Opinion

January 30, 2018

Best Of, Opinion

The Best (and Worst) Websites to Buy Whiskey from Online

Matthias Clock

2 0 43.7k

Before the internet, whiskey fans had to settle for whatever meager offerings their local liquor store had on hand. However, with the advent and proliferation of online shopping, a whole world of fantastic liquor is now on our metaphorical (and physical) doorsteps. But what are the best online whiskey retailers?

The tough part is, there are a lot out there. I will say straight up that one of the most important considerations you’ll face buying whiskey online is the cost of shipping. Not only are bottles heavy, which bumps your bottle purchase price up, but many of my favorite whiskey websites are based in the UK. So, much of “the best” has to do with what you’re buying and where you live. If you live in the USA but want more selection (9,000+ whiskies), buy from The Whiskey Exchange. I’ve noted which states each company can ship to.

So with that little summary out of the way, let’s dive in to the list.

Winner: The Whisky Exchange

The Whisky Exchange sits at the top of our list for the UK, with a five star meta-rating on British consumer advice website TrustPilot. You can find many top shelf whiskies on The Whiskey Exchange at prices that are 10%, 20%, or even 30% lower than what you find on US based websites, though you have to deal with sky-high shipping costs.

The Whisky Exchange stocks a fine range of both popular and esoteric whiskeys in almost any variety, and, unlike Wine Searcher, is a lot more straightforward to navigate. With separate tabs for Scotch and World Whisky, browsing or discovering new spirits you’d never heard of before is simple. The World Whisky tab has sections for American whiskies, as well as for several European and Asian countries, and other far-flung locations such as New Zealand and South Africa.

Of course, while The Whisky Exchange offers global shipping, you are going to need to pay a premium to get your chosen drink delivered to the US. The key here is to make bulk purchases. If you buy three or four bottles, you’ll save enough to offset shipping costs, and if you buy even more you can start buying really expensive scotches for way less than you’d pay in the USA. Your goods will be packaged with great care and should reach these shores in top condition.

Ships to: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Wyoming

Runner Up: The Whisky Barrel (UK)

As we hear your wallets creaking under the strain of further shipping and import costs, an apology may be in order, because taking the second spot on our best list is another store from across the Atlantic – The Whisky Barrel.

The Whisky Barrel offers a similarly wide range of spirits, with several exclusive to the website. The site’s navigation and sorting tabs are just as detailed as those found on The Whisky Exchange, with separate menus for scotch, independent, and world whiskeys.

The Whisky Barrel, however, allows you to browse by distillery with an easily-accessible A-Z tab (which comes in handy).

On the price side, The Whisky Barrel seems to be slightly lower than The Whisky Exchange on some products. For example, 70cl of Glenfiddich XX comes in at $72.92 on The Whisky Exchange, compared to $59.22 at The Whisky Barrel [correct at time of writing] – so do some price comparing before buying.

Ships to: all states

Honorable Mentions

Hard to Find Whisky (UK)

While certainly not for the average whiskey drinker (or the faint of wallet), Hard to Find Whisky is a must-visit destination for those connoisseurs with a bit (read: lot) more money to put down on the best drinks in the world. These guys built a business answering the question “where to find rare whiskey online.” It was a smart strategy, and they’ve done a good job delivering.

With prices ranging from $42.12 for a 150^th Anniversary Edition of Jack Daniels, to an eye-watering $49,227.43 for a (presumably) sublime 37-year-old Macallan 1940, Hard to Find Whiskeys has a wide selection of the very finest and rarest whiskey available. The site also offers a “Whisky Masterclass” gift voucher. You’ll need to make a trip to the company’s headquarters in Birmingham, UK, but the voucher entitles you to a tasting selection of five fine whiskeys, as well as a special tasting tutelage using a bespoke Hard to Find Whisky method.

Even if you have no intention of splashing out a few grand on a bottle, the website is well worth a visit just to peruse some of the fantastic and rare whiskeys on offer.

Ships to: all states

Love Scotch (USA)

Love Scotch may not be the best online whiskey retailer in the world, but it gets our nod as a solid online retailer in the United States.

Aside from a wide range of great whiskeys from around the globe, Love Scotch has a fascinating gallery of photos showing tours the staff have taken of various whiskey distilleries. That’s right, the folks at Love Scotch have heart. Most importantly: being an American-based company, you can expect to spend a lot less in shipping and customs fees on your favorite drinks than you would from one of our top two choices.

Ships to: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

The Worst

Whisky Shop USA (USA)

Whisky Shop USA is an interesting one. Customer testimonials for the San Francisco based brick and mortar location are very positive. Why then did the company decide to create a website that is so difficult to navigate or even at times read? The UI is pretty uninteresting, and there are several whiskey entries which don’t have an image attached.

There are few things I find more unappealing in an e-store than the “image coming soon” placeholder.

But let’s be honest, these aren’t the most devastating critiques of an online store. It’s a fact of God’s goodness that, unlike the online cigar retail world, we whiskey drinkers don’t have whiskey websites flat out ripping people off.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to enjoying the pleasure of a smooth and soothing glass of whiskey, there have never been more options available. Whether your budget is in the tens or thousands of dollars, there’s a wide range of liquor out there ready to be shipped to keep your cabinet well stocked.

Do you have a favorite online whiskey retailer that should be on this list but isn’t? Let us know in the comments.

Disclaimer: affiliate links may be included in this post at no cost to you. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!

January 15, 2018

Best Of, Common Questions, Opinion Education

How Much Does a Good Cigar Cost?

Matthias Clock

5 6 78.9k

If you’re visiting this page, chances are it’s because you’re either a new cigar smoker, or you’re looking to buy a cigar for a friend or a special occasion. You may be standing in a cigar shop with your smartphone out or doing some research before purchasing online.

It’s likely you’re looking at a range of options, from $5 to $40 and just want to know “how much does a good cigar cost?”

There’s no one right answer, but there are some important tips. For each tip, I’ll also offer a number of cigar recommendations based on my personal experience (including price and cigar strength). For purchasing online, I’ve linked out to Famous Smoke Shop, which I consider the best cigar retailer on the market today.

Tip #1: Start in the $10 range if you can

As much as a cigar salesman might hate to hear me say this, you don’t need to spend more than $10 to get a great cigar. There is a glut of wonderful cigars in the $10 range. In the last two decades, there has been a ton of innovation in the cigar market, and that has led to a market full of great product. Brands like Rocky Patel, Camacho, Arturo Fuente, San Cristobal and more have great regular production cigars on the market in the $8 – $12 range. There have also been great value releases like the Casa Magna Colorado (retails for around $8), which won Cigar Aficionado’s #1 Cigar of the Year in 2008.

Some great $10 price range cigars include:

Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Double Robusto ($10, medium): one of the best cigars from Arturo Fuente, the Don Carlos features extremely smooth and silky flavors of coffee, vegetal notes, white pepper, and spice.
Oliva Connecticut Reserve ($8.50, mild): One of the best mild to medium bodied smokes you’ll find under $10 . Creamy, smooth, and slightly sweet with notes of cedar, nuts, and hints of pepper.
The Tabernacle ($10, medium-full): The Tabernacle is just a beautiful smoke. It serves up some of the deepest, richest flavors and is in my top 25 of all time. Expect notes of chocolate, white pepper, toasted bread, and cedar.
A.J. Fernandez New World Puro Especial ($9, full): a breakout cigar which won many cigar of the year awards in 2017. Clocking in at $9 a cigar, expect creamy, smooth smoke, with balanced flavors of earth, cedar, cocoa, and cinnamon.

Tip #2: Be careful about going under $5 for a cigar

The $5 price point does still have some gems, but for the most part you’ll be settling for less if you are only willing to spend $5 on a cigar. It would be great to say that every price point has the best cigars in the world available to it. But that just isn’t true.

If you’re purchasing for yourself, you can safely ignore this advice. Smoke what you want! But, if you’re purchasing for a special occasion like someone’s wedding or bachelor party (and haven’t already spent a fortune on it), shoot for at least the $7 – $12 range.

That said, there are great cigars in the $5 price range. Here are some of the best $5 cigars:

Perdomo Lot 23 Maduro ($5.75, medium): a rich, dark smoke with lots of cocoa, earth, and espresso notes. Very smooth and a favorite for many smokers.
Arturo Fuente Hemmingway Short Story ($5.95, medium): a true classic from the Fuente family, and a favorite short smoke for many cigar smokers. It just also happens to be incredibly affordable!
Tatuaje Tattoo Caballero ($5, medium full): from Pete Johnson and Don Pepin, the Tatuaje Tatto Caballero features thick, rich and balanced flavors
Camacho Connecticut ($7, mild): the Camacho Connecticut is one of my personal favorites. Extremely smooth but with nice body – nutty, with cedar and a bit of cream. Always a great draw and good construction, and always in my humidor.

Tip #3: Some of the most common celebratory cigars do cost $20 or even $30

If you aren’t fazed by paying $10 or even $15 a cigar and are looking for some of the more legendary smokes on the market, I’ve listed a few below. They range in price from around $20 to $30. These are spectacular, the kind of cigars you buy when you are having a child, when your childhood friend is getting married and you are best man, or when you’ve just closed a massive business deal. These are not only celebratory cigars, they are legendary in their own right.

Arturo Fuente Opus X ($30, medium-full): Creamy, balanced notes of coffee, white and black pepper, and cedar.
Davidoff Millennium Blend ($25, full): As the cigar develops, the strength increases consistently. The combination of coffee, cocoa, and spices with floral notes makes this a must-smoke cigar.
Padron Anniversario 1926 Maduro ($17, full): A true classic, and found at most cigar shops. Deep and rich smoke, with chocolate and fresh roasted espresso notes. Careful though, there’s also a dry cedar aspect of this cigar that makes it enjoyed best with a drink on hand.
Padron Family Reserve No. 45 Maduro ($27, full): similar to the 1926, but with a more concentrated flavor (also a bit less dry). Best enjoyed after a heavy dinner of steak, and not early in the afternoon.

So there you have it, a run down on how to think about cigar purchases in light of price.

As I mentioned before, there are great cigars in each category. There are, however, important and substantial differences between the best cigars in the $10 category and those in the $20 – $30 category. Whether or not those differences justify the cost is up to you. If you are just getting into cigars, I recommend starting in the $5 price range and working your way up from there so that you can appreciate the nuances of the cigars in the $20 – $30 space.

One last note. Where you are purchasing makes a big difference on the price you’ll pay for these cigars. If you’re looking to purchase a cigar in Europe or Canada, for example, you might have to bump up your expected price range by about $5 or even $10 to get the same quality as a $10 cigar here in the states.

If you live in the United States, it also matters which retailer you buy from. You’ll get better prices online than you will in a brick and mortar store. As mentioned earlier, I recommended Famous Smoke Shop for their ease of use, affordability, and overall quality of the experience over the years I’ve been purchasing through them.

Do you have a cigar in the $5, $10, or $20 – $30 range that you’d recommend? Tell us in the comments section below!

January 8, 2018

Opinion Top Rated Mild Cigars

The Best NEW Cigars to Smoke in 2018

Matthias Clock

2 1 30.7k

Editors Note: check out our Top New Cigars of 2019 post here.

2017 saw some truly special releases from boutique brands like Foundation Cigar Co, Cornelius & Anthony, and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, as well as established brands like H Upmann, Padron, Drew Estate and Davidoff. Even with an unrelenting pile of new federal and state regulations hitting the cigar industry recently, 2018 is shaping up to be a great year for the cigar industry. Here are some of the new cigars of 2018 that are worth dropping what you’re doing to buy.

The Best New Cigars of 2018

Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Decadas Diadema

The Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas presents a flavor profile that no JdN fan could miss: dark oak and charcoal, creamy cocoa, leather, and light spiciness. What Cinco Décadas achieves is to take the JdN flavor profile that we know and love and elevate it into the realm of art. I know that is high praise, but it is true, particularly given the cigar’s sheer complexity and balance. Highly recommended. You can read our full review here.

Strength: Full

Fine Tobacco NYC rating: 93

Buy the Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Decadas from Famous Smoke Shop here.

Quesada Vega Magna

A worthy follow up to the Casa Magna which secured Cigar Aficionado’s #1 Cigar of the Year in 2018. The Vega Magna, rated 93 on this site, competes well with the Cinco Decadas above in terms of flavor, complexity, and balance. The cigar hits salty, savory, sweet, and bitter all at once, with notes of milk chocolate, leather, spices, and dry sliced apricot. Absolutely marvelous, and worth the higher price point.

Strength: Medium to Full

Fine Tobacco NYC rating: 94

CAO Nicaragua

The newest from CAO cigars, and it’s awesome. The CAO Nicaragua has lots of flavor and complexity without crossing into overaggressive territory. From a flavor standpoint, it starts with a base of rich espresso, with a great combination of chocolate, leather, and roasted peanuts on top. Impeccable construction. Easily one of our favorite releases from CAO in a long time. You can read our full review here.

Strength: Medium

Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 90

Buy the CAO Nicaragua from Famous Smoke Shop here.

Aging Room Pura Cepa

Once again, Rafael Nodal of Aging Room/Altadis has hit the ball out of the park. The Aging Room Pura Cepa features notes of smoked wood, augmented by light chocolate, cream, floral, and leather notes. Impeccable construction. Highly recommended.

Strength: Medium

Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 90

Buy the Aging Room Pura Cepa from Famous Smoke Shop here.

Joya de Nicaragua Clasico

Joya de Nicaragua is known for its full bodied Nicaraguan blends. The Clasico is a revival of the company’s first blend, and it is extremely mild. If you are looking for a new-release cigar on the mild side, this is your cigar. Strength and body would both qualify as mild. Extremely smooth, the Clasico starts with cedar and salted peanuts, with a creamy texture and subtle spice developing halfway through the cigar. You can read our full review here.

Strength: Mild

Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 86

Buy the Joya de Nicaragua Clasico from JR Cigars here.

AVO 22 30 Years

The AVO 22 30 Years is a re-release of one of the most legendary limited edition cigars from AVO. Best-fitted for fans of mild to medium bodied cigars, what the AVO 22 lacks in strength it more than makes up for in complexity. Expect notes of notes of sweet cream, floral, and touches of pepper and spice. You can read our full review here.

Strength rating: mild to medium.

Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 88

Purchase the Avo 22 30 Years from Famous Smoke here before they’re all gone.

Romeo San Andrés by Romeo y Julieta

One of the newest cigars from Romeo y Julieta, the San Andres features the legendary San Andres maduro wrapper, known for rich, robust flavors. With the Romeo San Andres, expect dark notes of earth, barnyard, dark cherry, chocolate, and pepper. You can read our full review here.

Strength: Full

Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 85

Buy the Romeo San Andres from Famous Smoke Shop here.

Macanudo Inspirado Red

Macanudo is not a brand that I typically recommend, but parent company General Cigar Co has been on a tear with this brand over the last couple of years, most recently with the Macanudo Red. On the strength scale the Red falls right on the medium side of things, with bright flavors of cinnamon, oak, coffee, and toasted bread. Read our full review here.

Strength: medium to full

Fine Tobacco NYC Rating: 89

Buy the Macanudo Inspirado Red from Famous Smoke Shop here.

Las Calavaras LE 2018

A limited edition from Las Calavaras, a brand that took the cigar world by storm in 2014. This year’s limited edition blend is lighter in strength than previous years. From this cigar, expect a flavor profile dominated by cinnamon, spice, nuttiness, and black pepper.

Strength: mild to medium

Purchase the Las Calaveras LE 2018 from Famous Smoke Shop here.

AVO Maduro 30 Years

That’s right, AVO makes the list twice, and not just because they’re one of my favorite cigar brands. The AVO Maduro was brought out of production by parent company Davidoff in 2015 (much to the chagrin of AVO fans). For the 30 year anniversary of AVO as a brand, they’ve brought back the AVO Maduro in limited supply. Though dark, this cigar is not a huge powerhouse smoke. But it does deliver great flavors including earthy spice, seared steak, cedar, all with a slightly creamy finish. You can read our full review of the AVO Maduro 30 Years here.

Strength: Mild

Fine Tobacco NYC rating: 90

Purchase the AVO Maduro 30 Years from Famous Smoke Shop here.

2018 is far from over, with many cigars yet to be released onto the market. We’ll be adding to the above list periodically, but in the meantime, here is a list of the most exciting cigar companies from 2017 and some of the cigars we recommend from those brands.

Founded in 2015 and led by Nick Melillo (formerly of Drew Estate), Foundation Cigar Co. won massive awards in 2016 and 2017, including listings in Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 and a number of top five and even number 1 rankings across the cigar blogosphere.

If you haven’t smoked cigars by Foundation Cigar Co., yet, I recommend starting with The Tabernacle (tasting notes: extremely smooth with dark chocolate, sea salt, white pepper, and cedar) and then moving on to El Gueguense The Wise Man Maduro, which earned Cigar Dojo’s number one cigar of 2017.

Top three cigars to try from Foundation Cigar Co.:

The Tabernacle
El Geuguense The Wise Man Maduro
El Geuguense The Wise Man (original blend)

Another company founded in 2015 by Steve Saka (another former Drew Estate executive!), Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust has released a number of phenomenal brands in its relatively short period of time. Saka’s cigars are famous for their ingenious use of the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper to create extremely smooth, flavorful cigars that contain depth, richness, and complexity. Mi Querida, one of Saka’s earlier blends, ranked number nine on our Top 10 of 2017 list.

Top three cigars to try from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust

In 2018, the only question I have for Drew Estate is, “What are you going to come up with next?” Drew Estate is the most disruptive cigar company in the industry because they never give up on trying new ways of altering the cigar production process to create new smoking experiences.

The brand, which was recently acquired by Swisher International on account of it’s booming popularity, continued to be just as disruptive in 2017, releasing two cigars that made our Top 10: Pappy Van Winkle Tradition (tasting notes: very peppery, with leather and touches of vanilla) and the Undercrown Sun Grown (tasting notes: extremely smooth, with cinnamon, cedar, and coffee).

Top three cigars to try from Drew Estate in 2018:

Do the disruptive cigar co’s on this list have you craving an older, more traditional but still phenomenal cigar? Davidoff—though pricey—is a fool-proof place to start. In 2016 and 2017, the company released a number of new cigars that made waves among cigar enthusiasts. At the top of the list is the Davidoff Winston Churchill Late Hour, which is aged in ex-single malt scotch casks (tasting notes: leather, cocoa, rich earthiness, malt).

Top three cigars from Davidoff in 2018:

January 5, 2018

Opinion

The Best NEW Cigars of 2018

Matthias Clock

0 0 1.8k

Editors Note: check out our Top New Cigars of 2019 post here.