Most Awarded Cigars: Brands That Win Year After Year
Padrón, Arturo Fuente, My Father, Oliva — the most awarded cigar brands in the world. Here's why these names keep rising to the top of every critic's list.
The short answer
Padrón holds the record with five Number 1 finishes on Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 list, spanning different years and different releases. No other brand has matched that total.
Some cigar brands show up on top-rated lists once. The brands covered here show up again and again, across different lines, different years, and different reviewers. They are the most awarded cigars in the modern premium cigar era — and understanding what they do differently is the fastest education in what makes a cigar truly great.
Padrón: five-time champion
No brand has more Cigar Aficionado Number 1 finishes than Padrón, a Nicaraguan family operation founded by José Orlando Padrón in 1964. Their wins include:
- 2004: Padrón 1926 40th Anniversary Torpedo
- 2007: Padrón Serie 1926 No. 9 (97 points)
- 2009: Padrón Family Reserve No. 45 Natural (97 points)
- 2021: Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series Torpedo Natural (97 points)
- 2025: Padrón 60th Anniversary
That's a record five Number 1 cigars — and it doesn't count the many more Top 25 appearances across their lineup.
What makes them win so consistently? Padrón ages their tobacco for a minimum of two and a half years before rolling — some reserve lines much longer. They also make true Nicaraguan puros (the wrapper, binder, and filler all come from Nicaragua), which gives their cigars a coherent, focused flavor profile. The Padrón Serie 1926 No. 9 is one of the best places to start if you want to understand why the brand is legendary.
Arturo Fuente: decades of excellence from the Dominican Republic
The Fuente family has been making cigars in the Dominican Republic since 1912, and their Fuente Fuente OpusX line — launched in 1995 from their own Dominican tobacco farm — changed the cigar world. Before OpusX, few believed you could grow quality wrapper leaf in the Dominican Republic. Fuente proved otherwise.
Major wins:
- 2005: Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona (95 points)
- 2017: Don Carlos Eye of the Shark (97 points) — one of the most sought-after cigars ever made
- 2023: Fuente Fuente OpusX Reserva d'Chateau (97 points)
Beyond these COTY wins, Fuente's Hemingway, Don Carlos, and Opus X lines are perennial Top 25 presences. Their Anejo line — aged in cognac barrels — is another critically acclaimed expression. Browse our Arturo Fuente cigars guide to see the full lineup.
My Father Cigars: Cuba's craft, reborn in Nicaragua
Pepe García grew up in Cuba's cigar industry and fled after the revolution, eventually settling in Nicaragua. His son Jaime joined him and together they built one of the most decorated brand in the modern era.
Major wins:
- 2015: My Father Le Bijou 1922 Torpedo Box Pressed (97 points)
- 2024: My Father The Judge Grand Robusto (98 points)
The García family also makes Flor de las Antillas — which won the 2012 Cigar of the Year. Combined, the family's brands have claimed three Number 1 spots. Their cigars are known for deep, layered complexity: dark espresso, leather, and white pepper that evolve through the smoke. The Le Bijou 1922 is the pinnacle — our My Father cigars page has more detail.
Oliva: Nicaragua's consistency king
Oliva grew tobacco in Cuba for generations before moving to Nicaragua, where they've built one of the most consistent scoring operations in the industry. Their Serie V and Serie V Melanio lines are benchmarks.
Major win:
- 2014: Oliva Serie V Melanio Figurado (96 points)
But the Melanio win is just the highest peak. The Serie V Melanio appears on Top 25 lists repeatedly, and Oliva's Serie G and Serie O lines consistently score 90+ for a fraction of the price of flagship offerings. If you want a reliable 90-point cigar without paying COTY money, Oliva is where to look.
What sets these brands apart
Every one of these makers shares the same core disciplines:
- Aged tobacco. Two to five years of aging before a cigar is rolled changes the flavor profile entirely — rough edges round off, complexity deepens.
- Consistent construction. The blind-tasting process penalizes tight draws, uneven burns, and thin spots. These brands have figured out quality control at scale.
- Ownership of the supply chain. Padrón, Fuente, My Father, and Oliva all grow or carefully source their own tobacco rather than buying on the open market. Control from seed to box shows in the result.
For the full history of what each annual winner scored and smoked like, see our Cigar of the Year winners article. Or explore all cigar pages on Casa DNC where many of these brands have ratings and notes listed.
Rate them yourself
Every palate is different. Use the Casa DNC app to log your own scores when you try one of these legendary brands. Your personal rating adds something no critic's list can — the experience of what this cigar means to you, at this moment, with this drink.
Frequently asked questions
- Which cigar brand has won the most Cigar of the Year awards?
- Padrón holds the record with five Number 1 finishes on Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 list, spanning different years and different releases. No other brand has matched that total.
- What makes a cigar brand consistently award-winning?
- Three things: consistent construction, exceptional leaf quality, and long aging programs. The brands that win year after year invest heavily in aged tobacco — sometimes three to five years of aging before a cigar ever reaches a shelf.
- Are award-winning cigars available everywhere?
- Most flagship lines from Padrón, Fuente, My Father, and Oliva are widely distributed in the US and internationally. Some limited releases (like the Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Eye of the Shark) sell out quickly and require retailer relationships to access.
- Do award-winning brands offer entry-level cigars?
- Yes. All four of these brands have accessible lines that won't break the bank. Padrón's Damaso series, Fuente's Hemingway line, My Father's standard line, and Oliva's Serie G are all highly rated without being flagship prices.
- Is Cigar Aficionado the only award that matters?
- It's the most widely recognized in the English-speaking world, but other respected publications — Cigar Press, Halfwheel, Cigar Journal — also publish ratings and rankings. The most awarded brands tend to perform well across all of them.
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