modern way to experience Cuban FILLER Cuba
cigars—one that allows for more tobacco and, ideally, more expression of Cuba’s terroir. DIMENSIONS 5 1/2" by 56
Whether you like heavy ring gauges or not, the Río Seco inarguably delivers impressions of PRICE £33.20
cinnamon, nutmeg, oak and caramel that are nuanced and delicious.

18
Aladino Toro
With the rise of Nicaragua, worldwide appeal of Cuba and perennial demand for Dominican
cigars, Honduras has become forgotten territory. Consider the Aladino Toro a reminder that
Honduras not only produces great cigars, but it grows great tobacco. Aladino was created by
MADE BY Fabrica de
Puros Aladino
92
POINTS

FACTORY LOCATION Honduras

WRAPPER Honduras
industry veteran Julio Eiroa who blended the cigar with Cuban Corojo-seed tobacco grown in BINDER Honduras
the Jamastran Valley. Made in Honduras, the Aladino Toro is the only Honduran puro to
FILLER Honduras
appear on this list. In terms of flavor, the cigar is a complex stew of Mideastern spices, showing
DIMENSIONS 6" by 50
notes of bay leaf, clove, cinnamon and cardamom atop a peppery, earthy core that kept us
PRICE $11.00
interested the entire time.

19
Enclave Broadleaf Churchill
Cigarmaker A.J. Fernandez spends so much time making third-party, contract brands and
collaborating with other people in the industry, it’s a wonder he has time to make brands of
his own. The Enclave Broadleaf is a dark follow-up to the core Enclave line and the first time
MADE BY Tabacalera
A.J. Fernandez Cigars
de Nicaragua S.A.
92
POINTS

FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua

WRAPPER U.S.A. Conn./Broadleaf
that Fernandez has ever put a broadleaf wrapper on one of his own cigars. Underneath the BINDER Nicaragua
Connecticut cover leaf is a bracing blend of Nicaraguan tobacco from Estelí and Jalapa. Despite FILLER Nicaragua
the strength of the blend (it leans toward full body), these tobaccos play off one another quite
JOHN CURRY

DIMENSIONS 7" by 52
gracefully, imparting a palate of earth, mineral and salty notes before taking unexpected sweet PRICE $9.50
turns that call to mind milk chocolate, vanilla bean and anise.

58
 28
W
GREAT CIGARS
FOR $6 OR LESS
e like to say that cigars are the ultimate
affordable luxury. You don’t have to
break the bank to take home a highly
rated, handmade smoke. We analyzed hundreds
of ratings from our 2019 tasting database to
see which cigars offer the biggest bang for
your buck, and found 28 with suggested retail
prices of $6 or less (before taxes) that scored
87 points or higher. Many of these cigars
come from titans in the industry—names like
A.J. Fernandez, Padrón and Rocky Patel—and
they come in a variety of shapes and sizes,
including coronas, robustos, toros, even three
big cigars the size of Churchills. A word to the
wise: Don’t miss the Alec Bradley Project 40
06.52—along with being a Best Buy, it’s a
Top 25 smoke, with a score of 92 points. And
with a price tag of only $5.50, it’s a wallet-
friendly cigar worth celebrating. —David Clough
90 POINTS
Alec Bradley Black Market Punk
Honduras • 4 1/4" by 42 • $5.95
Gran Habano Habano No. 3 Lunch Break
Honduras • 4 1/2" by 40 • $5.20
La Aurora 1985 Maduro Churchill
Dominican Republic • 7" by 47 • $6.00
La Galera Habano Bonchero
Dominican Republic • 5 1/2" by 42 • $5.10
New World Cameroon Selection
Short Robusto
Nicaragua • 4" by 48 • $5.00
Padrón Ambassador Maduro
Nicaragua • 6 7/8" by 42 • $5.90
89 POINTS
Alec Bradley Project 40 05.50
Nicaragua • 5" by 50 • $5.25
88 POINTS
Alec Bradley Project 40 07.52
Nicaragua • 7" by 52 • $5.99
Arturo Fuente Petit Corona Maduro
Dominican Republic • 5" by 38 • $5.75
Fonseca Nicaragua Petit Corona
Nicaragua • 5" by 42 • $5.30
My Uzi Weighs A Ton Bait Fish
Nicaragua • 4" by 44 • $5.10
Perdomo Fresco Connecticut Churchill
Nicaragua • 7" by 50 • $4.30
87 POINTS
Arturo Fuente Petit Corona
Dominican Republic • 5" by 38 • $4.94
Fonseca 2-2
Dominican Republic • 4 1/4" by 40 • $5.50
Last Call by AJ Fernandez Flaquitas

92 POINTS
Alec Bradley Project 40 06.52
Arturo Fuente Cuban Corona
Dominican Republic • 5 1/4" by 45 • $5.36
Buenaventura D7
Nicaragua • 6" by 46 • $6.00
Micallef Grande Bold Maduro 544M
Nicaragua • 5" by 44 • $5.49
Nicaragua • 6" by 52 • $5.50 Nicaragua • 5 1/2" by 52 • $5.90
My Uzi Weighs A Ton Nightcrawler
Debonaire Daybreak First Degree Nicaragua • 4 1/2" by 50 • $5.60

91 POINTS
Alec Bradley Project 40 06.60
Dominican Republic • 4" by 44 • $5.99
Last Call Maduro by AJ Fernandez Corticas
Nicaragua • 4" by 52 • $6.00
Oliva Connecticut Reserve Petit Corona
Nicaragua • 4" by 38 • $5.28

Nicaragua • 6" by 60 • $5.99 New World Cameroon Selection

Padrón Panetela Maduro Doble Robusto
Nicaragua • 6 7/8" by 36 • $5.70 Nicaragua • 5 1/2" by 54 • $5.50
Rocky Patel Sun Grown Juniors New World Cameroon Selection Toro
Honduras • 4" by 38 • $3.30 Nicaragua • 6" by 50 • $6.00
JOHN CURRY

59
20
La Antiguedad Toro Gordo
The Toro Gordo is the thickest cigar in the La Antiguedad line and the only 60 ring gauge
smoke on this year’s Top 25 list. The Garcia family—no strangers to our Top 25, with two
Cigars of the Year—packed this girthy Gordo with a ton of tasty tobacco and pressed it into a
MADE BY My Father
Cigars S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua
WRAPPER Ecuador
92
POINTS

blocky shape that resembles a chocolate bar. It’s sweet and toasty, redolent of raisins and toffee BINDER Nicaragua
with a foundation of crushed walnuts that resonates well onto the finish. If you’re a fan of thick FILLER Nicaragua
cigars, then this is tailor-made for you. If you’re a die-hard traditionalist who scoffs at heavy DIMENSIONS 6" by 60
ring gauges, then the Toro Gordo is a compelling reason for you to broaden your horizons and PRICE $8.80
take that step into the weighty world of hefty smokes.

21
Joya Silver Corona
The oldest cigar factory in Nicaragua decided to take a step away from its traditional flavor
profile and packaging and move towards what it believes is more modern blending and pre-
sentation. With its glittering silver trim and quilted mesh pattern, the band will certainly get
MADE BY Joya de
Nicaragua S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua
WRAPPER Ecuador
92
POINTS

your attention, but what intrigued us most was how the Joya Silver Corona performed. It starts BINDER Mexico
with an earthy core that takes on layers of dried fruit, roasted nuts and coffee bean. Overall,
FILLER Nicaragua
the cigar is medium-to-full bodied without ever losing its sense of balance or harmony and is
DIMENSIONS 5 1/4" by 42
a pleasure to smoke from first puff to last. Fans of coronas will appreciate how so much flavor
PRICE $6.30
can come from such a diminutive size.

22
Room101 Farce It Is a Lonsdale
We’re not sure whether the word “Farce” is droll commentary on brand owner Matt Booth’s
own cigars, the industry or something else entirely. What we do know is that this cigar is the
finest lonsdale we’ve smoked all year, delivering some flavors that are uncannily precise. The
MADE BY Tabacalera
William Ventura
FACTORY LOCATION Dom. Rep.
WRAPPER Ecuador
92
POINTS

BINDER Indonesia
slender smoke contains tobacco from a lot of countries: Ecuador, Indonesia, the United States, FILLER U.S.A./Penn. Broadleaf,
Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Putting too many different tobaccos into a blend can Dom. Rep., Nicaragua, Ecuador
sometimes have a muddied effect, but here the leaves come together in surprising ways. The draw
JOHN CURRY

DIMENSIONS 6 1/2" by 42
produces a dense, chewy smoke that has all the sweet and spicy character of a molasses cookie. PRICE $10.50
Plenty of oaky vanilla notes emerge as well, all leading to a finish of maple-cured bacon.

60
23
E.P. Carrillo Core Plus Maduro Churchill Especial No. 7
Inveterate cigarmaker Ernesto Perez-Carrillo has been in the business nearly 50 years. He’s
made cigars in a small factory in Miami’s Little Havana to a giant factory in the Dominican
Republic during his tenure with General Cigar. Now, he operates his own La Alianza factory.
MADE BY Tabacalera
La Alianza S.A.
92
POINTS

FACTORY LOCATION Dom. Rep.

WRAPPER U.S.A./Conn. Broadleaf
What he has is complete control, and that affords him the luxury of making almost any kind BINDER Nicaragua
of cigar he wants. When he wanted to make a maduro cigar, he didn’t turn to Mexico or Brazil, FILLER Nicaragua
but rather looked to the U.S. for Connecticut broadleaf. This Churchill shows all the ripe DIMENSIONS 7" by 49
tobacco notes of a quintessential maduro, bolstered by a blend of Nicaraguan tobacco that PRICE $8.50
offers a chocolatey, nutty smoke with a warm core of wood.

24
Alec Bradley Project 40 06.52
It almost defies the laws of business and production when a cigar with a suggested retail price
of $5.50 performs so well, but the Alec Bradley Project 40 goes well above its pay grade: it
could easily cost twice as much. According to brand owner Alan Rubin, Project 40 is named
MADE BY J. Fuego
Cigar Co. de Nicaragua
92
POINTS

FACTORY LOCATION Nicaragua

WRAPPER Nicaragua
after a well-researched motivational principle that says each individual is in control of his or BINDER Brazil
her happiness. The cigars are made by Jesus Fuego in Nicaragua and consist of copious
FILLER Nicaragua
amounts of Nicaraguan tobacco and a Cuban-seed Brazilian binder. Ultimately, it’s a great
DIMENSIONS 6" by 52
smoke at a great price, and although we have no empirical data, we’d surmise that fewer things
PRICE $5.50
make a cigar lover happier.

25
Herrera Esteli Miami Toro Especial
What was once only available in very limited markets is now offered nationwide. The Herrera
Esteli Miami is a line extension to the original Herrera Esteli brand, produced in Nicaragua
by Drew Estate. Created by Willy Herrera, this version is rolled at the El Titan de Bronze
MADE BY
El Titan de Bronze
FACTORY LOCATION U.S.A.
WRAPPER Ecuador
92
POINTS

factory in Miami’s Little Havana. It’s a small factory, but one that has become the go-to BINDER Ecuador
operation for premium cigar companies looking for something made in Miami. This is a tasty FILLER Dom. Rep., Nicaragua
toro with a core of semisweet chocolate, cedar and almonds with pleasant pops of citrus that DIMENSIONS 6" by 52
JOHN CURRY

lead to the espresso bean finish. PRICE $11.75

62
 Doug Halcomb (center, with the Cigar
Raiders) arrived in Las Vegas with a
mission: smoke the 2018 Top 25.

COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY
P
acking the essentials for a Big Smoke How one Texas Man doubled in size. It has also been represented
is ordinarily straightforward: tooth- turned his annual Big Smoke in some form at Big Smoke Las Vegas every
brush, lighter, cutter. But for this sojourn into a journey through year. However, Halcomb is the only member
past November’s event in Las Vegas, to keep the date 17 consecutive times.
Doug Halcomb stowed an extra-special item
Cigar Afi cionado’s Top 25 This was not his first flirtation with the
in his luggage: a travel humidor containing cigars of 2018 Top 25 list. In 2018, he endeavored to purchase
22 cigars from the Top 25 Cigars of 2018. BY THOMAS PAPPALARDO and smoke as many of the 2017 Top 25 cigars as
The pastor of the Living Oak Community he could acquire over the course of the year.
Church of Lubbock, Texas, intended to smoke every one of them While condensing the smoking time frame to three days this year,
while in Las Vegas—and he tweeted so before he left. Halcomb he also posted a photo of each cigar on Twitter as he smoked it.
began his countdown when he arrived on Wednesday, November Halcomb performed his countdown from No. 25 to the No. 1 Cigar
13. By the time the first Big Smoke evening opened on Friday, he of the Year, but found one of his favorites with the first cigar he
had smoked all 22 (the missing three were Cubans that he was smoked: No. 25, the Ramon Allones by AJ Fernandez Churchill.
unable to obtain) and had room in his humidor for the cigars he The February Cigar Aficionado, which contains the annual
would receive that night. But his three-day smoke-a-thon was not Top 25 list, is Halcomb’s favorite issue. “It becomes my Christmas
yet over. That evening, Halcomb resmoked the No. 1 Cigar (the list and my To-Do list,” Halcomb says. “Everyone has their own
E.P. Carrillo Encore Majestic) as well as having three others. palate and taste, but I like the diversity that [the list offers].
“It wasn’t that hard,” says Halcomb, downplaying the feat. “My It’s been a fun experiment—it’s made me try different cigars.”
taste buds heal up well, but I was afraid they would be fried . . . The Cigar Raiders hit plenty of cigar bars while in Las Vegas,
I usually go big on The Men’s Retreat during the Big Smoke.” making excursions to such venues as Casa Fuente at Caesar’s
The Men’s Retreat is the name given to the yearly pilgrimage Palace, Rhumbar at the Mirage, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak-
he makes with his smoking club, the Cigar Raiders. Halcomb house and The Cigar Box off the Las Vegas Strip.
recalls that it was in 2003 “when three of us went to the first one By November, the intrepid cigar lover aspires to collect all the
JACOB KEPLER

and decided within 15 minutes of being there that we would Top 25 cigars of 2019. Until then he’ll smoke mere mortal cigars.
come back again.” They did return—and return. The group, big But Halcomb does not despair: “There are so many great cigars
fans of the Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball team, has since out there! What a great time to be alive as cigar smokers!” ™

63
BEST GOLF
THE

VEGAS
IN
 The gorgeous, recently renovated Wynn Golf Club, which has a waterfall on its
closing hole, was almost torn down. Today, it’s the only course on the Vegas Strip.

Cigar-friendly Las Vegas

has no shortage of golf courses.
We rank the very best that you can play
BY LARRY OLMSTED

G
olf and gambling go hand in hand, and many players can’t even
fathom teeing it up without a skins game or friendly bet on
their match. But in 2018, two of the all-time best, superstars
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, took this concept to new
heights when they played in a high-profile mano a mano contest
for $9 million—winner take all. If you are going to roll the dice
for such big bucks on the fairways and greens, where better to do it than
in Las Vegas?
Neither player was a stranger to Sin City, and Woods—who recently
tied Sam Snead for the most career wins, with 82—took home his very first
PGA Tour trophy in the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational. The city has long been
steeped in golf history, hosting PGA, LPGA and Senior Tour annual events,
and Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Curtis Strange and Greg
Norman are among many famous pros to win on the Strip. Las Vegas golf
courses also have a long history of star sightings, from Rat Pack members
Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. to modern-day superstars such as
Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan, who can regularly be found teeing it
up, often on the lush fairways of Shadow Creek. The NBA legend even
keeps his own custom golf cart on property.
Today, the golf scene in Vegas is better than ever, with courses designed
by Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Pete Dye, Rees Jones, Billy
LEFT: BRIAN OAR; INSET: BARBARA KRAFT

Casper, Ray Floyd and more. And while Vegas wouldn’t be Vegas without
over-the-top oddities (such as the fully lit Cloud Nine short course at Angel
Park, comprised of a dozen reproductions of world-famous par-3s, and the
largest TopGolf facility in the world at the MGM Grand), you can enjoy an
exceptional golf trip here, with the bonus of stunning food, lodging and
entertainment. These top choices include VIP-level experiences with sky-
high greens fees that cater to high-limit gamblers and VIPs as well as
courses that combine high-quality golf with surprising bang for the buck.

67
REFLECTION BAY

Las Vegas offers more than

sand. Reflection Bay sits next
to a 320-acre lake and was
designed by Jack Nicklaus.

7 Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas

In its heyday, this Jack Nicklaus Signature Course
anchoring a very large planned community southeast
of the city and the airport hosted the Wendy’s 3-Tour Challenge
and was arguably the second-best course in the area. Both nines
visit the large namesake 320-acre lake with five coastal-style and
peninsula holes, and the inland section climbs up into the hilly
desert with interesting, strategic holes, complete with tumbling
rock-strewn streams. But Lake Las Vegas has had a lot of financial
ups and downs, opening and then tearing out a second course by
Tom Weiskopf, rebranding its flagship hotel several times, from
Ritz-Carlton to Loews to the current Westin. (There is also a
Hilton resort onsite.) Finally, the Reflection Bay course was
shuttered from 2009 to 2014.
Since reopening, it has lost some of its luster. For a course in
such a large development, it oddly has no driving range ( just
nets) to warm up. The flipping of the nines now has golfers starting
on a very strange opening hole, one that requires a forced carry off
the tee, a second over water to the green, with water down the
entire left side, and to make matters worse, running along a busy
road, an incongruous and unwelcoming start to a round. But any
frowns from the rough start will be replaced by smiles when you its holes are on the water and home free, featuring a traditionally
PHOTO CREDIT TK

reach the lakefront holes, which are the star of the show. They strong Nicklaus finish to both nines. It remains one of the top
remain impressive and memorable. While the inland holes that courses you can play on a golf trip to Vegas, and is one of the few
once showcased the desert are now flanked with an enormous where you can stay on property, which also boasts a central village
amount of homes, this course still offers plenty. Nearly a third of with several restaurants.

68
 BEAR’S BEST
There is no shortage of hazards
on Bear’s Best, a tribute course
that features desert-style golf.

6
Bear’s Best
“Tribute courses,” which try to copy famous holes
from well-known sites, are generally hokey and fall
flat because they cannot be replicated on different topography.
That’s not the case for Bear’s Best, an unusual tribute to the
works of the Golden Bear by none other than Jack Nicklaus
himself. The logic that if he designed the hole once he could do
it again holds true, especially since Nicklaus wisely picked only
holes from western North America, many from similar desert
settings such as Los Cabos, Mexico; Desert
Denver’s very private Castle Pines Country Club, which most
golfers cannot otherwise play.
The beauty of the Bear’s Best concept (this was the first, and
there is now one in Georgia) is that while it really appeals to golf
course architecture and history buffs, it is equally satisfying to
those who just want a fun round. It does get heavy play and can
move slowly, and many holes are distractingly lined with homes,
but it has bent grass greens of very good quality. If you have
played one of the courses replicated, such as Cabo del Sol or
Palmilla in Mexico, it also offers a bonus pleasurable flashback.

Mountain, Arizona; and PGA West in Palm
Springs. When you have designed more than
400 courses in 39 states and 45 countries,
you have a lot to choose from, and Nicklaus
chose well.
The real appeal at Bear’s Best is the
chance to play 18 holes that would be solid
even if they weren’t replicas, with some
highlights from acclaimed Nicklaus
designs that are either private or difficult
to get to. The best example is his Old
Works course in Anaconda, Montana, one
of the first and most famous uses of golf
for environmental mitigation, cleaning up
an old copper smelter designated as a
Superfund site by turning it into a course
TOP: BRIAN OAR; INSET: J. RICK MARTIN
GO TIME
Peak season in Las Vegas is late fall and
early spring, with a slight downturn in
winter and a huge drop in both crowds and
5
TPC Las Vegas
Only some of the Tournament
Players Clubs comprising the
PGA Tour’s TPC Network are open to the
public. Las Vegas has two: the private TPC
Summerlin, which hosts the annual Shriner’s
Hospital for Children Open, and the public
TPC Las Vegas, formerly TPC Canyons,
which hosted a Senior PGA Tour event until
2001 and the Shriner’s PGA event until 2006.
The course offers “stay and play” packages
that include a complimentary shuttle from
the adjacent and luxurious JW Marriot Las
Vegas Resort & Spa, making it one of the
more turnkey golf travel options in the area.

in 1994. Old Works is most famous for its
dramatically distinctive black sand bunkers.
While the original is far off the beaten
path, Las Vegas is not, and two impressive
holes are recreated here, most notably, a
memorable island par-3 surrounded by a
ring of black bunkers. There’s also a unique,
pine-tree-defended par-5 borrowed from
prices in summertime, when temperatures
routinely soar well above 100 degrees.
If you can take the (considerable) heat,
you can enjoy summer bargains and longer
daylight hours with some incredible replay
discounts. Most Vegas courses also offer
twilight discounts year-round, beginning
as early as noon. —L.O.
Many golfers simply commute from the Strip,
as Summerlin is a close suburb just southwest
of the city. You can get there in 20 minutes
without traffic.
Designed by Bobby Weed and Ray Floyd,
it has a markedly different feel from the other
Vegas courses, with a pronounced carved-
from-the-desert aesthetic on a hillier and

69
 higher site, with more dramatic drops and climbs. Your shots will
carry farther here, as the course sits more than 2,000 feet above sea
level. There are several forced carries and it is one of the most chal-
lenging options in the area, with no shortage of opportunities to lose
balls in the rugged dry washes, cactus-studded surroundings or
occasional lake. It also features several distinctive risk-and-reward
holes, such as the reachable yet penal 13th hole, a par-4 also known
as “Death Valley.” And because it was designed for tournament play,
it has an unusual six tee options to choose from, allowing golfers
to eliminate some of the forced carries and pick the right length
for them, from under 5,000 to more than 7,100 yards.
As is usually the case for TPC facilities, it boasts very good
conditions, has first-rate practice areas with all sorts of short-
game features, an elaborate clubhouse with a well stocked golf
shop, full locker rooms and full-service restaurant.
4
Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort
There are very few facilities in Las Vegas with two
courses, and only this one has three, and all 54 holes are
designed by Pete Dye, putting the high-end daily fee in an elite club
with tony resorts Destination Kohler in Wisconsin and Casa de
Campo in the Dominican Republic. All three layouts are equally
compelling, so this is Vegas’ top choice for those looking to play 36,
and they frequently offer very attractive replay or multiround,
multiday packages. Despite the name, this is not really a resort, as
there is no lodging, but it does have an expansive clubhouse that
has a rare indoor smoking lounge set off the bar, where you can
enjoy selections from the humidor and cocktails, plus plenty of
outside seating. They carry cigars in CertiFresh packaging to
PAIUTE
The Paiute Golf Resort features three 18-hole
BRIAN OAR
courses, each of them designed by Pete Dye.
thwart Vegas’ notorious dry conditions, with half a dozen popular
selections from Romeo y Julieta, Oliva, Montecristo and even a
custom label from Camacho.
Besides sheer quantity, what sets the Paiute property apart is
its location in unspoiled and undeveloped desert, with long-range
mountain views you just do not get on most other area courses,
which are often lined with wall-to-wall homes. The Las Vegas
Paiutes are a sovereign nation, and in 1983 acquired the 4,000-
acre Snow Mountain Reservation, now home to the golf resort.
It is so expansive that there are two large practice facilities, each
with full driving range and short game area, at either end, to be
used depending which course you are playing.
It is a pristine setting for golf, but despite an abundance of
surrounding desert, the holes themselves have carpet-like, wide
fairways of grass, with almost no forced carries and plenty of room
to play, and unusually impressive conditioning for such a heavily
played facility. Because all three courses can stretch more than 7,000
yards, with the most difficult, Wolf, topping out at 7,604, the chal-
lenge here comes from length, lots of bunkers, and native waste
hazards, but the design allows less skilled players wide targets off
the tee, offering a rare combination of difficulty and welcome.
Wolf is the most popular, with slightly higher prices, but if
you are not playing it from the back all three are comparably
difficult, and all have a few dramatically used water features,
typically on holes nine and 18. Wolf also has a full-blown island
green par-3, a semi-replica of Dye’s most famous hole at TPC
Sawgrass. Whichever course you choose, you will get one of the
best golf experiences—and values—in Las Vegas. It sits northwest
of the city, about 30 minutes (without traffic) from the Strip, and
modestly closer to Downtown Las Vegas.
71
 golf course operator, who opened it to the
public. Today, Cascata is the best public
course in Las Vegas that’s not part of a casino.
Cascata is very well maintained, with
skilled caddies, which are required. The
greens fees here are $399 in season ($299
in the off-season) and no longer include the
caddy fee or a limo ride. Cascata offers dis-
counted replay ($149) for a great 36-hole day.

2 Wynn Golf Club

CASCATA
The finger canyons of
Red Mountain give Cascata
a unique look and feel.
Steve Wynn built Shadow Creek
to woo high rollers, and when
he sold his Mirage Resorts to MGM and
started his own brand, he hired Tom Fazio
to create a direct competitor, the Wynn
Golf Club, in 2005. Built on the footprint
of the famously historic Desert Inn course,
Wynn has one standout advantage that
sets it apart from every other area choice:
its prime location in the heart of Las Vegas
Boulevard. It is both the only course on

3
the Strip (daily fee Bali Hai sits on Las Vegas Boulevard, south
Cascata of the Strip) and the only one at a Vegas hotel. It’s turnkey for
Cascata is very much a desert course, or as designer Wynn guests, who can book tee times 90 days out. It’s 30 for
Rees Jones puts it, a “desert links.” The nearly 400-acre everyone else. The course is within walking distance of the
site is situated on the slopes of 3,600-foot-high Red Mountain, Venetian, Palazzo and Mirage, and a few minutes’ ride from
and is unlike any other golf course design, as many of its fairways most Strip hotels, 20 to 40 minutes closer than other top alter-
are uniquely located in the area’s finger canyons. The big piece of natives. Top luxury lodgings here include the five-star Wynn
real estate and its topography gave him natural tee, green and and Encore Tower Suites, and the even posher Fairway Villas. It
fairway sites so holes fit the land perfectly. is the easiest course in Las Vegas to play—
“Choosing the best 18 was the hard part,” and one of the best.
Jones joked. “It looks like a desert links The course was closed for a time, and
because the holes fit right through the it reopened in October and is even better
valleys. It’s a phenomenal piece of ground.” than before, thanks to a near-complete
Because of the finger canyons, virtually renovation by Fazio. Wynn decided to
every hole is private, and its Italianate name replace golf with an expanded convention
comes from the artificial 417-foot waterfall center and waterpark in 2017, but after
that tumbles down the mountain—and tearing out half the layout, management
through the clubhouse. reversed direction and brought Fazio
Water features are used generously back to rebuild. The result is more earth
here, starting on the first hole, with several moving, more elevation change, more
more along the way and a final hazard on
18, completing the theme. The striking and
CIGAR CITY trees separating fairways, and 10 all-new
holes. The behind-the-scenes investment
Las Vegas is among America’s most
contrasting combination of raw desert, cigar-friendly cities. All of the golf was considerable: new drainage, new
rocky slopes, tumbling creeks and lush courses sell cigars and most have club- irrigation, a new breed of heat-tolerant
green fairways lined with stands of palm house terraces where you can order a bent grass greens, all in pursuit of year-
trees all creates a sort of oasis fantasy that drink while you puff. There’s no shortage round great conditions, something elusive
is as impressive to look at as to play. of smoking venues on the Strip for after in the Nevada desert. “We did a great job,
a round, such as Montecristo Cigar Bar
Cascata was originally owned by MGM, a lot of work, but we also tried to keep it
(shown) and Casa Fuente in Caesars,
which sold the course to Caesars before it Rhumbar at the Mirage and the Davidoff
like it was before,” explained Fazio. “If you
opened in 2000. It originally was private, Cigar Bar by the Fashion Show mall. It’s played it in the past you might ask, ‘Did it
TOP: DAVE BURK

then made available on a limited basis to also home to the Big Smoke Las Vegas really ever close?’ It’s so ready for play and
hotel guests, but when Caesars left the golf every November. —L.O. in such good shape that it is hard to believe
business, it sold Cascata to a conventional it changed.”

74
 SHADOW CREEK
Shadow Creek: the best golf course in Las Vegas that you can play. The site played host to the
$9 million, winner-take-all match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in 2018.
The new Wynn Golf Club feels like the old one, only better,
and still has white glove service, a high-end country club–style
locker room, and will soon feature an all new eatery by famed
chef Thomas Keller. It still climaxes with the signature feature,
a 35-foot-high, 100-foot-wide waterfall behind the 18th green,
feeding a daunting pond front left. But while it used to be a
par-4, the finale is now a long par-3, 209 yards from the typical
tees and a whopping 249 from the tips, imposing enough that
anyone who makes a hole in one gets a $15,000 prize. Since the
lofty greens fees ($550) include a skilled forecaddie, you always
have a witness.
76
1 Shadow Creek
The most desirable course in Las Vegas
since the day it opened, Shadow Creek
is clouded in mystique, frequented by A-list celeb-
rities, and absolutely lives up to the hype. “Shadow
Creek is the place I would like to be buried when
my days are done,” says NBA legend Julius “Dr. J”
Erving. “It’s my favorite place on the planet.”
Golf Digest named it the nation’s Best New
Course when it opened in 1990, and 30 years later
still ranks it the fifth best you can play. In Golf
Magazine’s most recent Top 100 You Can Play, it’s
ranked 16th, higher than any course in Nevada,
but one could easily argue it should be moved up
several places. When Tiger and Phil played their
$9 million match, Shadow Creek was the venue.
By any measure it is a beautiful golf course,
reputed to be the most expensive ever constructed
at the time. While the site was dead flat desert, Fazio
was charged with bringing the feel of hilly North
Carolina to the area, so vast amounts of earth were
moved to create dramatic elevation changes, while
the fairways are so heavily lined with mature, trans-
planted pine trees that you typically cannot see
other holes. So few people are allowed to play each
day that on most visits you will not see a single other
group. And in addition to the immaculate condition,
great design and extensive use of rock-lined tumbling
streams, the thing that elevates the experience is the
“king for a day” feel you get. Any other public course
this good—and there are very few—typically sells
every tee time it can fit in, but a round at Shadow
Creek is as close as most visitors will ever come to
owning their own course.
All this exclusivity comes at a hefty price. The
greens fees here are $600, the highest in Vegas and
among the loftiest in the game. When the course was
built, it was never meant to accept any public play, or
TOP: BRIAN OAR; BOTTOM: CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE MATCH
members, at all. It was an amenity to be given away to
woo the highest of high-rolling gamblers. It is still
used that way, but a limited number of paid tee
times, most on weekdays, are available to guests of
any MGM Resort, Shadow Creek’s owner. At the
lowest end, these include Luxor and Excalibur,
while the best-known casino resorts in the portfolio are the Bellagio,
Aria and MGM Grand. MGM operates several even more luxurious
boutique “hotels within hotels” up and down the Strip, such as the
ultra-luxe Mansion within MGM Grand, where Tiger Woods has
been known to stay. For cigar lovers, the best of these more exclu-
sive choices are the ground level Villas at the Mirage, which have
their own back yards. The hefty greens fees include roundtrip limo
transportation from any MGM property, as well as an excellent
caddie to complete the fantasy golf experience. ™
Larry Olmsted is a Cigar Aficionado contributing editor.
 Rules of
SUPER BOWL
N
evada Sports Books took in nearly $146 million in
bets for the last Super Bowl, their second-best
Super Sunday in history. The increase came the
year after sports betting was legalized in many
states, giving an extra push to the biggest betting
day in the world. This year, the total could be even higher,
but the amount bet legally will be a mere drop in the very
BETTING
A whopping 80 percent of these sports bets are being
made on smart phones and mobile devices, rather than at a
large bucket of illegal betting, with an estimated $13 billion casino or horse track. You physically have to be in New Jersey
bet illicitly on Super Bowl Sunday alone. to make a bet there. So what’s the most popular place in
More than half the U.S. adult population will have a Jersey to bet on sports? The New York/New Jersey border.
wager on this year’s game, according to estimates, and those The trend for many sports bettors has been to place a bet on
bets will be made via U.S. and offshore their mobile device in New Jersey, then
bookmakers, Internet wagers, office More than $13 billion leave for home in New York.
pools, person-to-person bets and Super Across the country, in the conservative
Bowl parties, making it the year’s single
will be bet on Super Deep South, the MGM-owned Beau Rivage
biggest sports betting event. There is no Bowl Sunday. Now, Hotel and Casino Sports Book in Biloxi,
close second or third to the Super Bowl, with sports betting Mississippi took the first sports bet in the
the main reason it is the highest-rated state of Mississippi on August 1, 2018 with
TV show every year. legal in more places seven betting windows. They are doing
On May 14, 2018, the U.S. Supreme than ever, we show so well that they just completed a new
Court legalized sports betting for any $10 million sports book on August 1, one of
you five key rules to
state that wants it. Today, 13 states allow the nicest in the country. If you make sports
sports betting (see sidebar) and it’s esti- profit on the big game betting available, sports bettors will come.
mated that within three years that Morgan Stanley recently predicted
number could swell to as many as 30 states. New Jersey that $216 billion could be legally wagered annually on sports
took its first legal sports bet on June 14, 2018, when two in the U.S. within five years. By comparison, North American
retail sports books opened in the state. The New Jersey movie box office sales last year were $11 billion. Maybe they
Division of Gaming Enforcement reported a mammoth should have brought back E.T.
$5.21 billion had been legally wagered on sports in the state Whether it’s legal or illegal, whether it’s wagered in a
between June 2018 and November 2019, with $4 billion bet fancy casino or on your smart phone, one thing will remain
in the first 11 months of 2019 alone. constant: the Super Bowl will remain the biggest betting day
in sports. I have five steadfast rules for betting on the Super
Bowl, two of which have helped me correctly predict 17 of
the last 18 winners against the spread and 15 of the last 18
BY DANNY SHERIDAN Over/Under totals. If you plan on placing a bet on Super
ILLUSTRATION BY TAYLOR CALLERY Bowl LIV, follow these guidelines.

80
Rule No. 1 DON’T DREAD THE SPREAD If you see a Super Bowl in which one team is known for its
The Super Bowl victor has failed to beat the spread only six times offense and the other team for its defense, pass on wagering on
in history. That’s a record of 44-6-3 (88 percent). A 57 percent the total and attack the food and drink instead.
success rate against the spread is very profitable. Ignore the point
spread and simply wager on who you think will win the game. Rule No. 3 A BAD PROPOSITION
Last year, New England was a 2.5 point favorite, and they beat the Never make a proposition bet. Sports books may offer up to 500 of
Los Angeles Rams 13-3. The season before, Philadelphia—a 4.5- them, allowing you to place a wager on quarterback completions,
point underdog—upset New England 41-33. In the number of player receiving and rushing
2017, the Patriots beat Atlanta 34-28 as 3-point yards, fumbles, field goals and a host of other
favorites. To find the last team to win the Super possibilities. The public bets heavily on this—
Bowl and not beat the spread, you have to go and loses heavily—almost every year. How
back 11 years, to 2009, when Pittsburgh (giving skewed is this toward the house? One of the
up 7) beat Arizona 27-23. biggest sports books in Vegas said before the
2018 Super Bowl that it had not lost money
Rule No. 2 TAKE CARE WITH THE TOTAL booking prop bets in 23 years, going back to
Total points wagering (the combined score) January 29, 1995 when the San Francisco 49ers
has become the second-most popular Super beat the San Diego Chargers 49-26 in the highest-
Bowl wager. But there’s a simple strategy to scoring Super Bowl ever.
point your way with this kind of bet. When The sports books did lose on prop bets in
offensively potent teams meet, bet the Under, WHERE TO BET LEGALLY 2018, when the Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33,
as they tend to play conservatively, feeling they As of this writing, 13 states a Super Bowl that shattered several offensive
can score whenever they want. Also, many have legalized full-scale records. That sports books lost on prop bets
offensive juggernauts only open up after sports betting: Arkansas, only twice in the last 24 years should be all the
they’ve felt each other out for a half. Last year’s Delaware, Iowa, Indiana, evidence you need to stay away. Prop bets can
total opened at an all-time high 59 points Mississippi, New Jersey, New be hazardous to one’s wealth!
(closing at game time at 56) for the meeting Mexico, Nevada, New York,
between the Patriots and Rams, the two top- Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Rule No. 4 RESPECT THE ORIGINAL LINE
scoring teams in the league. Despite their Island and West Virginia. Six At halftime, bookies post a new point spread
offensive power, the final combined score was other states—Colorado, for the second half of the game. If you’re going
a mere 16 points (13-3), putting them well Illinois, North Carolina, New to bet again, always bet the team at halftime
under the total. When Peyton Manning met Hampshire, Montana and that you think will beat the original Super
Cam Newton in 2016, those notorious high Tennessee, plus the District of Bowl line. The team that has beaten the game’s
scorers fell under the total of 43.5, going 24-10. Columbia—have recently opening point spread has also beaten the half-
The same held true when Tom Brady faced Eli passed sports-wagering bills, time spread in 23 of the last 26 Super Bowls.
Manning in 2012. The Over was set at 54, but have yet to implement
which was the third-highest Super Bowl total them. Legalized sports- Rule No. 5 DON’T BE A TEASE
at that time. But the Patriots and Giants com- betting bills were introduced Avoid teasers. They might look good, but your
bined for only 38 points, again going under the in another 24 states, but were chances of betting them and making money
total, as New York won 21-17, beating New not passed. But states that aren’t good at all. A teaser is to entice, or
England for the second time in five years. see their citizens crossing the “tease” a bettor where he can move, or tease,
Conversely, if two defensive giants collide, border to place legal sports the line up or down. Say the Ravens and the
bet the Over because the offenses tend to open wagers that brings in much 49ers face each other in the Super Bowl, and
up, figuring that any scoring will help their needed tax revenue may Baltimore is a 6-point-favorite over San Fran-
defense and they are less fearful of making reconsider. This is already a cisco and the Total is 55. With the teaser, the
mistakes. When these offenses open up, they multibillion-dollar business in bettor can take Baltimore even, with the Under
are more prone to turnovers, which often leads some states, and before long, 49, or take San Fran +12. But don’t be fooled—
to more scoring. In 2018, Philadelphia and hundreds of billions will be it’s not worth the risk.
New England, which had dominated their legally bet on sports in the The same advice holds true for parlays
opponents defensively in the playoffs, scored a United States. (bets that depend on winning two or more
combined 74 points (41-33), easily beating the outcomes, say the spread and the Over-
49-point Over. In 2017, New England beat Atlanta 34-28 for a Under). More than one third of a bookmaker’s profits come
combined 62 points. The Over, set at 57, paid off that day. The from parlays, so you need to steer clear. This is one Super Bowl
Seahawks had the best defense in the NFL in the 2014 season, a bet you should consistently avoid. ™
unit known as the Legion of Boom. When they faced off with
New England in Super Bowl XLIX, the game was a high-scoring Cigar Aficionado contributor Danny Sheridan appears frequently
one. The Pats won 28-24, and so did those who bet the Over. in major newspapers and on major TV networks.

82
 It may be over when
the fat lady sings, but
the party starts when
the winners light cigars

PHOTO CREDIT TK
THE SWEETSMELL
OF
VICTORY The victory cigar was general manager Red
Auerbach’s trademark, but after the Celtics
won the 1981 NBA championship Larry Bird stole
his boss’s smoke—much to Auerbach’s delight.

87

In 1992, Michael
Jordan repeated the
post-championship
cigar ritual he
inaugurated the
year before. The
Chicago Bulls went
on to a three-peat.
John Salley (left) and
Shaquille O’Neal share
a smoke after a
come-from-behind
performance made
them 2000 NBA
champions.
LeBron James enjoys his
well-deserved victory
cigar after putting up 37
points to win the 2013
title in Game Seven.
88
PREVIOUS SPREAD: BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES; CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BILL SMITH/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED/GETTY IMAGES; BRANDON COLSTON/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES; GREG NELSON/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED/GETTY IMAGES; NATHANIEL S. BUTLER/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES
Power forward Dirk Nowitzki chomps
on a torpedo as the Mavericks are
welcomed back to Dallas after taking
the NBA championship in 2011.
BASKETBALL
A haze of cigar smoke was once a
common phenomenon at such storied
basketball arenas as Madison Square
Garden in New York City and Boston
Garden. But even as regulations have
banished cigars from the ranks of
spectators in the stands, special
dispensation is often bestowed on
players within the confines of the
locker room. Never are the rules more
lax than when celebrating a
championship is in order. Hardly a title
is won when someone doesn’t light up.
But, as Michael Jordan told CIGAR
AFICIONADO editor & publisher Marvin R.
Shanken in an interview in the August
2005 issue, smoking in the NBA
doesn’t always wait until a crown is
secured. The Chicago Bulls’ superstar
and six-time NBA champion took to
enjoying a substantial Hoyo de
Monterrey Double Corona as a way to
relax during the long drives to home
games, lighting up before he played.
 The fearsome
Chuck Bednarik
looks positively
beatific after the
Eagles won the
1960 NFL title.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: AP PHOTO; HERB SCHARFMAN/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED/GETTY IMAGES; AP PHOTO/HARRY CABLUCK; SCOTT TAETSCH/GETTY IMAGES
Joe Namath lights up during
his short-lived retirement
from football during training
camp in the summer of 1969.

FOOTBALL
Vince Lombardi famously said,
“Football is not a contact sport, it’s a
collision sport—dancing is a contact
sport.” But it can also be a smoking
sport as these gladiators prove. Even
while removed from the field of
competition, Joe Namath contemplated
his situation with a smoke. He had
announced he was quitting when
Commissioner Pete Rosell demanded Terry Bradshaw enlists in the
he sell his interest in the mob-tainted fan club of the Steelers’ star
Manhattan bar Bachelors Three and running back Franco Harris.

gone to Hollywood to star in movies.

He would come to his senses and return
to the game. One memorable cigar
celebration came last year when owner
Robert Kraft opened a humidor of 50th
Anniversary Padróns for his champion
Patriots. At the time, he quipped he
Hall of Famer Ed Reed
only smoked “on rare occasions—like
smoking a cigar on the
after winning the Super Bowl.” Baltimore Ravens sidelines.

90
 Babe Ruth rarely turned down a petition
from a fan or the chance for a good smoke.
Mitch Moreland of the Red Sox
toasts his first World Series ring
with a beer and a cigar in 2018.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: SEAN M. HAFFEY/GETTY IMAGES; EVERETT COLLECTION; COURTESY OF WASHINGTON NATIONALS; BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES; CARL KIDWILER/DIAMOND IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

Bobby Thompson celebrates

the “Shot Heard Round the
World” with Sal Maglie.

In 2019, the

BASEBALL
Nationals gave
Washington its
first Series in 95
years and general
It’s often said that baseball is a game of
manager Mike
inches. It’s the difference between a Rizzo (left), felt
foul and a homer, a ball and a strike, a the occasion
put out and a run scored. But it can warranted for a
victory smoke.
also be a game of ring gauges—as
attested by the many cigars smoked by
players and spectators alike. The rule is
big game, big cigar. Bobby Thompson’s
legendary ninth-inning home run that
capped a league playoff for the New
Frequent fighters Billy
York Giants over the Brooklyn Dodgers, Martin, left, and George
of course, deserved a smoke. Steinbrenner smoke
peace cigars.

91
 Charles Sifford, a
golfing pioneer
who died in 2015,
was rarely seen
without a cigar.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PAUL ELLIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; GARY NEWKIRK/ALLSPORT/GETTY IMAGES; ALAN DIAZ/AP IMAGES; JONATHAN FERREY/GETTY IMAGES
A good smoke helps steady the nerves
for Spain’s Miquel Ángel Jiménez at Dana Quigley (below) on the

GOLF
the British Open (above). links, with a firm bite on his
ever-present cigar.

Perhaps no sport is more suited to the

simultaneous enjoyment of a fine cigar
than golf. The long walks (or at least
cart rides) through the bucolic
surroundings of a golf course promote
the same sort of serene attitude that a
cigar so often provides. The measured
stop-and-go action allows for players
to carry their lit smokes with them, rest
them on any number of purpose-built
cigar holders (or even in the grass) and
then calmly take their shots. And all the
world is your ashtray. What better way
to replay a game (in celebration or
For Jim Thorpe (above) a great
cigar adds to a moment of solace) than at the 19th hole with a
contemplation on the course. cigar? But what separates the rest of us
duffers from the adept professionals
shown here is the ability to smoke and
swing capably at the same time.

92

Mike Keane hoists the Stanley Cup
after the Colorado Avalanche win
the NHL title in 1996.
TOP LEFT: B BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES; BOTTOM RIGHT: RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR/GETTY IMAGES
COVERING THE CIGAR CHAMPS
CIGAR AFICIONADO has long covered famed athletic heroes who smoke cigars. Clockwise
from bottom left hand: Michael Strahan, December 2014; Alex Rodriguez, October
2018; Michael Jordan, December 2018; Ray Lewis, October 2016; Wayne Gretzky
(with wife Janet Jones), April 1997; Orlando “El Duque” Hernández, April 1999.

HOCKEY
Cigars and hockey is a fire-and-ice
combination that just makes sense.
Beyond the many sticks that get
smoked by spectators to keep warm in
the chilly surroundings of an ice rink,
there is the solid tradition for
celebrating great victories with a
smoke. The Great Gretsky himself,
hockey’s finest player, adorned our
cover in 1997. And consider one reply
to the kerfuffle that arose in 2010 when
the victorious Canadian women
Olympians feted themselves with
cigars, beer and Champagne after the
gold medal game (see photo at right).
Even while apologizing, the spokesman
for the Canadian Olympic Committee
said, “In terms of the actual celebration,
Marie-Phillip Poulin and Tessa
it’s not exactly something uncommon Bonhomme smoke on ice after
in Canada.” Oh, Canada! ™ Canada wins gold in 2010.

94
 100
cigars
CIGAR REVIEWS: TASTING BLIND
The CIGAR AFICIONADO tasting panel turns
80 cigars into ash to see which ones
perform best when their identifying bands
are removed in a blind tasting.
112 THE BUYING GUIDE
Prefer your cigars mild? Ultra strong?
Looking for a bargain? Our Buying Guide
will point you in the right direction.
JEFF HARRIS
115 TASTING VINTAGE SMOKES
Patience is rewarded in the humidor, as
great cigars can turn into true classics.
119 A TALK WITH THE PRESIDENTS
The two men who run Cuba’s Habanos S.A.
sit down to shed light on what’s new in the
world of Havana cigars.
126 THE CIGAR-LOVING POKER STAR
Card king Shaun Deeb is no stranger to
controversy—or fine cigars.
130 THE BIG SMOKE LAS VEGAS
CIGAR AFICIONADO’S biggest party.
For even more on cigars, see our
Top 25, beginning on page 44.
99
churchills
Long cigars, such as Churchills, aren’t just about extending your smoking time. Seven inches gives a cigarmaker the
opportunity to create a blend that’s about transitions, developments and sometimes surprises. The Padrón 1964
Anniversary Series Diplomatico Maduro from Nicaragua scored 93 points to lead the category. It has a complex
core of coffee notes and a complementary sweetness. Three Churchills from the Dominican Republic scored
91 points. The Ashton Virgin Sun Grown Sorcerer is made at the Fuente factory and wrapped in one of the darkest,
most oily leaves of Ecuador Sumatra you’ll find on any cigar. Don’t be alarmed by the logo on Hammer + Sickle’s
Trademark Maduro Churchill. It has nothing to do with communism, but is an homage to Russia’s industrial
north and agrarian south. Symbols aside, it’s a flavorful cigar well-suited to the American palate, as is the La Flor
Dominicana Coronado Double Corona. This cigar disappeared from the market for awhile, but came back in 2015.
Coronado’s distinctive component is its Habano-seed wrapper, grown in the Jalapa Valley of Nicaragua.

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
PADRÓN 1964 ANNIVERSARY SERIES
DIPLOMATICO MADURO
All kinds of complex coffee notes define this box-
93
BINDER: NICARAGUA pressed cigar from roasted arabica to dark robusta.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA Hints of dried cherry and caramel add sweetness before
the rich finish of espresso and molasses.
U.S.: $14.80 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 49 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
ASHTON VIRGIN SUN GROWN SORCERER
The draw and burn of this inky, box-pressed Churchill
is steady and even. Sweet notes of chocolate and black
91
BINDER: DOM. REP. cherry take on a bit of black pepper before the pepper-
WRAPPER: ECUADOR mint finish.
U.S.: $12.70 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 48 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
HAMMER + SICKLE TRADEMARK SERIES
MADURO CHURCHILL
A handsome Churchill whose woody vanilla notes are
91
BINDER: DOM. REP. redolent of an oak barrel. The smoke also hints at fruit,
WRAPPER: MEXICO nutmeg and baking spices. A tasty cigar.
U.S.: $9.75 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
LA FLOR DOMINICANA CORONADO
DOUBLE CORONA
The spicy core of ground red pepper and pickled ginger
91
BINDER: DOM. REP. notes is accented by sweeter hints of honey, earth and
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA toasted almonds. The burn and draw are even throughout.
U.S.: $10.30 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
AGING ROOM QUATTRO MADURO
CONCERTO
Flatly pressed in a very dark wrapper, this Churchill
90
BINDER: DOM. REP. shows an earthy range of cocoa and coffee bean notes
WRAPPER: MEXICO before a profound caramel finish. The draw and burn
remain even and full.
U.S.: $10.95 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

100
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 6 7/8"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
E.P. CARRILLO ENCORE EL PRIMERO
Though made with a veiny wrapper and a dented,
misshapen head, this is a tasty cigar full of toasty,
90
BINDER: NICARAGUA woody notes, hints of toffee and a floral lavender finish.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA U.S.: $13.15 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 47 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
SURROGATES SATIN GLOVE
A dark and oily Churchill with a well-formed head.
Big, central notes of coffee and minerals are
90
BINDER: NICARAGUA complemented by tasty intonations of leather
WRAPPER: MEXICO and brown sugar.
U.S.: $9.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 49 LENGTH: 7 1/8"
FILLER: CUBA
HOYO DE MONTERREY ESCOGIDOS
This toasty, floral Churchill has the sweetness of an
oatmeal raisin cookie before a leather and citrus finish.
89
BINDER: CUBA It’s a tawny-colored cigar with an even burn.
WRAPPER: CUBA U.S.: N/A U.K.: £30.90 STRENGTH: Medium
BOX DATE: AUGUST 2019

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 48 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
GRAN HABANO BLUE IN GREEN
CHURCHILL
The draw and burn here are even and full, producing a
88
BINDER: NICARAGUA thick smoke evocative of fresh pine needles, citrus and
WRAPPER: U.S.A./CONN. SHADE light spice, all leading to a bright, lemony finish.
U.S.: $9.30 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild-Medium

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 48 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: HONDURAS, DOM. REP.
BLIND MAN’S BLUFF CONNECTICUT
CHURCHILL
This yellowish Churchill burns and draws perfectly,
87
BINDER: HONDURAS showing a grassy, woody smoke with faint citrus, a
WRAPPER: ECUADOR touch of nuttiness and a light finish of straw and hay.
U.S.: $9.90 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 48 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
TIMELESS STERLING CHURCHILL
Tangy notes of cedar and lemongrass drive this blond
Churchill, which also takes on hints of walnut and mint
87
BINDER: DOM. REP. before the dry finish.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR U.S.: $17.50 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 49 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: HONDURAS, NICARAGUA
ALEC BRADLEY TEMPUS NATURAL
CENTURIA
Wrapped in a coarse cover leaf, this large cigar starts
86
BINDER: HONDURAS, INDONESIA toasty and nutty but becomes muddled with metallic
WRAPPER: HONDURAS notes, damp wood and a chalky finish.
U.S.: $9.20 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 47 LENGTH: 7"
FILLER: DOM. REP., NICARAGUA
LA AURORA 1987 CONNECTICUT
CHURCHILL
Veiny with a lopsided cap, this Churchill requires
86
BINDER: DOM. REP. double puffing for a decent draw. The smoke is thin
WRAPPER: ECUADOR and woody with a citrus acidity, some sour apple notes
and a wheaty finish.
U.S.: $6.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild

101
coronas
It’s no secret that Cuban cigars today are being produced in thicker, unprecedented sizes, but Habanos hasn’t
completely turned its back on smokers who prefer smaller ring gauges. Cuba still offers coronas in all its larger, global
brands—and they can be quite delicious. The Partagás de Luxe scored 92 points for its abundance of flavor. These
particular cigars came in screw-cap tubos, making them perfectly suited to aging. We suggest keeping them in their
tubos to slow down the dissipation of strength. Cuba’s flagship brand, Cohiba, showed very well with the Siglo II at
91 points. The Siglo Series (officially called Línea 1492) isn’t as strong as the core line, and few know that it was
created to fill the gap after Cuban Davidoffs were discontinued in the early ’90s. The Cohiba Siglo II is analogous to
the old Davidoff Château Mouton-Rothschild. Two non-Cuban cigars scored 91 points, the Mbombay Habano Corona
and the Illusione Epernay Le Elegance. (Each cigar is made without tobaccos grown in the country in which they
were rolled.) The Illusione lives up to its name, as the blend was intended to emphasize finesse over power.

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 40 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: CUBA
PARTAGÁS DE LUXE (TUBO)
A streaky, oily corona that produces a sturdy gray ash.
This is a floral, nutty smoke with a clear note of salted
92
BINDER: CUBA caramel and some toasty breadiness as well. The draw
WRAPPER: CUBA and burn are perfect.
BOX DATE: APRIL 2016 U.S.: N/A Italy: 7.50 euro STRENGTH: Medium-Full

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 42 LENGTH: 5 1/8"
FILLER: CUBA
COHIBA SIGLO II
Though the draw of this corona is a bit firm, it still
imparts a nutty, fruity smoke with complex layers
91
BINDER: CUBA of brown sugar, maple and leather.
WRAPPER: CUBA U.S.: N/A U.K.: £21.92 STRENGTH: Medium
BOX DATE: NOVEMBER 2017

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 40 LENGTH: 5 3/4"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
ILLUSIONE EPERNAY LE ELEGANCE
An attractive corona made with a three-seam cap.
Notes of cedar and pistachio complement the
91
BINDER: NICARAGUA undertones of coffee bean before the sweet,
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA graham cracker finish.
U.S.: $9.25 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

COSTA RICA
RING GAUGE: 43 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA, PERU
MBOMBAY HABANO CORONA
Rolled with an uncut foot, this solid corona imparts a
strong and peppery smoke full of nutty, fruity notes,
91
BINDER: ECUADOR some coffee bean and a cedar finish.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR U.S.: $7.49 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
ARTURO FUENTE DON CARLOS NO. 3
Cloaked in a veiny, toothy cover leaf, this corona is a
tasty balance of cocoa powder, vanilla and orange peel
90
BINDER: DOM. REP with touches of slate and baking spices on the finish.
WRAPPER: CAMEROON U.S.: $9.75 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

102
 CUBA
RING GAUGE: 40 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: CUBA
ROMEO Y JULIETA ROMEO NO. 1 (TUBO)
First puffs of this solid corona smoke like an entire
cabinet of Mideastern spices, from cumin and cardamom
90
BINDER: CUBA to white pepper and saffron. Some intermittent tanginess
WRAPPER: CUBA leads to the cinnamon and graham cracker finish.
BOX DATE: NOVEMBER 2017 U.S.: N/A U.K.: £19.15 STRENGTH: Medium

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 42 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
VILLIGER LA MERIDIANA CORONA
A thin, solidly rolled cigar with an oily wrapper.
Sweet notes of earth and cedar are spiced up with
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA piquant bursts of pickled ginger.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA U.S.: $6.50 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 38 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: DOM. REP., NICARAGUA
BINDER: DOM. REP.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA
DEBONAIRE HABANO
SAGITA PETITE LANCERO
Oils seep through the wrapper of this pigtailed corona,
88
which draws and burns quite evenly. The smoke is
dense and chewy with walnut, leather and earth.
The finish is a bit rustic.
U.S.: $9.10 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
ROCKY PATEL LB1 CORONA
Long and thin with a notably flat head. The draw is
open and lush, each puff full of earth, leather and dark
88
BINDER: HONDURAS toast. A touch of acidity precedes the wheaty finish.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR U.S.: $8.25 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: DOM. REP., NICARAGUA
BINDER: DOM. REP.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR
MATILDE SERENA CORONA
Grassy at first, this lightly hued corona becomes woody
with pine and cedar. A light citrus note precedes the
87
earthy finish.
U.S.: $7.20 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild-Medium

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
BINDER: DOM. REP.
WRAPPER: U.S.A./CONN. SHADE
MONTECRISTO CLASSIC ESPECIAL NO. 3
A light corona with an open draw and even burn. First
puffs are thin and papery before the cigar shows its
87
woody core. Wisps of citrus and vanilla come through
as well.
U.S.: $10.95 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
LA FLOR DOMINICANA AIR BENDER
PODEROSO
Wrapped in a veiny, oily cover leaf, this is a primarily earthy,
85
BINDER: DOM. REP. coffee-like smoke, but the score was offset by some
WRAPPER: ECUADOR sourness and a charry finish. Could use some refinement.
U.S.: $7.90 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 42 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
BLACK LABEL TRADING CO.
ROYALTY CORONA
A skinny, toothy cigar with a rather dark wrapper.
84
BINDER: HONDURAS While initial notes are big and oaky, the smoke becomes
WRAPPER: ECUADOR mineral heavy and metallic with a rough, charry finish.
U.S.: $8.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

103
figurados
Bolivar Belicosos Finos are one of the few Cuban cigars offered in both wooden cabinets and paper-lined dress
boxes. The Belicosos here came from a dress box, and topped the category at 93 points. With a score this high,
these cigars are most certainly headed for greatness. A few more years of age should turn them into classic smokes,
but there’s no true consensus as to which type of box yields better results in the aging process. Critics of wood
cabinets insist that over time the cigars taste too much like cedar. Conversely, critics of dress boxes maintain that
they let in too much air, which speeds up oxidization, never allowing the cigars to reach full potential. Our advice
is to buy these Bolivars in both formats and see for yourself. The Flor de Las Antillas brand from the Garcia family
should sound familiar, as its Toro size was named Cigar of the Year for 2012. Today, the Belicoso scored 92 points,
placing it among the highest-scoring cigars of the issue. The Padrón Serie 1926 80 Years also scored 92 points,
and it’s a rarity. The double-tapered, box-pressed cigar is the only perfecto made by the Padrón family.

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: CUBA
BOLIVAR BELICOSO FINO
There’s a bold, complex interplay of malted chocolate
and leather notes to this tasty belicoso, which also
93
BINDER: CUBA imparts plenty of coffee bean and red pepper spice.
WRAPPER: CUBA A vibrant, delicious cigar.
BOX DATE: FEBRUARY 2017 U.S.: N/A U.K.: £22.27 STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
FLOR DE LAS ANTILLAS BELICOSO
A box-pressed belicoso that burns and draws evenly.
It’s a leathery, nutty smoke with additional notes
92
BINDER: NICARAGUA of black pepper, toast and a marzipan finish.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA Hearty and substantial.
U.S.: $7.70 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 6 3/4"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
PADRÓN SERIE 1926 80 YEARS
Double-tapered and box-pressed, this attractive figurado
draws perfectly with a dead-even draw. Every puff leaves
92
BINDER: NICARAGUA sweet, rich impressions of chocolate and black cherry
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA on the palate along with hints of wood and leather.
U.S.: $32.50 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 5 1/4"
FILLER: DOM. REP., NICARAGUA
BINDER: DOM. REP.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR
ASHTON SYMMETRY BELICOSO
Gleaming with oil, this belicoso draws quite evenly.
Notes of leather, lemon zest and spice play off the
91
sweet core of vanilla nougat, which pleasantly
underscores the smoke the entire time.
U.S.: $13.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
GUARDIAN OF THE FARM
NIGHTWATCH CAMPEON
A dark and oily cigar made with a bell-shaped, belicoso
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA head and closed foot. Its open draw shows prominent
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA spice and earth with touches of cocoa, fruit and leather
before the charry finish.
U.S.: $9.96 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

104
 NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 55 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
OLIVA SERIE O PERFECTO
Tapered and shapely, this beautiful perfecto gleams with
oil, but the draw is notably firm. It’s toasty and nutty with
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA cedary undertones and a mineral quality on the finish.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR U.S.: $8.31 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 6 1/8"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
TRINIDAD ESPIRITU BELICOSO
Wrapped in a clean, dark wrapper, this pirámide draws
well and burns evenly throughout. Its steady notes of
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA almond, cocoa powder and chocolate are buttressed
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA by an earthy foundation of salt and minerals.
U.S.: $10.40 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 46 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
LAST CALL MADURO BY AJ FERNANDEZ
FLAQUITAS
Near black with a closed foot, this torpedo is full of earth
88
BINDER: NICARAGUA and black pepper with a bold, persistent oakiness and a
WRAPPER: U.S.A./PENN. BROADLEAF bit of sweet vanilla nougat. The finish tastes a bit charred.
U.S.: $6.80 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
JOYA DE NICARAGUA ANTAÑO
CONNECTICUT BELICOSO
A tan torpedo with a grassy, woody start. A big blast of
86
BINDER: NICARAGUA minerals overpowers any secondary notes of citrus or
WRAPPER: ECUADOR graham cracker that struggle to emerge.
U.S.: $9.90 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: DOM. REP., NICARAGUA
CROMAGNON AQUITAINE MODE 5
The wrapper of this cigar has the rich, oily look of
well-tanned leather. It’s bold and earthy, offering big
85
BINDER: CAMEROON notes of oak and spice, but becomes acidic and
WRAPPER: ECUADOR a bit rough on the finish.
U.S.: $8.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 6 1/4"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
FRATELLO NAVETTA ATLANTIS
Silky to the touch, this dark, box-pressed torpedo gleams
with oil. The smoke slathers the palate in heavy notes
85
BINDER: DOM. REP. of earth and coffee, but a bitter aftertaste hurt the score.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR U.S.: $13.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 6 1/4”
FILLER: DOM. REP., ECUADOR
BINDER: DOM. REP.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR
PAUL GARMIRIAN GOURMET RESERVA
EXCLUSIVA BELICOSO
A lumpy belicoso with a veiny wrapper. It’s a mild cigar
85
with light touches of cedar and toffee, but a damp,
musty aftertaste taints the smoke.
U.S.: $14.75 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild-Medium

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: BRAZIL, NICARAGUA
UNDERCROWN BELICOSO
The tapered head of this belicoso is slightly rounded.
This is an earthy smoke with vague notes of vanilla
84
BINDER: U.S.A./CONN HABANO and black pepper, but the finish tastes artificial.
WRAPPER: MEXICO Some inconsistency was noted on the draw and burn.
U.S.: $9.08 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

105
lonsdales
The highest score of this issue is a lonsdale, a size that’s unfortunately become very low in demand among modern
cigar lovers. The Cohiba Siglo V is Cohiba’s only lonsdale, and it scored a very impressive 94 points. The slender
smoke is unique within the portfolio and one that is often overlooked in favor of Cohiba’s more popular sizes.
The ones we smoked for this test came in glossy tubes and are presented in handy packs of three. If you see these
three-packs of Siglo V cigars at your local shop or abroad, do not hesitate to buy them. Made in the Dominican
Republic at Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s La Alianza factory, the Four Kicks Selección No. 5 scored 92 points and is one
of the first cigars from Crowned Heads, which is based in Nashville. In lieu of all the subsequent brands and
limited editions that Crowned Heads has released, it’s encouraging to see that cigars from the inaugural line can
still perform so well. Regional Edition Cuban cigars are prized by collectors, and the Punch 8-9-8 is one of the better
ones we’ve smoked. This Cuban lonsdale, a Regional Edition made for the Asia Pacific market, scored 91 points.

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 43 LENGTH: 6 3/4"
FILLER: CUBA
COHIBA SIGLO V (TUBO)
Rich and chewy, this slender cigar immediately
shows the sweet-and-spicy traits of gingerbread before
94
BINDER: CUBA ushering in big notes of malted chocolate and caramel.
WRAPPER: CUBA The fruitcake finish is dense and sticky.
BOX DATE: DECEMBER 2017 U.S.: N/A U.K.: £39.40 STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 6 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
FOUR KICKS SELECCIÓN NO. 5
Despite the lumpy appearance, this cigar draws and
burns superbly, offering a sweet and savory smoke of
92
BINDER: NICARAGUA honey, rock salt and wood with a midpalate of molasses
WRAPPER: ECUADOR that leads to an apple pie finish.
U.S.: $8.70 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 43 LENGTH: 6 3/4"
FILLER: CUBA
PUNCH 8-9-8 EXCLUSIVO ASIA PACÍFICO
Beautifully constructed with a reddish-brown wrapper
and three-seam cap. Every puff envelops the palate
91
BINDER: CUBA with rich layers of almond, toffee, leather and the zesty
WRAPPER: CUBA sweetness of gingerbread.
BOX DATE: JUNE 2019 U.S.: N/A Hong Kong: HK$338 STRENGTH: Mild-Medium

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 6 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
HERRERA ESTELI NORTEÑO LONSDALE
A thin, flatly pressed cigar that resembles a plank.
It draws and burns quite well, delivering a peppery,
90
BINDER: HONDURAS woody smoke atop sweeter notes of caramel and cocoa.
WRAPPER: MEXICO U.S.: $9.28 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 42 LENGTH: 6 1/2"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
ARTURO FUENTE SPANISH LONSDALE
A very woody lonsdale accented by hints of minerals,
spice and cocoa powder, all of which recur on the finish.
89
BINDER: DOM. REP. The draw and burn are consistently even.
WRAPPER: CAMEROON U.S.: $6.25 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

106
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 43 LENGTH: 6 3/4"
FILLER: DOM. REP., MEXICO
PARTAGAS NO. 1
Long and slim with a matte brown, rustic wrapper.
Dull notes of wood and earth eventually take on some
88
BINDER: MEXICO warm nuttiness with hints of vanilla and dried cherry.
WRAPPER: CAMEROON A slow starter.
U.S.: $8.99 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 6 1/2"
FILLER: HONDURAS, NICARAGUA
ROCKY PATEL DECADE LONSDALE
Spongy to the touch, this box-pressed lonsdale has
some soft spots. An herbal, citrus start becomes
88
BINDER: NICARAGUA earthy with coffee and chocolate. The gin-like finish
WRAPPER: ECUADOR smacks of juniper.
U.S.: $10.55 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 43 LENGTH: 6 3/8"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
TATUAJE BLACK CAZADORES
Big oaky notes dominate the first puffs of this long,
thin cigar, but they settle down to show a meaty,
88
BINDER: NICARAGUA leathery smoke with some black pepper and a
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA slightly minty finish.
U.S.: $10.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 43 LENGTH: 6 1/4"
FILLER: DOM. REP.
THE GRIFFIN’S NO. 300
This pale, blond cigar burns evenly and produces a very
solid ash. The smoke is light and creamy with citrus
88
BINDER: DOM. REP. and vanilla notes, and a light, balsa wood finish.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR U.S.: $10.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild-Medium

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 6 1/2"
FILLER: DOM. REP., HONDURAS,
LA PALINA CLASSIC ROSADO LONSDALE
A slender cigar with a slightly firm draw. The toasty
smoke takes on the sweet elements of almond paste
87
NICARAGUA and graham cracker, but the finish turns herbal and oily.
BINDER: HONDURAS U.S.: $6.99 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild-Medium
WRAPPER: HONDURAS

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 43 LENGTH: 6 3/4"
FILLER: DOM. REP., MEXICO,
NICARAGUA
BINDER: U.S.A./CONN. HABANO
WRAPPER: ECUADOR
MACANUDO INSPIRADO
PALLADIUM LONSDALE
Long and thin with a blondish wrapper. The draw is
87
a bit airy, showing a cedary smoke that leaves light
touches of citrus and vanilla before an herbal finish.
U.S.: $8.49 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild-Medium

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 44 LENGTH: 6 5/8"
FILLER: DOM. REP., NICARAGUA
BINDER: DOM. REP.
WRAPPER: U.S.A./CONN. SHADE
DON DIEGO LONSDALE
Faint hints of vanilla and orange peel come through
this primarily grassy cigar, but the finish is gritty
85
and saccharine. The draw is quite firm.
U.S.: $5.38 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Mild-Medium

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 42 LENGTH: 6 3/8"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
MAESTRO DEL TIEMPO 5205
A matte-brown lonsdale with an inconsistent draw.
Sweetness goes in and out, leaving a smoke of mostly
85
BINDER: NICARAGUA dark toast, minerals and charred wood.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA U.S.: $9.14 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

107
robustos
Robustos are fat, short and—at their best—exciting smokes. The Psyko Seven Nicaragua Robusto, which is made
for Ventura Cigar Co., scored 92 points, and according to Ventura, the wrapper was grown in 2007. Three cigars
scored 91 points, each from a different country. Young brothers Alec and Bradley Rubin, the next generation of Alec
Bradley Cigars, were instrumental in the Gatekeeper. The Robustus I is the first new size added to the Nicaraguan
Plasencia Alma Fuerte line. Cuba’s Vegas Robaina is named after the famous tobacco farm in Pinar del Río owned
by the Robaina family, though the tobacco on the cigars doesn’t necessarily come from that particular plantation.

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
PSYKO SEVEN NICARAGUA ROBUSTO
Well made with a neat, three-seam cap and flat head.
Rich intonations of chocolate, nuts and coffee are
92
BINDER: NICARAGUA brightened by bursts of orange peel and mint.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA U.S.: $8.49 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: DOM. REP., NICARAGUA
ALEC & BRADLEY GATEKEEPER ROBUSTO
Bracingly spicy, this inky-black robusto pops with pi-
quant notes of red and black pepper, but is
91
BINDER: NICARAGUA balanced by a bold snap of leather and sweet hints
WRAPPER: ECUADOR of nougat and caramel.
U.S.: $10.50 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 5 1/4"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
PLASENCIA ALMA FUERTE ROBUSTUS I
There’s a sweet-and-salty character to this dark, oily box-
pressed robusto. The draw is rich, delivering complex
91
BINDER: NICARAGUA notes of caramel, earth and toffee underscored by
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA touches of wood, all of which recur on the long finish.
U.S.: $18.65 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 48 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: CUBA
VEGAS ROBAINA FAMOSO
Topped with a flat head and three-seam cap, this pressed
robusto draws and burns beautifully, leaving oaky,
91
BINDER: CUBA nutty impressions on the palate along with touches of
WRAPPER: CUBA caramel and leather. The finish is earthy and a bit dry.
BOX DATE: MARCH 2019 U.S.: N/A U.K.: £19.13 STRENGTH: Medium

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
BINDER: ECUADOR
WRAPPER: U.S.A./CONN. BROADLEAF
E.P. CARRILLO DUSK ROBUSTO
A near-black robusto with an open draw and even burn.
The smoke is earthy with heavy notes of coffee and
90
licorice, sweet tar and a cocoa bean finish.
U.S.: $7.15 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Full

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 4 3/4"
FILLER: CUBA
H. UPMANN MAGNUM 54
Plump in appearance with an even draw and burn.
It’s a rich and woody robusto with spicy undertones
90
BINDER: CUBA of licorice and fresh tobacco.
WRAPPER: CUBA U.S.: N/A U.K.: £24.72 STRENGTH: Medium
BOX DATE: FEBRUARY 2017

108
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: NICARAGUA, DOM. REP.
A. FLORES 1975 SERIE PRIVADA
CAPA ROSADO SP 52
Many fine seams top the head of this box-pressed
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA robusto. It’s woody and oaky, accented by hints of
WRAPPER: ECUADOR black pepper and sweet cocoa.
U.S.: $9.75 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
MONTECRISTO ESPADA OSCURO RICASSO
This robusto imparts a primarily woody smoke with
plenty of coffee bean character and some herbal notes.
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA The draw is open and substantial.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA U.S.: $11.94 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 48 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: CUBA
POR LARRAÑAGA PICADORES
Softly pressed with a beautiful wrapper and flat head.
The draw is a bit firm but delivers an oaky smoke with
89
BINDER: CUBA notes of coffee bean, burnt molasses and a sweet,
WRAPPER: CUBA botanical hint of sassafras.
BOX DATE: JULY 2015 U.S.: N/A U.K.: £19.21 STRENGTH: Medium

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: HONDURAS
CAMACHO COROJO ROBUSTO
Oils gleam off the wrapper of this robusto, which burns
unevenly but draws well. This is a leathery smoke with
88
BINDER: HONDURAS notes of black pepper and cocoa supported by earthy
WRAPPER: HONDURAS underpinnings. The spicy finish leaves the palate dry.
U.S.: $8.25 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: HONDURAS
EIROA DARK 50X5
This veiny robusto burns a bit unevenly but draws well,
showing a core of charred wood and earth comple-
88
BINDER: HONDURAS mented by touches of spice and herbs.
WRAPPER: HONDURAS U.S.: $12.75 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
OLIVA SERIE V MADURO
DOUBLE ROBUSTO
Wrapped in a toothy cover leaf, this earthy robusto shows
88
BINDER: NICARAGUA some coffee bean character along with notes of cedar,
WRAPPER: MEXICO chocolate and walnut that leave a dry finish on the palate.
U.S.: $9.40 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 5"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
LIBERATION BY HAMLET ROBUSTO
Exposed binder tobacco protrudes from the foot of
this cigar, which takes flame well and burns evenly.
87
BINDER: NICARAGUA It’s a very earthy smoke with hints of sweet leather and
WRAPPER: ECUADOR a slightly bitter cedar finish.
U.S.: $9.50 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 4 7/8"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
PADILLA FINEST HOUR
SUNGROWN ROBUSTO
Alluringly dark and oily, this robusto draws evenly and
87
BINDER: NICARAGUA consistently. It’s a simple smoke of earth and leather
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA with a vague vanilla sweetness and woody finish.
U.S.: $7.50 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

109
toros/corona gordas
To better reflect the market and common naming conventions, we’ve changed the title of this category from
“corona gordas” to “toros/corona gordas.” Our tasting section is arranged alphabetically, so this popular size will
now be the final category of each issue. The top toro was the Pappy Van Winkle Tradition Robusto Grande, a cigar
made in Nicaragua by Drew Estate, and meant to pair with Bourbon of the same name. The Casa Magna Jalapa Claro
Toro Box Press is made by the Plasencias in Nicaragua for Quesada Cigars, and is covered with a wrapper grown in
Nicaragua’s Jalapa region. It scored 91 points, as did the Mexican-wrapped Micallef Migdalia Corona Extra.

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA, DOM. REP.
PAPPY VAN WINKLE TRADITION
ROBUSTO GRANDE
A bit discolored in appearance, this fat, veiny cigar
92
BINDER: INDONESIA burns with dead-even precision and draws well too.
WRAPPER: ECUADOR Tangy at first, the cigar picks up a malted chocolate
character framed by notes of slate, licorice and wood.
U.S.: $21.60 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
CASA MAGNA JALAPA CLARO
TORO BOX PRESS
This tawny toro is softly pressed with an even burn and
91
BINDER: NICARAGUA superb draw. Light touches of wood and tea gain inten-
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA sity, exhibiting leather, coffee bean and just the right
amount of earthiness.
U.S.: $7.20 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 46 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: DOM. REP., NICARAGUA
MICALLEF MIGDALIA CORONA EXTRA
The open, opulent draw of this cigar loads the palate
with strong notes of licorice and wood, but shows
91
BINDER: MEXICO the stony, mineral qualities of slate along with baking
WRAPPER: MEXICO spices and a savory, meaty finish.
U.S.: $9.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 49 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: DOM. REP., NICARAGUA
BINDER: DOM. REP.
WRAPPER: U.S.A./CONN. BROADLEAF
CAO SESSION BAR
There’s a stark contrast between the white ash of this
cigar and the dark wrapper. It’s a sweet and spicy
90
smoke that shows elements of red pepper and leather
along with hints of chocolate, raisins and vanilla.
U.S.: $8.99 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RING GAUGE: 50 LENGTH: 6 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
DAVIDOFF NICARAGUA TORO
A thick toro with a perfect draw, this cigar is tart and
woody at first, but develops a warm, nutty character
90
BINDER: NICARAGUA with notes of graham cracker, spice and chocolate-
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA covered almonds.
U.S.: $21.00 U.K.: £32.73 STRENGTH: Medium-Full

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 5 7/8"
FILLER: CUBA
COHIBA SIGLO VI
The heavily floral and grassy notes at the beginning
of this tan toro settle down to show a warmer, richer
89
BINDER: CUBA smoke redolent of crushed peanuts and wheat.
WRAPPER: CUBA The burn is a bit uneven, the draw, open and full.
BOX DATE: JULY 2019 U.S.: N/A U.K.: £42.50 STRENGTH: Medium

110
 NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 48 LENGTH: 6 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
DÍAS DE GLORIA SHORT CHURCHILL
The draw and burn of this long cigar are even and lush,
showing a palate of earth, anise, black pepper and
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA wood, though the finish is a bit charred and rustic.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA U.S.: $9.00 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
FONSECA NICARAGUA ROBUSTO
Rich, earthy notes set the tone for this dark, oily
robusto, which develops a sweet, woody character
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA with notes of cinnamon, citrus and leather, especially
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA on the finish.
U.S.: $6.20 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 48 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
MY FATHER LA PROMESA
CORONA GORDA
Dark and oily with a three-seam cap and firm draw.
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA Woody to the core, this cigar shows elements of charred
WRAPPER: ECUADOR oak and almonds interspersed with hints of anise.
U.S.: $8.20 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

U.S.A.
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: U.S.A./CONN. HABANO,
THE AMERICAN TORO
Covered in a coarse cover leaf, this cigar draws and
burns evenly. Earthy and woody elements have sweet
89
U.S.A./PENNSYLVANIA accents of raisin before the tangy finish.
BINDER: U.S.A./CONN. BROADLEAF U.S.: $18.50 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium
WRAPPER: U.S.A/FLORIDA

HONDURAS
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 5 1/2"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
VIAJE EXCLUSIVO DOUBLE R
Oily and well made with a lush draw. This is an earthy,
nutty smoke with woody undertones and a wheaty,
89
BINDER: NICARAGUA cereal-like finish.
WRAPPER: NICARAGUA U.S.: $9.04 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
ESPINOSA LARANJA RESERVA
ESCURO TORO
A coarse and rustic-looking wrapper covers this box-
88
BINDER: NICARAGUA pressed cigar. Big mineral notes precede a steady oakiness
WRAPPER: BRAZIL as well as hints of coffee and stone fruits, but the minerals
are persistent all the way to the finish.
U.S.: $10.90 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Full

NICARAGUA
RING GAUGE: 52 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: NICARAGUA
HOYO LA AMISTAD GOLD TORO
Eye-catching with its notably round head, this thick
cigar has a slightly firm draw that delivers an herbal,
88
BINDER: NICARAGUA earthy smoke. Some nutty notes emerge, as do hints
WRAPPER: ECUADOR of licorice and leather.
U.S.: $8.59 U.K.: N/A STRENGTH: Medium-Full

CUBA
RING GAUGE: 54 LENGTH: 6"
FILLER: CUBA
H. UPMANN CONNOSSIEUR B
Excessive amounts of tobacco result in a very firm draw.
Initial notes of earth and straw take on a bit of oaky
86
BINDER: CUBA vanilla but the finish is overpowering and tastes soapy
WRAPPER: CUBA and perfumed.
BOX DATE: MAY 2018 U.S.: N/A U.K.: £28.09 STRENGTH: Medium

111
buying guide TOP SCORES, VALUES AND STRENGTH | BLIND TASTE TEST NO. 154

TOP SCORES MILDER CIGARS

Cohiba Siglo V (Tubo) Punch 8-9-8 Exclusivo Asia Pacífico
94 Cuba • £39.40 • Lonsdale • Medium-Full 91 Cuba • HK$338 • Lonsdale • Mild-Medium

Gran Habano Blue in Green Churchill

93 Bolivar Belicoso Fino 88 Honduras • $9.30 • Churchill • Mild-Medium
Cuba • £22.27 • Figurado • Medium-Full
Blind Man’s Bluff Connecticut Churchill
Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series Diplomatico Maduro
87 Honduras • $9.90 • Churchill • Mild
93 Nicaragua • $14.80 • Churchill • Medium-Full
Matilde Serena Corona
87 Dominican Republic • $7.20 • Corona • Mild-Medium
Flor de Las Antillas Belicoso
92 Nicaragua • $7.70 • Figurado • Medium-Full Montecristo Classic Especial No. 3
87 Dominican Republic • $10.95 • Corona • Mild
Four Kicks Selección No. 5
92 Dominican Republic • $8.70 • Lonsdale • Medium
MEDIUM-BODIED CIGARS
Cohiba Siglo II
92 Padrón Serie 1926 80 Years
Nicaragua • $32.50 • Figurado • Medium-Full
91 Cuba • £21.92 • Corona • Medium

Illusione Epernay Le Elegance

Pappy Van Winkle Tradition Robusto Grande 91
92 Nicaragua • $21.60 • Toro • Medium
Honduras • $9.25 • Corona • Medium

La Flor Dominicana Coronado Double Corona

91 Dominican Republic • $10.30 • Churchill • Medium
Partagás de Luxe (Tubo)
92 Cuba • 7.50 euro • Corona • Medium-Full
Micallef Migdalia Corona Extra
91 Nicaragua • $9.00 • Toro • Medium
Psyko Seven Nicaragua Robusto
92 Nicaragua • $8.49 • Robusto • Medium-Full Vegas Robaina Famoso
91 Cuba • £19.13 • Robusto • Medium

TOP VALUES
Arturo Fuente Spanish Lonsdale STRONGER SMOKES
89 Dominican Republic • $6.25 • Lonsdale • Medium Alec & Bradley Gatekeeper Robusto
91 Dominican Republic • $10.50 • Robusto • Full
Fonseca Nicaragua Robusto
89 Ashton Symmetry Belicoso
Nicaragua • $6.20 • Toro • Medium-Full 91 Dominican Republic • $13.00 • Figurado • Medium-Full

Villiger La Meridiana Corona

89 Nicaragua • $6.50 • Corona • Medium-Full 91 Casa Magna Jalapa Claro Toro Box Press
Nicaragua • $7.20 • Toro • Medium-Full

Last Call Maduro by AJ Fernandez Flaquitas

88 Nicaragua • $6.80 • Figurado • Medium-Full 90 E.P. Carrillo Dusk Robusto
Dominican Republic • $7.15 • Robusto • Full

Espinosa Laranja Reserva Escuro Toro

87 La Palina Classic Rosado Lonsdale
Honduras • $6.99 • Lonsdale • Mild-Medium 88 Nicaragua • $10.90 • Toro • Full

CIGAR AFICIONADO’S Classic 95–100 • Outstanding 90–94 • Very good to excellent 80–89 • Average to good commercial quality 70–79
100-POINT SCALE Don’t waste your money 0-69 • Not available N/A • Note: all prices are manufacturers’ suggested retail, before taxes.

112
 connoisseur’s corner A TASTING OF VINTAGE CIGARS

94 EL REY DEL MUNDO

TAINO (1995)
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
JEFF HARRIS

sizes that are no longer made. It’s a delicate Cuban that burns dead even, with a superb draw.
The smoke is mellow with a persistent toasty quality that hints of briny olives. Light notes of cedar
and almond mix with a buttery character. —David Savona

98 PUNCH
CHURCHILL (1993)
Nineteen Ninety Three. As Sinatra would sing:
“it was a very good year,” especially for Cuban
cigars. This big Punch has become mellow
and sublime after 27 years of aging. Cashews
and truffle combine with wisps of leather,
and the finish is pleasantly sweet, with notes
of almond paste. The retrohale leaves a
touch of earth and pepper in the nose.
What a superb cigar. —David Savona
96 FLOR DE LAS ANTILLAS
TORO (2012)
A former Cigar of the Year, this is still a
heady, bold smoke that’s retained most of its
power, pepper and nutmeg. But the years have
brought out a cornucopia of dried fruit notes
that range from raisin and apricot to fig and
apple. It all comes together with an autumnal
hint of burning hickory. A tasty Nicaraguan
cigar that’s worthy of aging.
—Gregory Mottola
94 H. UPMANN MAGNUM 50
EDICIÓN LIMITADA (2005)
Before it became part of the regular Habanos
portfolio in 2008, this beefy cigar was created as
one of Cuba’s Edición Limitadas. The smoke has
aged well, showing off intriguing notes of granite
and slate, complemented by the sweetness of
nutmeg, graham cracker and a pleasant nutty
quality. Powerful and raw in its youth, it has
become finely balanced, with an elegance that
was missing when it was young. —David Savona

115
 Inocente Núñez Blanco
(left) and Luis Sánchez-
Harguindey (right) have
served as Habanos S.A.
co-presidents since 2012.

The
Co-Presidents The end of the Behike shortage, the latest planting season and counterfeits
lead the conversation with the top officials of Cuba’s cigar monopoly
BY GORDON MOTT

I
nocente Núñez Blanco and Luis Sánchez-Harguindey
Pardo de Vera come across like brothers, or at the very
least, best friends. They laugh. They joke. They finish
each other’s sentences. The two co-presidents of Habanos
S.A. have jointly led the company since 2012, and there’s
no sign that either is ready for that partnership to end.
HABANOS S.A.
arrived late after thinking his counterpart was still in his office
down the hall at the company’s Havana headquarters. The cigar
is the same brand and size Núñez is smoking, a Cohiba Siglo VI.
They light up, kidding each other jovially about their miscom-
munication. Núñez Blanco is taking great pleasure in being the
one who arrived on time.

“Here, I have a cigar for you,” says Núñez Blanco, a 63-year- The two colleagues are seated in a well-known hotel cigar bar
old Cuban. He pulls a cigar out of a black case and hands it to in Cuba, lounging on a big sofa and a bulky armchair. To one side
Sánchez-Harguindey, a dapper 61-year-old from Spain who of the high-ceilinged room, there is a walk-in humidor and a

119
cigar-rolling bench, and on the other side, a big cart with all of
Cuba’s best rums. The floor-to-ceiling windows give a glimpse of
the Capitolio—Havana’s replica of U.S. Congress—and the main
square of the Parque Central. The executives are away from the
office, and away from the daily pressures they face running one
of the world’s most prestigious cigar companies, the Cuban ci-
gar monopoly known as Habanos S.A.
They are both ready to talk.
Behikes are top of mind. The super-luxury line extension of
the Cohiba brand has been in extremely short supply around the
world. Shipments to distributors are infrequent and in extremely
limited quantity. One distributor admitted those boxes never
saw a retail shelf, but went straight to his best customers.
“People are saying all the time that we don’t
have enough medio tiempo,” says
120
Núñez Blanco, referring to a small, extremely potent leaf that
emerges at the top of the stalk near the end of the tobacco plant’s
life—it is a key ingredient in the Behike blend, with half a leaf used
in the BHK 52 and the BHK 54 and a whole one in the BHK 56.
“I’ve been to Pinar del Río. We have plenty of medio tiempo. The
issue is wrapper. We don’t have enough high-quality wrapper.”
Sánchez-Harguindey jumps in. “Behike is a good example.
Quality is the most important thing to us and we can’t put an
inferior product out in the market, especially in our luxury
brands. We are never going to stop making Behikes, as some
people have expressed concerns that we might discontinue it.
We have never thought that. It has a special place in our plans.
It is the top luxury product in our portfolio.
But why then are the two co-presidents so certain that the
Behike shortage is coming to end?
“We are never going to stop making
Behikes. It has a special place in our plans.
It is the top luxury product in our portfolio.”
“We have seen a large quantity of tercios [large bales weighing
up to 150 pounds] of wrapper in Pinar del Río. They have been
aging, and Tabacuba [the production side of the tobacco business
in Cuba] says they are ready for use,” says Núñez Blanco, although
he declined to be specific about just how many bales were going to
be available. “And it’s not just Behikes. We are going to have enough
aged, high-quality wrapper for all the Limited Editions and
other high-value products in the coming year.”
Sánchez-Harguindey continues: “The truth is we have
generated greater demand for these high-value prod-
ucts, like the 50th Anniversary Cohiba, the Línea
1935 Montecristo or the Romeo y Julieta Gran
Churchill, which we are going to start releasing
very soon. But the wrappers on those products
have to be perfect, no veins or stains. Our prob-
lem is thanks to us. We have created more
demand for these high-value products. When you
have large cigars in a luxury brand, they need a whole
unblemished leaf. A little cigar like a mareva [the Cuban factory
term for a petit corona], you can trim the leaf and still
have a good-looking wrapper. So we know
what we need, and we are working with
Tabacuba to generate what we need.”
Both men chime in with the reason-
ing behind their prediction of an end to
shortages: three excellent harvests in a
row, starting in 2016-17 and running
through both of the last two years, 2017-18
and 2018-19. The latter two crops also pro-
duced high-quality wrappers, according to
JEFF HARRIS
The cigar everyone wants, the Cohiba Behike BHK 52,
CIGAR AFICIONADO’S Cigar of the Year for 2010.
 the executives. While the 2016-17 crop initially looked promising
for wrapper too, that tobacco developed green spots during the
curing and aging process. So even though that leaf was of good
quality, it wasn’t suitable for rolling around high-end products.
“Tobacco in the end is an agricultural product. When 2015-16
was a difficult season, it affected our production. What is true,
however, is that Tabacuba has recovered during the last two
crops and has produced extremely high-quality tobacco,” says
Sánchez-Harguindey. Núñez Blanco quickly adds, “because of
our difficulties in 2015, we worked very hard to improve the soil
Habanos co-presidents Núñez Blanco (above) and Sánchez-Harguindey
(right), smoking thick Cohiba Siglo VI cigars during their interview.
quality with fertilizers in the main Pinar del Río growing region
beginning in 2016. With the new hybrids we are using, we have
seen much better and much bigger wrapper leaf, and everyone
knows that wrapper from Pinar del Río is a better leaf, with a
unique texture, with a body rounded out with natural oils that
give them better elasticity, and a brilliant tone and color.”
Núñez Blanco says the Cuban government has contracted for
an increase in acreage for the 2019-2020 growing season and that
it should put the total plantings above 30,000 hectares. He says
last year’s production area barely reached 30,000 hectares, and
that the country produced 30,000 tons of tobacco, an average of
one ton per hectare. Sánchez-Harguindey emphasizes that part
of the work with Tabacuba “is to increase the efficiency in the
fields so we can produce more than one ton per hectare, and still
maintain the highest quality possible.”
Most of the tobacco for Cuba’s fine cigars comes from Criollo
2010 and Corojo 2012 seeds, relatively new hybrids that have
ZAK BENNETT
shown resilience to blue mold and other diseases, while producing
bigger leaves. But, Núñez Blanco adds, some farmers are still using
an older seed. “Some growers are still using Criollo 1998 because
they like the results better, and they say their farms are not affected
by the same diseases as other areas. But that’s their decision.”
The discussion of the growing season prompts another big
question: how will the economic difficulties and the serious
shortages of gasoline experienced last summer in Cuba affect the
agricultural sector? “We officially inaugurated the growing sea-
son on October 10, so all the major producers started planting,”
says Núñez Blanco. “We have stockpiled all the necessary
resources for this season. We have enough fertilizers, fungicides
and most importantly enough gas. The government knows how
important tobacco is to the economy, and they have given us their
maximum assurance that they can fulfill all our needs for this
season.” Sánchez-Harguindey also asserts that the government is
supplying all of Habanos and Tabacuba facilities with sufficient
gas to maintain air conditioning and to ensure that all employees
are able to get to their jobs. “We have not cut back on any of our
essential activities,” he says.
One unessential activity that remains the focus of Habanos is the
scourge of counterfeit cigars. “We have taken some specific mea-
sures,” Sánchez-Harguindey says, “such as new seals on the boxes,
holograms on our bands and distributors are now putting their own
seals on Habanos’ boxes. By 2024, because of a new European Union
regulation, we will also have tracers on every box of cigars from the
time they leave Cuba, right down to the retailers’ shelves.”
“We have a product with a lot of value, an elite product and there
will always be counterfeits,” says Núñez Blanco. “But we are very
active, and every time we find or hear about a problem we alert our
distributors.” Both men say it is impossible to single out any one
country or region where counterfeits are a bigger problem than
elsewhere. But Sánchez-Harguindey says, “it is usually more com-
mon in countries with high tax rates because there is an even greater
discrepancy between the official Habanos price and a counterfeit.”
121

Habanos hopes to increase its tobacco yields in Pinar del Río (above),
allowing for more leaf to make rare Cubans, particularly Cohibas (right).
New hostility between Cuba and the United States, triggered by
a Trump Administration decision to halt all cruise ship stops and
limit some air flights to provincial cities, doesn’t really worry either
man. “We are a global company,” says Sánchez-Harguindey. “In our
Cuba shops, our sales are down a little bit because there aren’t as
many Americans coming here. But we are offsetting that with
tourists from other parts of the world, and from growth in other
markets. Last year, for instance, we showed growth in all our
major markets, so if you have a political, or economic or social
crisis in one territory, it is easier to offset it in other areas. In the past,
we’ve experienced those shortfalls in the Middle East, in Asia, or
in Europe, but we’ve always found growth in other areas.”
As for the long term, Núñez Blanco is clear: “We are looking
forward to the prospect that American consumers will be able to
buy our products. But it’s not here yet.”
One subject that is impossible to ignore is the announcement
that Imperial Brands, the 50 percent stakeholder in Habanos
S.A., is seeking a buyer for its premium tobacco business. Rumors
122
have swirled repeatedly about a long list of potential
buyers from China, Russia, the Middle East and
Europe. But to date, there has been no announcement
of who that buyer might be.
“As the Cuban shareholders, we want a new
owner who will develop the business and is com-
mitted to the business and our product for the long
term,” says Núñez Blanco. “Who will it be? We don’t
know, but whoever it is they have to comply with
that expectation.”
Although they are unable to talk specifics because
of the pending sale, Sánchez-Harguindey will say,
“There have been a lot of meetings with a lot of inter-
ested candidates and Imperial has already discarded
a lot of them during this first phase because they
didn’t comply with the profile it wanted.”
Núñez Blanco adds, “The Cuban negotiators will
provide continuity and permanence for the work that
we’ve been doing, and the help and collaboration that
we have had in the past. That must be comprehended.
Imperial knows that the buyer must observe these
characteristics and requirements that are indispensible
for the products we are making here. To preserve
the prestige and the growth of the business. That’s
what the Cuban part wants.”
Both men talk about preserving the continuity, the expertise
and the collaboration they share. Núñez Blanco’s history harks to
his youth when he studied agronomy at the Institute of Tobacco,
graduating in 1973 after concentrating on tobacco; while he spent
many years in banking and the ministry of the economy, his activi-
ties always related to the tobacco industry. Sánchez-Harguindey
has been associated with Cuba and tobacco since 1998, arriving
here first with Tabacalera, working for various co-presidents
before taking the post himself in 2012. He has a deep knowledge
of not only tobacco, but the tobacco industry.
HABANOS S.A.
“There’s a know-how that’s been gained over the years, and
that isn’t going to be lost,” Sánchez-Harguindey says. Núñez
Blanco nods in agreement. ™
P
oker has its perks. For Shaun Deeb, a 33-year-old pro
from Upstate New York, the game has provided plenty.
He’s reaped loads of money, public acclaim and four
World Series of Poker bracelets. But despite his baby-
faced appearance, he’s also known for aggressive play,
abrasive behavior and a knack for remorselessly pissing
off his opponents.
A new Land Rover is parked in Deeb’s garage at home and a
splashy Audemars Piguet is wrapped around his wrist. To finance
those goodies, Deeb has made some $7 million playing online,
more than $7 million in live tournaments and around $6 million
in cash games. Nevertheless, as of 2018, Shaun Deeb still felt
incomplete. It wasn’t for a lack of money or attention or a place
at the table of elite pros.
It was a banner. He wanted his face on a banner. More specifi-
Poker
cally, a World Series of Poker Player of the Year banner.
These 40-or-so-foot-long hanging hallmarks, featuring the
The
Provocateur
faces of 14-years-worth of winners, are displayed prominently
inside the World Series of Poker tournament rooms every year.
In previous years, Deeb was pretty much taunted by the
mugs of buddies such as Jason Mercier, Frank Kassela and Ben
Lamb looking down on the high-stakes proceedings. Player of
the Year status is achieved by earning more tournament points—
calculated through a formula that takes into account WSOP
tournament buy-ins, field sizes and finishes—than any other
player. Deeb decided in 2018 that he would do his best to join
his friends up there.
As is usually the case for Deeb, he succeeded. So when he and
thousands of other poker lovers rolled into the Rio for the start of
the Series in May, Deeb got to see his face bannered as the 2018
Player of the Year.
“I thought about it every World Series, and thought about the
fact that I did not have a banner,” he says. “Then I played some
tournaments in 2018, made some final tables and realized that I
had a good shot at winning. That’s when I decided to go for it.”
126
Deeb got his banner by cashing in 20 events the year before
last, taking down more than $3 million in WSOP earnings and
managing to win two WSOP bracelets in the process. While
World Series bracelets are obviously coveted, snatching up those
diamond-studded bands does not rank as his biggest accomplish-
ment. Actually, he is made proudest by a pair of tournaments that
he did not win.
In the midst of playing a Texas hold’em event known as the
Big Blind Ante (so named because the player in the Big Blind
antes for everyone at the table in an effort to speed up action), he
was faltering and looked likely to bust out. Already chasing Player
of the Year and not wanting to lose an opportunity to garner points,
Deeb entered a second tournament (Deuce to Seven Lowball) while
still hanging in on the first. Then he got onto a good run in the Big
Blind contest and began accumulating formidable chip stacks.
Suddenly, he had to play both tables at once as each event rumbled
toward its conclusion.
Taunting, teasing and psychological
warfare have made Shaun Deeb
a four-time winner in
the World Series of Poker
BY MICHAEL KAPLAN  PORTRAIT BY DAVID YELLEN
Not exactly blessed with a sprinter’s physique, the burly Deeb
desperately charged from one table to the next, doing his physical
best to avoid missing hands and having his chips blinded down.
“For the first time in 10 years, I was running. Those tournament
tables had to be two-tenths of a mile apart,” Deeb says, sounding out
of breath merely from the recollection. “I kept winning all-ins on the
Deuce to Seven and got to three handed on the final table there.”
Deeb wound up finishing third in that one and 16th in the other.
“Cashing both of them”—for a total of nearly $50,000, with a shot at
taking home two bracelets in one day—“was a bigger accomplish-
ment than winning Player of the Year.”
Presumably, he’s kidding. And, of course, the money that
season was hardly inconsequential. As Deeb puts it, “The summer
of 2018 was when I used a bodyguard to fly home with me from
Vegas. I was traveling back with a load of cash. People get killed
for a lot less.”
In January 2019, with Deeb’s Player of the Year status still
fresh, he travels to Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Far from
Shaun Deeb, 33, with one of his gold
WSOP championship bracelets.
Many opponents look at this face on
the other side of the table while
enduring Deeb’s taunts and jeers.

Deeb in action at the 2018
World Series of Poker (event 33,
day 4), held in Las Vegas at the
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
being a man on vacation, the pasty skinned Deeb is there to play
in PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a series of tournaments held
at Atlantis Bahamas casino and sponsored by the online site. It is
the night before the start of the Main Event, a $10,300 buy-in
tournament with a first prize that will top out at $1,567,100, and
Deeb appears hungry in more ways than one.
Wearing khaki colored shorts and a bright red T-shirt, the
baby-faced Deeb appears in the lobby of
Atlantis. He taxis from there to Graycliff,
arguably one of the best restaurants on the “I’ve always had confidence.
island, which boasts a significant feature:
a cigar roller who makes fresh torpedoes
Even if you are better
for smoking after dinner. than me, I will find my way
He settles down at a table inside the to reduce your edge.”
venerable restaurant, situated on the
ground floor of a home that had once
been a refuge for pirates. Starting in on his cocktail, an amaretto-
based drink dubiously dubbed The Godfather, Deeb says that he
owes everything to his grandmother. She taught him how to play
poker and was a devoted gambler herself.
“When I was eight or nine, people asked me what I wanted to
do when I grew up,” Deeb recounts. “I said I want to own a casino.
They thought I was a little weird.”
By the time Deeb turned 16, his ambition seemed less off-kilter.
The year was 2002. The movie Rounders had already lit a Texas
hold’em fire, but the real accelerant would be Chris Moneymaker,
a rank amateur who outplayed a raft of seasoned pros in 2003 and
won the World Series that year.
Deeb competed in his first poker tournament atop a pool table
in the home of his cousin’s friend. He got the bug and went on to
spend six months running 30-people tournaments, composed
mostly of fellow high school students, in his parents’ house.
Tables stretched from the basement to the kitchen and the
game’s host was a monster.
“It was self-dealt and a blast,” he remembers. “Over the
course of six months, I won seven times. Those are ridiculous
128
results for 30-person tournaments. I had no idea
how to play but I went all-in all the time and
people folded.”
Early on, Deeb learned a cornerstone of poker
strategy: aggression pays. By age 18, he was cutting
his teeth on the tournament tables of a local casino
and chatting up serious players who were his own
age. He added refinements to his strategy and won
what would prove to be a life-changing game of
Monopoly with a bet of $30 riding on it. Deeb was
playing against a pal. Their friendly wager was
designed to add a little juice to a kids’ board game,
but it did a lot more than that.
Deeb won and his opponent must have been
caught short. “He paid me the money via an
account transfer on PokerStars,” says Deeb who
opened an account on the site. “This was 2004 or
2005. I ran that 30 bucks up to my current bankroll,
never went broke and never had to deposit a dollar.
I played online every day and played in $50 buy-in
home-game tournaments.”
By the time Deeb enrolled in college, higher education
never stood a chance. Poker fit his personality way better than
English class did. “I always had a fast mind,” he says, working
his way through a platter of lobster ravioli as he orders a
medium-bodied cigar for after dinner. “I’ve always been hyper-
active in my thinking and poker allows my mind to move as fast
as I want it to. Verbally I can talk fast but
still get out only so many ideas at a time.
With poker I can get out as many as I
want to.”
He quit college during his freshman
year, with the intention of moving home to
grind at online poker. Clearly his parents
were not thrilled. His grandmother,
though, who was known for playing
poker in the casinos until past 2:00 in the morning, stood behind
him all the way.
“She saved me,” says Deeb. “My grandmother told my parents
I’m smart and that I will figure it out. Poker was not looked down
upon but my parents thought it was a phase.”
Deeb knew it wasn’t: “I dropped out of college, went home
to my parents’ house and just stayed in bed all day, playing
online poker.”
Along the way, Deeb’s unquiet mind helped him to do some-
thing spectacular. While it was fairly normal for young, winning ANTONIO ABREGO/POKERPHOTOARCHIVE.COM
players to leverage their advantages by multi-tabling—that is,
playing as many as eight tables at a time—Deeb took it to the next
level. He began playing 40 tables simultaneously.
“To stay engaged, I needed to be constantly making decisions,”
he says. “I was a trial-and-error, high-volume guy, but, by playing
so many tables at once, I figured out people’s strategies and how to
go against them. I played 200 tournaments a day back then and you
couldn’t avoid me. My ROI was 100 percent. I had hundreds of
$1,080 wins over the years. I made 20 bucks every time I bought in.”
And he bought in a lot.
 Deeb finally got what he always wanted: a Player of the Year banner with his face on it. The banner hung over the 2019 World Series of Poker.
Successful as Deeb may have been, his parents really got the
message after he was recruited by 2004 WSOP champion Greg
Raymer to play in a PokerStars sponsored event called the
World Cup of Poker. It was a team tournament airing on net-
work television. The Deebs watched as Shaun was called in to
close out the tournament. An announcer made it clear that
Deeb, thanks to his prodigious online play, had evolved into a
more experienced player than Raymer. “I knocked out the last
three guys, including Daniel Negreanu, and won us a bunch of
money. It was a turning point in terms of my parents and my
poker career.”
But if Deeb managed to enhance his game through the modern
technique of online poker, he has cultivated an image at the table
that owes more to the flamboyance of Puggy Pearson than to the
inscrutable nature of Tom Dwan.
“I am a cocky asshole,” Deeb happily admits, now out on the
front deck of Graycliff, lighting up his cigar. “I am always needling,
always shit-talking, always making jokes. I’ve always had confi-
dence. Even if you are better than me, I will find my way to reduce
your edge.”
Most notoriously, he’s infuriated opponents by slow-rolling
them—that is, taking an extraordinarily long time to call an all-in
bet, despite having an unbeatable hand, in order to put opponents
off their games and on tilt. Deeb particularly got under the skin
of Mike Matusow during a taping of the televised Poker Night
in America.
JOE GIRON/POKERPHOTOARCHIVE.COM
There were a pair of 5s on the board and Deeb had two more
in his hand. Unquestionably, four of a kind would take the pot. At
the end, Matusow had zero-percent chance of coming out on top.
Deeb realized this and very intentionally slow-rolled him. Matusow
was clearly annoyed.
“He threatened to punch me in the face. I just cracked up
laughing. The producers thanked me for getting such a memorable
reaction out of him, and it has gotten tons of views on YouTube.”
A
t 33 years old, Deeb is a family man. He tries to limit his
traveling so he can spend more time with his wife and
kids who camped out with him in Vegas while he
labored to nab Player of the Year last summer.
A day after dinner at Graycliff, during a break in
action at the PokerStars tournament, where Deeb is
hoping to get deep and have a shot at the first prize of
more than $1.5 million, he debates with himself on whether or not
to stick around if he busts out.
“The 25K [a so-called high-roller tournament with a buy-in
of $25,000 and a field of seasoned pros] does not look profitable
for me,” he says, acknowledging that there is a new crew of young,
highly competitive players who have benefited from software
that has taught them to engineer each hand optimally. “I’m not
sure if I will stick around.”
Deeb is only talking about leaving the Bahamas, but, having
already made his bones and his money at poker, he could be talking
about exiting the game as well.
“Seven years from now, when I turn 40, I’d love to be done with
poker as a full-time occupation. I am looking for passive cash
flow,” he adds. “I don’t see myself being a nine-to-five guy.”
Deeb busts out of the tournament way earlier than hoped. He
winds up finishing in 118th place and takes home $18,460 (profit
there of just $8,160 for the event) on top of the $86,060 he took
down for third place in a Pot Limit Omaha tournament on this
trip, which adds up to be pretty tidy for a week’s worth of work.
He winds up forgoing the $25,000 event after all, and decides to
board a plane for the next flight home instead.
“Poker is a psychological game,” he says. “People are trying to
keep their heads together. As soon as you become emotional, you
start ignoring the math. And when that happens to an opponent,
it’s a good thing for me.” Y
Michael Kaplan is a Cigar Aficionado contributing editor.
129
 big smoke
A sold-out crowd getting ready to light up and enter the showroom floor at CIGAR AFICIONADO’S Big Smoke Las Vegas. Nearly 4,000 people attended.
The Big Smoke Lights Up Sin City
A
crowd of nearly 4,000 cigar lovers gathered in the desert in
November for one of the biggest cigar celebrations in the
world—The Big Smoke Las Vegas. Packed with daytime sem-
inars and rambunctious evening parties, the sold-out show attracted
cigar fans from all across the United States and as far as China and
Australia. This was the 24th annual Big Smoke Las Vegas, which has
drawn an international audience of cigar fans for its entire history.
The smoke-filled weekend kicked off on a Friday at the Mirage
Hotel and Casino with an evening extravaganza. Guests enjoyed plenty
of handmade cigars, fine food and high-end spirits, and mingled with
some of the biggest names in the cigar world, including Rocky Patel
of Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana,
Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo of EPC
Cigar Co., maker of Cigar Aficionado’s 2018 Cigar of the Year.
Of course you can smoke at a Big Smoke, but you also collect
cigars to take home, and the evening’s haul consisted of a treasure
trove of high-end, handmade cigar brands: Aging Room, A.J.
Fernandez, Alec Bradley, Archetype, Arturo Fuente, Balmoral,
CAO, Casa Turrent, Diesel Whiskey Row, Don Pepin, E.P. Carrillo,
H. Upmann, Hamlet Paredes, J.C. Newman, Joya de Nicaragua,
La Aroma de Cuba, La Flor Dominicana, Macanudo, Montecristo,
Nat Cicco, Nub, Oliva, Oscar Valladares, Padrón, Plasencia, Rocky
Patel, Romeo y Julieta, Tatuaje, Vegas Cubanas and The Wise Man.
While guests socialized, puffed cigars and shook hands with the
very men and women who made their smokes, they also partook in
a fine selection of spirits, beer and cocktails. The lineup of drinks
vendors included Bacardi, Bird Dog Whiskey, Cardenal Mendoza,
130
Calumet Bourbon, Dewar’s, D’Ussé Cognac, Grand Brulot, Glengoyne,
Guinness, Hennessy, Jack Daniel’s, Johnnie Walker, Kentucky
Owl, Lagavulin, Santa Teresa 1796, Talisker, Tequila Indianos and
WhistlePig Whiskey, as well as San Benedetto water.
Along with cigar and drink vendors, there was also a robust
buffet of food, with special offerings from Delmonico’s Steakhouse,
Texas de Brazil and Cocolini. A live band filled the room with music,
and guests had the opportunity to explore lifestyle exhibits from
Bugatti Lighters, Carl F. Bucherer watches, Dominican Republic
Tourism, Peter James cigar cases and Rabbit Air smoke eaters.
The Friday festivities were repeated on Saturday with a second
roaring night of cigars, drinks and camaraderie. The morning
seminars featured a tasting of the top three cigars of 2018 and
a variety of panel discussions with industry luminaries and the
editors of Cigar Aficionado. The seminars covered a range of
topics, including Women in Cigars, Power Tobacco, Fighting the
FDA and Investing in Cuban Cigars. There was also a trivia game
show, and on Sunday there were more cigar-focused seminars,
including a cooking demonstration, a cigar-rolling competition
and a Tequila and mezcal tasting.
The Big Smoke travels next to Hollywood, Florida, April 3–4,
2020, with Big Smoke meets WhiskyFest, an event combining the
best of cigars and whisky. The Big Smoke Las Vegas returns once
again to the Mirage November 20–22, 2020. —David Clough
JACOB KEPLER
For complete coverage of the Las Vegas Big Smoke,
go to cigaraficionado.com
 Friends John Fokas, Don McHaffie and Kevin Daigle met up in Las Vegas. Jacqueline Graham and Corry Katuna puffing away during the Big Smoke.

Some of the cigar stars who were at the show. From left, Tatuaje brand owner The audience smoking along during the Saturday seminars, where the No. 1,
Pete Johnson, José “Pepin” Garcia and Jaime Garcia of My Father Cigars. No. 2 and No. 3 Cigars of the Year were passed out and enjoyed.
JACOB KEPLER

Mike Backers, Dave Recchion, Robin VonOrder and Charles Weaver have their Experts on stage shedding light on growing powerful tobacco. From left,
CIGAR AFICIONADO tote bags ready for stuffing with cigars. Litto Gomez, David Perez and Nestor Andrés Plasencia during the seminars.

131
moments to remember
Please send all submissions to: CIGAR AFICIONADO/Moments to Remember, Worldwide Plaza, 825 Eighth Avenue, 33rd Floor, New York, NY 10019.
Or email them to: momentstoremember@mshanken.com. To order additional copies of CIGAR AFICIONADO, call 1-800-344-0763.

While docked at the Hemingway Marina in Havana, Cuba, Mary Wilson, At the Hickory Cigar Club’s 25-year anniversary, brothers Bob and Paul Toy
Debi Boone Meisel and Phyllis Menefee puff on their favorite Cuban cigars. savor some fine cigars with Jorge Padrón (center) in Hickory, North Carolina.

Steve Kemnitz, Kurt Seebacher and guests light up Montecristo White Series Jeff and Kym Showers and Mary and Dr. Tom Berry of Bakersfield, California,
cigars at the wedding of Andy and Kelsey Fogel in Scottsdale, Arizona. smoke Padrón 1964 Anniversary Exclusivos at Blend Bar in Nashville, Tennessee.

Jack Sikma and Howard Doss celebrate Jack’s election into the Naismith Troy Gregory, Ricardo Salmon, T. Roger White and Isaac Khafif at the 12th
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Annual All in for a Cure Poker Event at the Grand Havana Room in New York.

132
Brothers Mick, Dennis and Rich Reiprish fire up some cigars before a round of Joe Groff, John Dullea, Steven Siegel and George Gates during a week-long
golf to kick off TPC week in Jacksonville, Florida. chromer at the Wild Duc Lodge on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

Danny Wentworth, Jim Wentworth and Bob Gordon from Cocoa, Florida, The ski lifts must be cigar-friendly in Vail, Colorado. Greg Wheeler and Adam
smoke Cohiba Maduro 5 Genios at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana. Rabreau light up some smokes on their way back up the slopes.

Long-lost brothers Chris Barton of McKinney, Texas, and Sam Timlick of Johnson At the Gulfstream Restaurant in Newport Beach, California, John Svinos, and
City, Tennessee, meet for the very first time at Christopher’s home over cigars. John Szabo celebrate their birthdays in style with handmade cigars.

133
Meghan Lynch celebrates her marriage to John Lynch (not pictured) at the Friends Matt Labishak, Brian Tomasic, Dave Tener and Chris Labishak find time for
Harbor Lights Golf & Country Club in Warwick, Rhode Island. smokes at a wedding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the Station Square Sheraton.

Members of the Smoking Aristocrats cigar group from Dallas light up at the The DeNicola family gather for their first annual Family Heritage Day at the
Blowin’ Smoke Cigar Lounge in Duncanville, Texas. vineyard and home of Cosmo DeNicola Jr. in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.

Rob Alsbury, Tim Wisener and Mike Brancheau of the World Problem Solvers Cigar Michael Nesci, Ben Guirreri, Joe Zagari and Peter Guirreri smoke on Observatory
Club of Seattle at the Snoqualmie Casino Cigars and Spirits Festival in Washington. Hill overlooking Sydney Harbour in Australia to celebrate Ben’s wedding day.

134
John Blozis and his son Mark enjoy Montecristo Classic Churchills and Bloody Nothing like a fine cigar on a fine day. Jim Calswell and R. Bruce Williams smoke
Marys in West Chicago, Illinois, before watching the Chicago Bears game. through some of their collection of cigars on Little Whale Cove in Oregon.

Emily and Mike Caruso celebrate their wedding with some premium smokes on the veranda of the Shannopin Country Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

On the rear deck of the Pan Orama II in Cienfuegos Harbor, Cuba, Michael Goren, Yousef Amer commemorates his wedding to Sha Amer with his groomsmen
Ken Chapman, Lou Pineda and Jon Wright relax with Montecristos and rum. and great cigars at the Park Savoy in Florham Park, New Jersey.

136
Proud fathers Warren DuBois and Chris Adams Cliff Pryor takes his favorite magazine with
celebrate their daughters graduating college him everywhere, even underwater. Here he is
with Romeo y Julieta cigars in Naperville, Illinois. in Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

At the Overlake Golf & Country Club’s All White Party in Medina, Virginia, David Powers, Detlef
Schrempf, Malik Prihar, John Bacon, Greg Komen and Raymon Kooner enjoy some fine smokes.

During the Allied Universal’s President’s Club Rod Marsden and Ben Ingersoll smoke in
trip to Miami, Florida, Joel Feeser and Matt style at the Fumé Cigar Shop & Lounge
McGary puff on Padrón Serie 1926 Maduros. holiday party in Montclair, New Jersey.
Bob Beck and his son Brian take in the great outdoors with wine and Cuban Dan McLaughlin (far right) and friends on a trip to County Cork, Ireland,
cigars after a day of fishing for king salmon in Sitka, Alaska. for golf, whisky and cigars at the Old Head Golf Links.

Friends since high school, Grant Joyce, Steve Toth and Tom Catliota light up Tino Sosa and Dailyn Randle celebrate Dailyn’s birthday with premium cigars
some Davidoff cigars while on a golf trip to Pacific Grove in California. and spirits at Casa Fuente at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

During a lovely evening out, Ric Anello and Carol Cross of St. Louis, Missouri, Tina and Steve Kalhle smoking cigars with their great friend Ralph Montana
enjoy Port and smokes at 1000 North in Jupiter, Florida. (center) at the 14th Annual Taterfest in Curllsville, Pennsylvania.

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last leaf

YAMIL LAGE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A BOUQUET OF TOBACCO LEAVES A farmer walks through robust rows of Cuban-seed tobacco growing in the Vuelta Abajo of
Western Cuba. Unlike tobacco plants in Connecticut or Ecuador, which rise to towering heights of nine feet or more when fully grown, Cuban-
seed plants are shorter than most men. The vibrant green leaves here are pointing toward the sky during the early morning hours in the middle
of a typically warm Cuban winter. The harvest here has begun, the handful of primed tobacco coddled like a collection of delicate flowers.

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