The Top 10 Cigars of 2020

 

Dear Readers,

The Fine Tobacco NYC team is thrilled to release our fourth annual Top 10 Cigars of the Year list. We are especially excited for this list because it is our first list ever built entirely through a blind review process. We’re proud to hold ourselves to this level of accountability so that top rankings go to the blends—and not the brands—that we love the most.

In all of our reviews, we’re looking for cigars that tell a discernible, delightful, and surprising story.  Where cigars have the same numeric rating, we’ve broken the tie based on overall enjoyability. 

For each cigar that made the list this year, we’ve provided a brief description of our impressions, along with a link to our full review.

On behalf of our entire team, congratulations to all our 2020 Top 10 winners. 

Dear Readers,

The Fine Tobacco NYC team is thrilled to release our fourth annual Top 10 Cigars of the Year list. We are especially excited for this list because it is our first list ever built entirely through a blind review process. We’re proud to hold ourselves to this level of accountability so that top rankings go to the blends—and not the brands—that we love the most.

In all of our reviews, we’re looking for cigars that tell a discernible, delightful, and surprising story.  Where cigars have the same numeric rating, we’ve broken the tie based on overall enjoyability. 

For each cigar that made the list this year, we’ve provided a brief description of our impressions, along with a link to our full review.

On behalf of our entire team, congratulations to all our 2020 Top 10 winners. 

#1 Cigar of 2020 Fonseca by My Father

 

Congratulations to My Father Cigars for claiming our #1 Cigar of 2020 with Fonseca by My Father. Our team was impressed by the fresh new interpretation that the My Father team has given the Fonseca brand. An all-Nicaraguan blend featuring a shade-grown Corojo ’99 wrapper, this flavorful robusto delivered a medium-bodied experience full of sweet spices, tea, floral, milk chocolate and maraschino cherries.

With high marks for construction, smoke production, complexity, and balance, Fonseca by My Father is a blend worthy of the Fonseca name and the #1 spot on our list.

Strength: ■■■□□
Rating: 93
Read the full review here

Top Cigars of 2020: 2 - 10

Cohiba Royale Gran Royale

Weighing in at 4.5″ x 52, Cohiba Royale Gran Royale delivers loads of flavor and proves this brand can still hang with the best in the world. Dynamic notes of rich tobacco, earth, cherries, spice and a creamy finish gives this cigar charisma and complexity.

Strength: ■■■■□
Rating: 93
Read the full review here

Viva La Vida Club 500

Artesano Del Tobacco captures our #3 cigar of the year for the second year in a row with Viva La Vida Club 500, a 6×60 blend created to commemorate the first 500 stores to carry the brand. This blend delivers rich, ever-changing balances of chocolate, roasted nuts, red pepper, and cinnamon. 

Strength: ■■■■□
Rating: 93
Read the full review here

Davidoff Year of the Ox

Another 6×60 makes the Top 10 in the form of the Davidoff Year of the Ox. We generally aren’t fans of this large a ring gauge, but the harmonious combination of almonds, toasted bread, and burnt crème brûlée prevailed. 

Strength: ■■■□□
Rating: 92
Read the full review here

Charter Oak Habano Toro

The Charter Oak Habano from Foundation Cigar Company nabs our #5 spot for its refined strength. The Ecuadorian Habano wrapper delivers a sweet character, with almonds, mocha, cinnamon and nuts, and at just over $6 per cigar, the Charter Oak Habano delivers an impossible price to value ratio. 

Strength: ■■■■□
Rating: 92
Read the full review here

Micallef Herencia Toro

Micallef makes our Top 10 for the second year in a row, this time for the newest size of the Herencia Habano. Like so many Micallef cigars, this blend delivers big on flavor, with transitions from floral to graham cracker, nuts and chocolate that stay in near perfect balance. 

Strength: ■■■□□
Rating: 91
Read the full review here

AVO Improvisation Series LE 2020

AVO’s Improvisation Series delivered again in 2020 with a mild, sophisticated blend. In the way that perhaps only AVO cigars can, the AVO Improvisation Series LE 2020 delivers highly aromatic combinations of wood, leather, mushroom and mustiness.

Strength: ■■□□□
Rating: 91
Read the full review here

Davidoff Robusto Intenso

Davidoff makes another appearance on our Top 10 with its reintroduced Robusto Intenso blend. Note to the consumer: this is Davidoff intense, not the Nicaraguan pepper-bomb intense you may expect from other brands. Expecting intense but refined notes of graham cracker, raisins, cedar, and mushroom. 

Strength: ■■■■□
Rating: 90
Read the full review here

Drew Estate Year Of The Rat 2020

Our #9 slot goes to another limited edition blend, the Liga Privada Year of the Rat from Drew Estate. Its thinner 46 ring gauge concentrates flavors of black pepper, wood, and vanilla that are wonderfully complemented by a long, creamy finish. 

Strength: ■■■■□
Rating: 90
Read the full review here

Aladino Cameroon Lonsdale

With the Cameroon Lonsdale, JRE Tobacco proves that Honduran blends can deliver world class complexity and balance. We loved the varieties of nuts we experienced throughout this smoke, with cashew morphing to peanuts and then to almond towards the end.

Strength: ■■■□□
Rating: 90
Read the full review here

For more information on our ratings, check out our scoring system. 

Want to be considered for our 2021 ratings? Contact us here. 

View Comments (2)

  • This review is based upon ? What about people who do not like strong or mixed flavors. Or like mild

    • Hi Richard,

      In our reviews, we score based on construction, complexity/harmony of flavors, and overall enjoyability of the cigar. You can read more about our scoring philosophy here: https://finetobacconyc.com/scoring-system/.

      For people who like mild cigars with just a few flavors, there are plenty of options. But mild cigars with few flavors generally don't score well on complexity and thus don't make it into the top scores.

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