Innehållsförteckning för May/June 2020 från Cigar Aficionado

TOP ROBUSTO LA MISSION L’ATELIER 1959 Inspired by a winery in France, this cigar from Pete Johnson and the Garcia family wears an alluringly dark Mexican San Andrés wrapper. It was the top-scoring smoke of the entire issue. NICARAGUA 95 TOP FIGURADO MONTECRISTO NO. 2 One of the most popular torpedoes ever made, this former Cigar of the Year is consistently one of Cuba’s best sellers. CUBA 94 TOP TORO/CORONA GORDA COHIBA MAJESTUOSO 1966 Rare, expensive, and quite thick for a Cuban Cohiba, this smoke was specially rolled for a line of limited humidors released by Habanos S.A. to commemorate the 50th birthday of Cuba’s most treasured cigar brand. CUBA 94 TOP CHURCHILL OLIVA SERIE G MADURO CHURCHILL This inexpensive and high-scoring cigar is covered in a dark, broadleaf wrapper…

The spectacular beauty of marble is obvious if you’ve ever gazed upon the Taj Mahal, looked up at the Washington Monument or even simply shopped for home countertops. For centuries, humans have coveted the metamorphic rock for its variety of colors, hallmark swirls, moody veining patterns and its one-of-a-kind character. After all, like a fingerprint, no two pieces of marble are exactly alike. Given the tantalizing rock’s natural resistance to heat, it’s hard to believe a high-quality marble cigar ashtray hasn’t been available to enthusiasts until now. A trip to India to research natural building materials inspired Sicilian architect Michele Cucchiara to change that, forming KAAT, an Italy-based company specializing in handmade marble cigar ashtrays. It begins with a slab from either Iran or one of the famous marble quarries…

The very nature of a par 3, its sensory and photogenic completeness in one spectacular view, allow golf developers to make a hot-button statement about their courses and turn up the hype. That has led some to go to the extreme. “We’ve gone to prospect sites with an owner/developer and invariably, even before you get there, they start telling you about or showing you situations that would make a super dramatic par 3,” says architect Bill Coore. “Almost a certainty that it will be a severe site.” There is nothing more severe than The Extreme 19th Hole at the Legend Golf and Safari Resort in Limpopo, South Africa. It’s 395 yards, and that’s not the half of it. Playing the hole requires a helicopter ride up Hanglip Mountain, to a…

Cocktail origin stories are at least a bit sketchy. After all, drinking is involved. So it is with the Hemingway Daiquiri. The story goes that sometime in the 1930s, while visiting Havana’s Bar La Florida, Ernest Hemingway tried a Daiquiri and liked it, but wanted one made without simple syrup and twice the rum. That part of the story seems logical: the writer disliked sugar and took his Martinis very, very dry, 15 parts gin to one part vermouth. The establishment, which sports a statue of Hemingway and is now known as El Floridita, decided to trade on its most famous customer’s name by creating a Hemingway Daiquiri. Also, believable. From there, the story starts to spin off. The recipe that appeared in the 1935 guide Bar La Florida Cocktails…

The top scores of this category might just be the best bargains of the entire issue as none of these large Churchills have suggested retail prices above $10. It isn’t often that the highest score of the category has the lowest suggested retail price, but that’s the case here with the Oliva Serie G Maduro Churchill, which scored an outstanding 93 points and is made in Nicaragua. With Connecticut broadleaf wrapper getting harder and more expensive to procure, it’s quite impressive that Oliva can keep the retail price of this large Churchill down to $7. Also scoring 93 points, the Villiger Cuellar Black Forest Churchill stays below the $10 retail mark as well. Made in the Dominican Republic at Tabacalera Palma, the Black Forest is Villiger’s maduro counterpart to its…

One doesn’t normally look at a lightly hued, shade-grown wrapper and anticipate a rich smoking experience, but sometimes looks can be deceiving. They certainly were in the case of the Henry Clay War Hawk Corona, which scored a very impressive 93 points. The smoke is dense and creamy, yet pops unexpectedly with flavor on every puff, showing a lot of intensity and character yet staying in balance. Once a Cuban cigar brand made primarily for France, Quai d’Orsay became globally available in 2017 when Habanos decided to share the cigar with the rest of the world. The No. 54 scored 92 points and is a newer, heavy ring gauge size created for Quai d’Orsay’s rebranding. While it’s stronger and thicker than any of the first Quai d’Orsays, it still maintains…

TOP SCORES 95 La Mission L’Atelier 1959 Nicaragua • $8.50 • Robusto • Medium-Full 94 Cohiba Majestuoso 1966 Cuba • £201.70 • Toro • Medium-Full 94 Montecristo No. 2 Cuba • £26.91 • Figurado • Medium 93 Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Robusto Dominican Republic • $17.05 • Toro • Medium-Full 93 Henry Clay War Hawk Corona Honduras • $7.00 • Miscellaneous • Medium-Full 93 Oliva Serie G Maduro Churchill Nicaragua • $7.00 • Churchill • Medium-Full 93 Villiger Cuellar Black Forest Churchill Dominican Republic • $8.40 • Churchill • Medium 93 Warzone Robusto Nicaragua • $8.49 • Toro • Medium 92 Montecristo Supremos Edición Limitada 2019 Cuba • £34.30 • Robusto • Medium-Full 92 My Father No. 1 Nicaragua • $10.40 • Robusto • Medium TOP VALUES 91 Alec Bradley…

On the last night of the Habanos Festival, where more than 1,200 people from around the world were blissfully smoking the new Romeo y Julieta Línea de Oro cigars, nobody had any idea that this was going to be the last major cigar gathering for quite some time. Most didn’t know that they’d be returning to cities on lockdown with rising death tolls and depleted hospital supplies. All they knew was that a mysterious young man from China electrified the night by bidding more than 2 million euros on a humidor—and he won, setting an all-time auction record and making festival history. Casually known as the Habanos Festival, the Festival del Habano is a yearly winter retreat for well-to-do enthusiasts from around the world who hold Cuban cigars in the…

Things are different here at Cigar Aficionado, and we’re sure things are different for you as well. The pandemic has radically changed the way we work, the way we gather and the way we live. It’s been challenging, and it reminds us all of how lucky we were. Hopefully by the time you’re reading these words, things may have begun to change back for the better. The Cigar Aficionado offices in New York closed in mid-March, and the magazine staff began working from home. We have been pleasantly surprised by how easily we’ve been able to do (most of) what we normally do while working from remote locations. We’re writing, editing and designing stories for the magazine, test-smoking cigars, meeting as a team (with video conferencing replacing face-to-face gatherings), finding…

A classic double corona lived up to its reputation for excellence in this tasting when the Partagás Lusitania from Cuba scored 92 points. Although Lusitanias come packaged in 25-count dress boxes and wooden cabinets of 50, these particular samples came from a 10-count box, which is a newer format that we’re seeing more and more of, especially at cigar shops in Havana. Tying with the Lusitania for highest score of the category, The Edge Maduro Double Corona from Rocky Patel offers a lot of cigar for less than $10, a relative bargain when considering that $10 is widely regarded by retailers as the “sweet spot” price point for premium cigars. The selling point for this Honduran brand was always value, but this cigar turned in a tasty performance that belies…

Inspired by the wine world, La Mission L’Atelier 1959 scored an astounding 95 points, making it an instant classic on our 100-point scale and the top performer of every tasting section. It’s made in Nicaragua by the Garcia family’s My Father Cigars factory for Pete Johnson, who also owns the Tatuaje brand. Visually, the cigar stands out with its dark, Mexican wrapper, box pressing and pigtail cap. The blend, however, gets much of its character from the Sancti Spiritus, a tobacco varietal grown by the Garcias in Nicaragua and the cigar’s defining leaf. The size 1959 isn’t named for the year of Cuba’s revolution as you might think, but after a banner vintage from Château La Mission-Haute Brion, the wine producer this brand was named after. At $8.50, the cigar…

Dear Marvin, Kudos to you for the great article on Charles Barkley [“Sir Charles Holds Court,” March/April 2020]. I may be biased since I was born in Philadelphia and watch all of Philly sports, and remember when he got drafted and started his career with the Sixers. I didn’t know how big of a cigar smoker he was until I read the article. He was one of my favorite players on the Sixers because of his determination and hard play, which we love in Philly. I’ve been smoking cigars since 1999. I want Charles Barkley to know that if he is in the city and wants a good aged Cuban cigar, my humidor is open. Jose Rubero Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Dear Marvin, After reading “Sir Charles Holds Court,” all I can…

The Beach Boys put it best: “Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world….You paddle out, turn around and raise. And baby that’s all there is to the coastline craze.” Okay, it’s not that simple, but once you catch your first wave, the huge rush and inexplicable sense of satisfaction is like sitting on top of the world—even if that wave is just a two-footer. And to get there it helps to take lessons. At a quality school like TropicSurf, an Australian company that hires the best instructors and bases them at more than two dozen of the finest luxury resort partners, it starts on the sand. You learn the theory: how waves break and currents work. But you’re also taught practical matters, like how to lay…

To demonstrate the many options for marrying rum and smoke, we picked two cigars with quite different body spectrums to pair with an array of fine rums. On the mild side we chose the H. Upmann Connecticut by Grupo de Maestros Toro (87 points, $8.94), a creamy, sweet cigar with a maduro cap atop its light wrapper. Stepping up in body, we smoked the Oliva Serie V Melanio Figurado, a former Cigar of the Year. The $15.60 cigar, which has scored as high as 96, has toasted almond, cocoa and espresso bean notes. RON ABUELO CENTURIA 80 proof, $140 This Panamanian solera rum contains rums as old as 30 years. Very smooth on first impression, it opens to licorice, honey, oranges and butter rum. The Abuelo added body and sweetness…

The iconic Montecristo No. 2 is almost synonymous with Cuban cigars and is the benchmark for all pirámides in the Habanos portfolio. In this tasting, it turned in a near-classic performance with 94 points. Keeping in mind the 2019 production date, this fairly young Montecristo has great aging potential and, most likely, a long life ahead of it—but obviously these cigars are smoking great now if you just can’t wait. Made in Nicaragua, the Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro Figurado scored 92 points. It’s a darker version of the 2014 Cigar of the Year and rolled with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper instead of Sumatra, but has all the box-pressing and tapers of the original format. The Serie V Melanio is a subbrand of the core Serie V line, making…

Cigar enthusiasts often wonder if those unique smokes made exclusively for expensive, limited-edition humidors are really anything special. In the case of the Cohiba Majestuoso 1966, the answer is an emphatic yes. It scored 94 points and is one of two fancy releases to mark Cohiba’s 50th anniversary in 2016. (Believe it or not, this is the less expensive of the two.) When the humidor came out in 2017, it listed for £4,034 in the U.K. and held 20 cigars, which is how we established the retail price below. It’s one of the thickest Cohibas ever made and has only begun to show its potential. Two cigars scored 93 points, the Dominican Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Robusto, which is one of the brand’s later sizes, and the Cameroon-wrapped Warzone, a…

The workers lean over the edge of the pilón of black tobacco, a stack of more than five tons of fermenting leaves that have reached an internal temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit. They move quickly, taking the leaves from the nearly six-foot-high, 12-foot-long stack, moving them from the outer row into the center to bring down the temperature. Once restacked, the dark tobacco’s second fermentation will begin. Alberto Turrent Cano, the 78-year-old patriarch of the Turrent family’s tobacco business, watches closely, making sure the job is being done correctly. He comes into his office in the warehouse daily, and conducts those up-close inspections nearly every day. He picks up one bunch of the leaves—still warm from the pilón—and spreads them out, putting his nose deep into the bunch. He then…

SAVORING THE SMOKE OF HIS CIGAR, Nestor Plasencia Sr. takes a short break while touring one of his many tobacco barns in Honduras in April 2018. His family planted its first tobacco seeds in Cuba in 1865, the same year the Civil War ended in the United States. Today, the Plasencias rank among the world’s largest cigar tobacco companies, growing thousands of acres of wrapper, binder and filler in Honduras and Nicaragua. Plasencia, a member of the CIGAR AFICIONADO Hall of Fame, also oversees a company that rolls 45 million cigars a year by hand Follow us on Instagram for more great cigar photos /CigarAficionado…