Cigar of the Year Explained: How the Top Award Works
What is the Cigar of the Year and how is it chosen? Learn how Cigar Aficionado selects its annual number-one cigar through multiple rounds of blind tasting.
The short answer
Cigar Aficionado's expert tasting panel selects the Cigar of the Year through multiple rounds of blind tasting conducted across the year. The panel smokes candidates without knowing the brand and scores them on construction, flavor, draw, and overall impression.
Every year, the cigar world waits for one announcement above all others: the Cigar of the Year. It's the pinnacle of Cigar Aficionado's annual Top 25 list — the number-one spot — and earning it sends a cigar from respected to legendary almost overnight. Here's how that award actually works.
Where it comes from
Cigar Aficionado has published its Top 25 Cigars of the Year since 2004. The list culminates in a single cigar taking the top spot: the Cigar of the Year. It's the most scrutinized recognition in the industry, and it's built on a year-long evaluation process rather than a single tasting session.
The selection process, step by step
Step 1: Year-round blind tastings
Throughout the year, Cigar Aficionado's panel conducts blind tastings of newly released and recently released cigars. Bands are removed and replaced with coded labels, and reviewers score each cigar on construction, draw, flavor, and overall impression without knowing what they're smoking.
For a cigar to enter consideration for the Top 25, it must earn a score of at least 91 in these blind tastings. Only the standouts from the full year's reviews make the initial pool.
Step 2: A re-tasting bracket
After the initial reviews, the top-performing cigars go through additional rounds of blind smoking — a format the magazine has described as bracket-style, where top performers are revisited and compared. Cigars that hold up across multiple sessions and multiple tasters rise to the top.
Step 3: Eliminating the unavailable
Before finalizing the list, candidates are checked for availability. A cigar that scored brilliantly but has since sold out, been discontinued, or exists only in extremely limited quantities is removed. The Top 25 is meant to be a list of cigars you can actually go find and smoke.
Step 4: Final ranking
The 25 top-performing cigars are ranked, and a winner separates from the field based on cumulative performance across all tasting sessions. That cigar becomes the Cigar of the Year.
How the announcement works
Cigar Aficionado has built the reveal into a major annual event. The Top 25 are announced in a countdown format — typically starting from number 25 and working toward number one over several days or weeks in late fall. The Cigar of the Year is saved for last, giving each position in the list a chance to generate its own attention.
The reveal has become a cultural moment in the cigar community, with enthusiasts, retailers, and manufacturers watching closely to see who lands where.
What it means for the cigar
Winning the Cigar of the Year has real commercial consequences. Demand for the winning cigar typically spikes dramatically after the announcement. Retailers sell out quickly, secondary market prices can climb, and manufacturers often struggle to meet the rush of orders. If you want the year's top cigar, moving quickly after the announcement is usually wise.
Is the Cigar of the Year the definitive best cigar?
That depends on your perspective. It's the result of a rigorous, consistent process carried out by experienced tasters using a blind methodology. That's meaningful. But it's one panel's evaluation, weighted toward the criteria Cigar Aficionado prioritizes.
Other publications — Halfwheel, Cigar Coop, Cigar Journal, and others — publish their own year-end lists with different results. A cigar that tops one list might not appear on another. That's not a failure of the system; it's a reflection of how genuinely subjective and varied fine cigars can be.
The Cigar of the Year is the most recognized award in the field. It's an excellent starting point for finding a remarkable smoke — but it's a starting point, not the end of the conversation. Explore our cigar library to find rated cigars across different profiles, or check our best cigars for beginners guide if you're earlier in your journey.
When you've found your own version of cigar of the year, log it in the Casa DNC app and make it official — at least for your palate.
Frequently asked questions
- Who selects the Cigar of the Year?
- Cigar Aficionado's expert tasting panel selects the Cigar of the Year through multiple rounds of blind tasting conducted across the year. The panel smokes candidates without knowing the brand and scores them on construction, flavor, draw, and overall impression.
- When is the Cigar of the Year announced?
- Cigar Aficionado typically reveals its Top 25 list toward the end of the calendar year, often in late November or December, with the Cigar of the Year — the number-one spot — announced last in a countdown format.
- Does a cigar have to score 90+ to be Cigar of the Year?
- Yes. Only cigars that earn at least a 91 in blind tastings during the year are considered for the Top 25, and the Cigar of the Year will be at the very top of that pool — typically scoring in the mid-to-high 90s.
- Can the same cigar win Cigar of the Year more than once?
- The list features new releases and recent releases, so repeat winners from the same specific cigar are uncommon. However, a brand or country of origin can certainly dominate over multiple years.
- Is the Cigar of the Year the best cigar in the world?
- It's the best cigar as evaluated by Cigar Aficionado's panel in a given year through their blind process. It's a meaningful endorsement, but 'best in the world' is subjective — other respected publications create their own top lists with different results.
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