Cigar Aficionado

Connoisseur's Corner: A Perfect, 55-Year-Old Cigar

(From the December 2011 issue of Cigar Aficionado ) A perfect 100-point-score is a rarity in Cigar Aficionado magazine. We have never given a 100 in our main tasting section, and even here in Connoisseur’s Corner, where we focus on aged cigars, their appearances are …

Connoisseur's Corner: Corojo-Seed Classics

(From the October 2011 issue of Cigar Aficionado) In our tastings of cigars bought at retail we often award scores of 90 points or more, but rarely do we award classic ratings (95 points or more). However, fine cigars improve with age, which is why we also run this Connoisseur’s …

Connoisseur's Corner: A Quartet of Classics

(From the June 2011 issue of Cigar Aficionado) We found a quartet of classic cigars in this tasting, three of them Cuban, one Nicaraguan, and all four aged superbly. The oldest smokes scored highest, a 1959 Por Larrañaga (98 points) and a 1960 H. Upmann No. 1 (97 points). …

Connoisseur's Corner: Near-Perfect Smokes

(From the April 2011 issue of Cigar Aficionado) Age has turned four cigars into classic smokes—in some cases, near-perfect smokes. In 1992, Cuba produced a H. Upmann No. 2 pirámide size that, almost 20 years later, has blossomed into a complex cigar that scored 99 points. …

Davidoff Château Lafite Rothschild (1989)

Connoisseur's Corner: A 100-Pointer

(From the February 2011 issue of Cigar Aficionado) What does it take to achieve perfection? A fine draw, complex flavors and an irrepressible gravitational pull on the cigar smoker that simply won’t allow him to leave the cigar alone in the ashtray. We speak of the Davidoff …

Connoisseur's Corner: Two Fine Double Coronas

(From the August 2010 issue of Cigar Aficionado) What’s better than a big Cuban cigar? A big Cuban cigar from a great year with a bit of age. We rated two of Cuba’s finest double coronas, one of them from 1993, the other from 1997, and our nod went to the Punch Double Corona …

Connoisseur's Corner: An Impressive "A"

(From the May 2010 issue of Cigar Aficionado) One need not be a seasoned cigar aficionado to look upon an open box of Hoyo de Monterrey Particulares and realize that you are staring at something extraordinary and unusual. The presentation is impressive. Each of the “A”-sized …

Connoisseur's Corner: An Amazing Lonsdale

(From the April 2010 issue of Cigar Aficionado) Lonsdales were once the most popular cigar size in the world. The amazing performance of a lonsdale-sized H. Upmann No. 1 that was rolled more than 50 years ago gives you a hint at why the size may have been so popular. Not only …

Connoisseur's Corner: Well-Aged Cubans

(From the February 2010 issue of Cigar Aficionado) This special tasting of well-aged Cuban cigars led to a quartet of scores in the classic range, 95 points or higher on our 100-point scale. The best of the bunch was a 1991 Cohiba Robusto, a smoke bursting with flavor that …