It's that time again: Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 Cigars starts December 16

[Cigar Surgeon]

Yes, there will be a Cigar Coop CA prognostication show, it's currently on the books for Tuesday December 10th.

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/cigar-aficionado-s-top-25-cigars-are-coming

After smoking and testing more than 700 cigars throughout the year, the panel of cigar-loving editors from Cigar Aficionado magazine have finished their tastings, assembled their notes and finalized their scores. Now, it’s nearly time to unveil the Top 25, the very best cigars of 2024. We will begin our countdown on Monday, December 16, and new cigars will be revealed all week long.

The testing has been thorough: as with every cigar appearing in the tasting section of Cigar Aficionado (and Cigar Insider, our twice-monthly cigar newsletter) all of these cigars have been tested blind. That means they were purchased by our tasting coordinator, given a code that only he knows, stripped of their bands and then rebanded with a generic label concealing the cigar’s identity. The cigars are then given to the tasting panel of editors (the coordinator is not a member of the panel, as he holds the code) and the tasters rate the cigars blind, not knowing the name, country of origin, tobacco blend, price or any other prejudicial information about the cigar. The cigars are then given a score. 

For a cigar to appear on the Top 25, it has to first score well in one of our blind tastings. The top cigars are resmoked by our panel (again, they are smoked blind) to find which ones stand out from the pack, which can deliver a consistently excellent performance and which single cigar deserves to be ranked No. 1.

This will be the 20th time Cigar Aficionado has named a Cigar of the Year. The Top 25 debuted in the Jan./Feb. 2005 issue of the magazine. 

Last year, the Fuente Fuente OpusX Reserva d’Chateau was named No. 1. To find out who will be No. 1 this year, visit CigarAficionado.com the week of December 16.

 

[MrFolgers]

Gonna go ahead and call a Trinidad will be #1.

[SCgarman]

Read somewhere recently it will be a Davidoff. Non-Cuban. 

[Cigar Surgeon]

On 12/5/2024 at 8:41 AM, MrFolgers said:

Gonna go ahead and call a Trinidad will be #1.

On 12/5/2024 at 11:51 AM, SCgarman said:

Read somewhere recently it will be a Davidoff. Non-Cuban. 

#SpoilerAlert I don't have either of these cigars as my predicted CA #1.

[SMELTZ]

Cohiba Maduro 5 Magicos, R & J Cazadores and Bolivar Belicoso Fino are my three pics for the Cubans in the top 25.

 

[Lamboinee]

If I had to guess, I'd say they will go with an NC cigar for #1.

[MrBirdman]

I see the CA top #25 as having value for one reason and one reason only - it’s fun to prognosticate. It would be fun to run a contest here, but @Cigar Surgeon would always win. 

[BoliDan]

D4 again I bet, D4 is basically KC Chiefs. 

[SCgarman]

8 hours ago, BoliDan said:

D4 again I bet, D4 is basically KC Chiefs. 

The D4 has never been CA cigar of the year FYI. And it likely won't be this year either. It will be a NC, whatever they choose. 

[BoliDan]

8 hours ago, SCgarman said:

The D4 has never been CA cigar of the year FYI. And it likely won't be this year either. It will be a NC, whatever they choose. 

Oh I wasn't paying attention. I thought it was Foh 25...CA yeah. I was surprised at last year's result. I doubt they'll surprise me again.

[Ford2112]

Gurkha

[Odessa]

What I noticed for the last few years is that the CA 25 is a 'money talks' list.

[Cigar Surgeon]

20 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

Gurkha

I know you're kidding, but I can tell you after compiling the data on the cigars that are eligible; no Gurkha made the eligibility list.

[gormag38]

On 12/7/2024 at 10:19 AM, SMELTZ said:

Cohiba Maduro 5 Magicos, R & J Cazadores and Bolivar Belicoso Fino are my three pics for the Cubans in the top 25.

The Mad5 and BBF were two that jumped to my mind. I could also see CoLa replacing the Mad5 and ending up on that list somewhere as I believe I saw a pretty highly rated one in one of their issues this year. 

Certainly will be a NC for #1. My guess is Padron. AF got it last year, so Padron is in line now. 

[YoPapa]

All these lists suck, but in the last handful of years, CA's has sucked the least. 

 

[Cigar Surgeon]

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18nx9D79V4/

YouTube will the day after.

[Cigar Surgeon]

 

[SonicStag]

In true CA Habanos bum licking fashion, Trinidad with a 100 score 😂

[ha_banos]

12 minutes ago, SonicStag said:

In true CA Habanos bum licking fashion, Trinidad with a 100 score 😂

Well if the recent Triumvirate of Trinidad's Tumultuous Trumpeting doesn't achieve that then it's egg on your faces Habanos! 🤑

[VeguerosMAN]

Perhaps Padron 70th. Easy choice for them.

[Cigar Surgeon]

#10 Brick House Churchill 

#9 Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Eye Of the Bull (this wasn't reviewed in the 2024 calendar, it was reviewed in December 2023)

#8 Cohiba Maduro 5 Mágicos

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/top25/2024

On reflection the Brick House and the Magicos were pretty obvious.  I can't remember my reasoning for going Novedosos over Magicos but I believe it was because the Magicos has shown up multiple times before.

[SMELTZ]

R&J Wide Churchill may be in the next group.

[westg]

A Don Carlos 3 1/2  x 55. In the top 10. Bit of a laugh. Those little cigars do come in handy at times. To even be in the top 100? 

[Gubbins]

Brick House Churchill. Top ten? People rate Brickhouse this highly??

[usleepicreep]

I wonder who paid the most to run ads ?