If you’re searching at random for a 90-point cigar, you’re more likely to find it from Cuba than any other country. than any other country, and its proliferation of high ratings speaks to both the high quality of tobacco on the agricultural end as well as meticulous cigar production on the industrial side. Currently, Nicaragua exports more premium cigars to the U.S. Every major cigar-producing country contributed cigars to that list, though 31 of the cigars in this segment hail from Nicaragua. And 64 cigars scored 91 points or higher, earning our accolade of Humidor Selection. Taking the big-picture view, the ratings for 2021 indicate a high level of quality throughout the cigar market, as 114 of the 273 cigars we rated (42 percent) scored 90 points or higher. While new releases tend to be the focus of each Cigar Insider, the year-end review also includes ratings for older, well-established brands that are regularly produced and still quite relevant in the cigar industry, as they continue to sell in cigar stores across the U.S. Cigar Insider rated cigars of all stripes ranging from small limited editions to boutique lines to large-scale brands with extensive distribution and recognition. Minor cigarmaking countries like the United States and Mexico are represented as well.

The brands here represent all the major cigar-producing countries: Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. We rated 273 cigars in Cigar Insider this year, many of which were released in 2021. (Note that this analysis is quite different from Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25, which is a contest among the highest-rated cigars from both Cigar Insider and Cigar Aficionado.) This cross-section of the industry answers a few important questions, such as which country had the highest overall average, which brands turned in the best performances and how well the premium cigar industry did as a whole.Īs has always been the case with Cigar Insider (and Cigar Aficionado) all scores that were used to generate these averages were the result of our blind tasting process, which has always been the basis of our rating system. The annual report is a data-driven compilation that examines performances from different angles, breaking down the ratings by score, by country, size and price. In this year-end analysis, we look at a year’s worth of ratings from Cigar Insider, the bimonthly newsletter of Cigar Aficionado that focuses on new releases, entire vertical brand tastings and industry mainstays. To the contrary, the cigar industry has been able to maintain its high standards of quality, something proven with our blind tastings for 2021. Despite these difficulties, the quality of handmade cigars has not decreased. Logistical troubles in the supply chain on top of high demand has meant that many premium cigars are back ordered and raw materials on the tobacco end are starting to become scarce. More people working from home meant that cigar fans had more time and more opportunity to smoke, sparking an unexpected cigar boom. Now that the Covid era is nearly two years old, the premium cigar industry continues to thrive.

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