The 10 Best Cigars, From Cohiba Spectre to an Arturo Fuente Tribute

During the mid-1990s, Nat Sherman—a New York cigar-smoker’s haven since the 1930s—introduced the Metropolitan, an extremely popular go-to brand. Although the Nat Sherman enterprise no longer exists, a tribute to the original cigar has been brought back as a 6 x 50 toro by the Ferio Tego cigar company. The Metropolitan 30 Years is produced in the Dominican Republic in the same Quesada family cigar factory as the original Metropolitan, but the new blend consists of an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, a Dominican binder, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s decidedly milder, with sweet Asian spices and an interesting underlying dash of sour cherries. It is a perfect accompaniment to a Campari spritz. $13.50

Montecristo, one of the most famous pre-embargo names in cigars, was founded in Havana, Cuba, in 1935. It has more recently found new-world fame in Nicaragua, where it has been partnering with Placensia and A.J. Fernandez since the mid-2010s. That’s where this hand-rolled puro, made to commemorate the company’s 90th anniversary, is made. Using some of the Plasencia family’s special bales of aged tobaccos, it is composed of harvests from four Nicaraguan tobacco growing regions: Estelí, Condega, Ometepe, and Jalapa, which produced a smooth, semiglossy, and practically veinless wrapper. Combined, these rare leaves are responsible for a long ash that just doesn’t want to let go. This ultrasmooth, medium-strength smoke is packed with white-pepper and lemongrass notes, making it an anytime-of-day cigar, but perfect for a Fords Gin martini after an omakase dinner. Two sizes are offered, a classic 61⁄8 x 52 No. 2 perfecto and a 51⁄2 x 56 nacional. From $38.75

Scheduled for release two years ago, as indicated by the MMXXIV on its band, this cigar’s launch was postponed due to the complexity of its blend and its unique packaging. Plus, only two of Cohiba’s most experienced bunchers and rollers are assigned to craft these cigars. Consequently, this is only the fifth in the limited-edition Spectre series, which debuted in 2018. The luxurious elegance of the 2024 blend is dominated by musty earth and burnt-rose-petal flavors from a seven-year-old Connecticut Habano wrapper, which encompasses a San Andrés binder and a filler of San Andrés Vuelta Abajo and special Criollo ’98 leaf harvested from the Dominican Republic’s acclaimed Mao region. Only one size is produced, a 6 x 52 toro, 10 of which are individually tubed inside a cylindrical humidor that looks like it was designed by Iron Man. $150

Master blender Eladio Díaz spent over 40 years creating some of Davidoff ’s most celebrated cigars before establishing Tabacalera Díaz Cabrera in the Dominican Republic. Now, he has partnered with the Brazilian-born founder and namesake of a new brand, Don Emmanuel, who himself is a certified cigar sommelier and received one of the highest scores ever awarded by the International Association of Cigar Sommeliers. These two individuals have combined their talents to produce Anunnaki Anu (a name inspired by ancient Sumerian mythology), a 6 x 52 toro made of seven distinct tobaccos: a Dominican wrapper, a Mexican San Andrés Negro binder, and a five-region blend of Dominican tobaccos. The result is an elegantly mild smoke full of toasted nuts, cocoa, coffee, and a touch of mineral spice. $18

Coming from the León family, the Dominican Republic’s pioneering cigar producers, this latest rendition is a proposed shift away from its usual flavor profile, although it retains the brand’s signature medium-full strength. (The name, which translates to “strong sun,” reflects this.) The first edition of La Aurora’s new Family Creed series sports a matte-textured Mexican wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and a filler of Pennsylvanian, Nicaraguan, and Dominican tobaccos. The resulting box-pressed cigar provides an ultrasmooth draw and a velvety essence of multilayered spices wafting through a rainforest. Three sizes are offered: a toro, a gran toro, and, our favorite for this blend, a robusto. From $15.50

Cigar makers refer to the uppermost tobacco leaves as high priming, because they are exposed to more sunlight and are consequently fuller in texture and richer in flavor. The Plasencia family has captured such high-priming attributes within this high-elevation cigar, whose name translates to “soul of the sky.” Hand-rolled with tobaccos grown higher than 3,500 feet above sea level on Plasencia’s Finca San Julián in Condega, the cigar has a café con crema aroma and medium-plus flavors of grass and leather, accented by a natural sweetness locked into the higher-elevation leaves. The farm itself is as special as the tobaccos grown there, for it was where Don Néstor Plasencia’s wife, Melalina, grew up. After they were married, Don Néstor bought the land for her as an anniversary gift. Alma del Cielo is offered in three vitola sizes, including a hexagon-shaped amanecer, another Plasencia innovation. From $26.99

With farms in Estelí, Jalapa, and Namanj and two factories in Estelí, My Father Cigars has long been known for excellent Nicaraguan cigars. But last year, it released its first Honduran cigar, a box-pressed puro consisting of a Honduran-grown Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado wrapper and a Honduran binder, with fillers harvested from Finca La Opulencia. Four sizes are offered, ranging from petit robusto to toro gordo, all with a blue foot ribbon, the primary color of the Honduran flag. The first puff of this cigar releases the meaty-earthy fullness of Honduran tobaccos, which segues into bittersweet dark chocolate with a toasted-marshmallow creaminess, making this full-bodied smoke a great late-night companion for a snifter of Louis XIII. From $9.10

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Once completed, most premium cigars are aged for at least a few months to marry their tobaccos. But El Vencedor takes this process to an entirely new level, as these 51⁄2 x 54 robustos matured for an unprecedented 21 years. Originally rolled in 2004 at the Dominican Republic’s La Aurora factory, using tobaccos from the 1999 harvest, the cigars were already five years old when finished. They were then sequestered in cedar aging vaults and, over the years, only brought out for family, friends, and V.I.P.s. That is, until Don Doreteo’s founder, Juan Lugo, discovered them. With an oily, silky smooth Ecuadorian Corojo Havana wrapper, a Dominican Olor binder, and a filler combining Dominican Corojo Havana, two Criollo 98 strains, and a touch of Nicaraguan leaf, this heathery, medium-strength smoke carries a touch of French vanilla and a tantalizing spiciness that rachets up just short of being full-bodied. $29

This is the newest and, in our opinion, most distinctive member of Davidoff’s exclusive Black Band Collection. It’s a Dominican puro composed of tobaccos aged for a combined 32 years from six different terroirs across the island. The elegant, minimalistic, black-wooden cabinet box containing 12 cigars is but a prelude to this, the mildest cigar sporting the distinctive Davidoff black band. The smoke starts out with dark-chocolate, brown-sugar, and soft white-bread nuances, then transitions to cedar and almonds and, near the finish, intriguingly evolves into hints of dried fruit that make this cigar the perfect companion for Taylor Fladgate’s 1975 Very Old Single Harvest Port. Three sizes are offered: short robusto, corona large, and perfecto—the latter of which we prefer as its shape is easier to clip and light. From $19.80

The close bond between Don Carlos Fuente Sr. and his son Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr. was legendary. Although Fuente Sr. passed away in 2016, last year would have been his 90th birthday. To honor the occasion, Carlito created a unique variation of his father’s favorite cigar: the Don Carlos 90 Años. While the original was blended with a Corojo-seed wrapper, Don Carlos Sr. later changed it to a Cameroon wrapper. Inspired by this, Carlito overlaid the Robusto’s Cameroon wrapper with a Dominican Corojo wrapper. With these twin wrappers locked in a firm, flavorful handshake, the soft, hand-rolled smoke emits the subtle sweetness of Corojo, accented with woody, earthy undertones of Cameroon, teetering on medium-full strength. However, because the two wrappers have different burning rates, this cigar may require additional relights along the way. Although some retailers may offer them individually, they also come in a massive handcrafted 90-count chest worthy of Don Carlos Sr. $13 or $1,170 for a box of 90