Indholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2025 i Cigar Aficionado

In a momentous year for Jeep—major updates to familiar models like the Grand Cherokee—the biggest news is the launch of two battery-electric vehicles (BEV). Jeep isn’t entirely new to the electrified vehicle market. Wagoneer S, now rolling into American showrooms, is Jeep’s first global EV, soon to be followed by the Recon later this year. The While Jeep already sells the little Avenger in Europe (and its Wrangler 4xe is its best-selling plug-in hybrid in the United States), coming up with the right product was a huge challenge for Jeep. “It isn’t about delivering a battery-electric vehicle,” says engineering chief David Partlow, “but a Jeep BEV.” The design is immediately familiar, starting with the iconic Jeep seven-slat grille—albeit sealed to improve range-extending aerodynamics. Wagoneer S is smaller than either of…

A mysterious hooded chef sitting on a rock next to a bubbling stream takes a massive knife, a cleaver shaped like a quarter circle, and chops through vegetables or a huge grilled steak. Next to him, a wood fire around some dark stones crackles and pops while birds chirp in the distance. This is the bushcraft phenomenon—the aspiration to get more rustic as technology gets more advanced—and cleavers are often the stars of its ubiquitous videos. So much so that Almazan Kitchen, a YouTube channel based in Serbia, made the uniquely-shaped cleaver so popular that they’re now simply known as Serbian chef knives. They’re the culinary equivalent of off-roading through the Utah desert or building makeshift shelters in the snow. While they prompt the tingling sensation that comes with roughing…

PHOTOGRAPHED AT RAPTIS RARE BOOKS, PALM BEACH, FL Wayne Gretzky changed the game of hockey forever. He put on skates for the first time at the age of two, skating on a frozen river on his grandmother’s farm in Canada and was taught the game of hockey by his father, Walter, who built a rink in the family’s back yard. He made his first team at age five and at the age of 10 he scored so many goals he earned the nickname “The Great One.” As a pro, he led the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cups and shattered record after record: most goals in a season (both first and second place), most assists, most points and many more. After 20 seasons in the NHL, a career that included…

From films to food, it seems there’s a festival for everything, though few are as immersive and culturally enlightening as Puro Sabor, casually known as the “Nicaraguan Cigar Festival.” The 12th iteration of the event happened in January, and much of the week-long excursion took place in Estelí. Before the rise of premium cigars in United States, Estelí would only receive major press during the violent years of the Sandinista wars. Today, the city and region have become the cigarmaking epicenter of the country and the literal birthplace of some of the highest rated cigars on the market, including the current Cigar of the Year, My Father Cigars The Judge Grand Robusto. The festival gives cigar fans the opportunity to take their hobby to the next level and gain a…

There probably isn’t a single cigar company that would name a corona as its best-selling size, but thankfully there’s still enough demand to keep them in production. The most impressive coronas of the issue came from Cuba and both scored 92 points—H. Upmann Corona Major and Trinidad Coloniales. Back in 2022, when Habanos raised the prices of its cigars, H. Upmann was spared a major hike. Trinidad, on the other hand, was not, as the Coloniales is nearly twice the price of the H. Upmann. For considerable value, look at the four cigars here that scored 90 points: the Don Diego Corona; Herrera Esteli Habano Lonsdale Deluxe; Fonseca By My Father Cosacos and La Aroma de Cuba Corona. All of them sell for less than $9 before taxes.…

Whenever a new Cuban Cohiba comes to market, the cigar world notices. We certainly did. The Cohiba Ambar is not only the newest regular-production, handmade Cohiba, it’s also the highest-scoring cigar of the entire issue, at 95 points. Anticipation has been building for the Ambar ever since it was announced in 2021 (it didn’t launch until last year). Ambar is a completely new format in the Cuban portfolio with an unusal 53 ring gauge and pigtail cap reminiscent of Cohiba Behikes. The cigar’s high score suggests real aging potential. Two robustos scored 91 points and they both come from brands with excellent track records. The E.P. Carrillo Encore El Futuro and Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua Robusto are marvelous smokes.…

When Hublot and Carlos Fuente Jr. belatedly celebrated the 25th anniversary of OpusX (launched in November 1995) with the new limited-edition Classic Fusion Chronograph Arturo Fuente King Gold ($40,500), it was worth the wait for the sixth in their collaborations. The occasion inaugurated the Art Academy, an arm of Fuente’s Cigar Family Charitable Foundation that provides educational and health programs for the community in the Bonao region where Fuente grows wrapper leaves for OpusX. Hublot took part in the laying of the Art Academy’s foundation in 2019. “The honor and privilege of building such a wonderful relationship with Hublot, which I consider family, has been one of my greatest lifetime achievements,” says Fuente. Limited to 50 pieces, the watch is the first Fuente edition in a 42-mm Classic Fusion Chronograph…

Xander Schauffele PRO GOLFER Montecristo No. 2 Xander Schauffele had quite a 2024 season. He won half of the year’s major tournaments, didn’t miss a single cut and ended up ranked second in the world, earning a cool $29.3 million in the process. It was quite the transformative year. Before winning the first of those majors—the PGA Championship, last May—he was in the conversation as one of the best to never win one. He had come close, with 12 top 10s and two second-place-finishes in previous majors. When he finally got his trophy, he celebrated with cigars. “A member at Valhalla gave me a cigar,” he says, and in the craziness of the day, he’s not even certain what it was. “It was nice though.” He lit it in celebration…

The top smoke of the figurado category is nothing short of an industry icon. We’re referring to the Montecristo No. 2, which scored 94 points. It’s not only one of the original sizes since the brand was created in 1935, but is now a reference cigar in the Cuban portfolio—the pirámide by which all pirámides are judged. Padrón Cigars hasn’t been in business for quite as long, but celebrated 60 years in 2024 and created the 60th Anniversary Perfecto for the occasion. Like all Padróns, it’s made in Nicaragua, but this is the first time that Padrón has produced a cigar in this exact shape. The cigar scored 93 points, as did La Flor Dominicana’s 30 Year Chisel, an anniversary smoke that celebrates 30 years of La Flor with the…

With Padrón’s anniversary cigars getting so much attention, it’s easy to overlook the core line, casually referred to as “the brown label,” but the Padrón 400o Maduro topped the toro category at 92 points offering a very satisfying smoking experience at a relatively low price point. It’s entirely Nicaraguan. Rocky Patel’s new Emerald series is also made in Nicaragua, but this smoke is crafted from a four-country blend of tobaccos. The Toro scored 91 points. A trio of cigars scored 90 points and they were all in the medium-bodied range. Fratello’s Arlequín Connecticut Robusto and Foundation Cigar Co.’s Charter Oak Habano Lonsdale (though it’s not a lonsdale) show restraint and subtlety, as does the Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especial.…

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 Cigars can be carried in many ways. You can put them in a plastic bag, but where’s the style in that? Travel humidors can be gorgeous, but for everyday use they can be bulky. Cigar cases are good, if limited in payload. For a new way to carry around five or so smokes, cigar experts Hunters & Frankau and the leather craftsmen of Ettinger have combined to create a luxurious cigar-toting device they call a cigar wrap. Both British companies have long, storied histories. Ettinger, dating to 1934, is one of a few companies that still crafts its leather products in the United Kingdom. Hunters & Frankau, founded in 1790, is the exclusive U.K. distributor of Havana cigars. Both are family-owned and -operated businesses, Hunters & Frankau by the Freeman…

“Real Life Magic” has been the longtime motto of south-western Pennsylvania’s luxury sporting estate. Well, the 2,200-acre Nemacolin just got more magical. A half-billion-dollar renovation and expansion has catapulted the already over-the-top Nemacolin onto a short list of the world’s most expansive luxury resorts. Just about everything is new or renovated or better than ever. This includes the full-blown casino, an upgraded and expanded Woodlands Spa and Holistic Healing Center, extensive chef’s gardens and greenhouses, and a recently added family-friendly waterpark-style pool complex with outdoor ropes courses, ziplines and indoor bowling, ax throwing and a sports bar. The billionaire lover of cigars and golf, Joseph Hardy III transformed Nemacolin from a hunting lodge into a luxury accommodation in the 1980s. It now comprises three hotels—The Chateau, Falling Rock and the…

When pickleball was invented on a badminton court in Washington State in 1965, it was played with table tennis equipment. The game soon graduated to perforated plastic balls and one of its inventors, Barney McCallum, fashioned a simple wood paddle—the M2—that became the sport’s longtime standard. Flash forward almost 60 years: the game is the fastest growing sport in America and the equipment choices are vast and often expensive. Paddle buyers are now presented with options that include carbon and fiberglass bodies in various thicknesses, with foam cores and a choice of facings and shapes. Accordingly, prices have soared with the most expensive in the $250 range. In 2019, faced with a market that seemed to present a new latest-thing every six months, Braydon Unsicker, an Oregonian player, created pickleballeffect.com,…

“If fishing is like religion, then fly fishing is high church,” said award-winning news anchor and Greatest Generation author Tom Brokaw. The underlying sentiment is one widely shared throughout the sporting community—of the many different ways to catch a fish none is more emotional, cerebral and invested than with a fly rod. While most closely identified with angling for trout in streams, it’s a skill that is defined not by its quarry or venue, but by its precise style of casting. Most fishing involves some version of casting—the delivery of a baited hook to where fish swim. In deepsea fishing, this can be as simple as putting a weight on the line and dropping it, letting gravity take it down. With spinning reels, you cast a weighted hook that can…

The year is still young and there are plenty of new cigars on the horizon, but before we look forward, it’s important to look back for a retrospective view of last year. CIGAR AFICIONADO and our twice-monthly digital newsletter, Cigar Insider, put hundreds of cigars through our blind tasting process in 2024—628 to be exact. Sifting through a year’s worth of ratings all by yourself can be a daunting task so we’ve done it for you with the aim of giving some context and broader meaning to all the data. We compiled the ratings, crunched the numbers and analyzed the scores of 2024 to bring you a concise picture of the cigar industry and how it performed. Since late 2020, the premium cigar industry has experienced a period known as…

The Perdomo 30th Anniversary series seems to be on a roll, as the brand’s Maduro Churchill scored 92 points, topping the category. This follows a high-scoring performance from the 30th Anniversary Sun Grown line that put one of the sizes on our list of Top 25 Cigars for 2024. The cigar is from Nicaragua, as are two of the Churchills that scored 91 points: the Oliva Serie G and Blackened Cigars “M81” By Drew Estate. Aside from the score and the country of origin, the cigars are quite different. Blackened is a bold blend that’s a three-way collaboration between Drew Estate, Blackened Whiskey and Metallica’s James Hetfield. The Oliva Serie G stresses balance and value. Also scoring 91 points was the La Flor de Cano Diadema, a Regional Edition Cuban…

If the cigar world had an endangered species list, lonsdales would certainly be toward the top. The popularity of these slender smokes may be declining, but it’s not for lack of quality. Half the cigars in the category scored 90 points or higher. The Casa Cuba Doble Dos from Arturo Fuente scored 92 points and was blended to be more traditional, emphasizing balance over power. It’s made in the Dominican Republic, as is the curiously named Room101 Farce It Is A Lonsdale. That cigar was conceived by Room101 founder Matt Booth, who sold the brand to Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Two cigars scored 91 points: The Allegria Lonsdale (a spinoff of Illusione’s OneOff brand) and the Ashton Aged Maduro No. 30, which is made by Fuente.…