Clear the air, the results are in! After another year of tasting, scrutinizing and rating nearly 750 cigars, the editors of Cigar Aficionado today announced Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro as the 2019 Cigar of the Year. For the second year in a row, Nicaragua dominates the Top 10 list—which is now available, each with an exclusive video of the editors providing tasting notes and feedback—at CigarAficionado.com.
For the Top 25, an annual tradition since 2004, Cigar Aficionado chooses the highest-scoring cigars of the year, typically 91 points and higher, and subjects them to yet another test by the magazine’s tasting panel. The cigars are repurchased at retail, stripped of their identifying bands and blind-tested through multiple rounds of tastings. Only the cigars that performed on the highest level, round after round, and at the highest consistency remained.
The winning cigar is the vision of Rafael Nodal—who came to the U.S. in 1980 as a Cuban refugee seeking a music career—and crafted by A.J. Fernandez, with his distinct tobacco and signature factory style. Every last leaf in this blend is Nicaraguan and every puff is an overture of flavors that’s at times heavy and rich with notes of dark chocolate and wood, and other times, subtle and understated with hints of fine caramel and toasted almonds. In musical terms, the word for this box-pressed torpedo would be dynamic. Nodal is still an artist at heart and cigars continue to be his creative outlet. If the birth of Aging Room was his breakthrough, consider the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro his masterpiece.
Cigar Aficionado’s Top 10 Cigars of 2019 are:
- No. 1 – Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro, Nicaragua, $10.95
- No. 2 – Padrón Serie 1926 No. 6, Nicaragua, $14.40
- No. 3 – Warped Serie Gran Reserva 1988 Robusto, Nicaragua, $9.00
- No. 4 – Cohiba Robusto, Cuba, £34.30
- No. 5 – Rocky Patel A.L.R. Second Editon Toro, Nicaragua, $14.00
- No. 6 – Oliva Serie V Lancero, Nicaragua, $8.08
- No. 7 – Illusione Epernay 10th Anniversary D’Aosta, Honduras, $12.00
- No. 8 – Fuente Fuente OpusX Reserva d’Chateau, Dominican Republic, $16.60
- No. 9 – Tatuaje Nuevitas Jibaro No. 1, Nicaragua, $9.00
- No. 10 – H. Upmann 175th Anniversary Churchill, Nicaragua, $18.00
For more details on each cigar, including the tasting notes, scores, and a video of the editors tasting the cigars, visit top25.cigaraficionado.com. In addition, a description of cigars 11-25 will be released on the site on December 20.
The full Top 25 list will also be published in the January/February print issue of Cigar Aficionado, available on newsstands January 28, 2020.
