There are hundreds, if not thousands, of 90+ rated premium cigar blend options out there for you to choose from. And that’s pretty damn intimidating.
With so many stogies to choose from, the task of selecting the right cigar can be overwhelming, especially when you step inside a walk-in humidor and countless boxes of cigars vie for your attention.
This is one of the primary reasons why monthly cigar subscriptions have become so popular. Instead of standing around in a humidor, wondering what rocks and what’s bad, you allow a team of veteran cigar specialists to pick the best smokes for you. The selection is then shipped to your door, accompanied by a tasting card for when it comes time to research what you’ve received.
However, smoking an array of unique shapes, sizes, blends, and shade of cigar wrapper will only get you so far. And as informative as a tasting note card or an online catalog might be, you’re still just scratching the surface of the cigar landscape.
Forever looking to inform and nerd-out over cigar trivia, we put together the following overview of some of the top legacy cigar brands in the world.
The following synopsis offers insight into how seventeen of the world’s greatest cigar manufacturers rose to become prominent staples in the tobacco world. Along the way, you’ll find a fistful of intriguing tobacco trivia, along with some cigar recommendations pulled from each legacy brand’s portfolio, many of which should be on your “must smoke list.”
The Sensational 17: The Legacy Cigar Brands That Changed the Way We Smoke
Arturo Fuente
First established in 1912 by Arturo Fuente himself, this legacy cigar brand was born into some of the humblest settings imaginable. As the story goes, Arturo and his wife, along with their two sons started the entire Fuente empire by hand-rolling cigars on the property behind their house in the Dominican Republic.
Over a century and four family-owned generations later, the Arturo Fuente name is revered as one of the most highly reviewed and celebrated cigar brands on the planet. Pretty much anything this company puts out is of outstanding quality and construction, with cigars like the tapered Hemingway Natural Work of Art perfecto offering an outstanding smoking experience.
While the highly coveted Opus X line remains the company’s premier limited production offering, the sweet, velvety smoke that billows from Fuente’s Añejo release is downright delightful. Beautifully boxed, meticulously rolled, and oozing with cognac nuances from the barrel aging process, these maduro cigars are hands down one of the best smokes you will ever experience.
Ashton
Despite being one of the youngest names on today’s list of legacy cigar brands, Ashton remains one of the most recognized, respected, and widely distributed. Sold in over 60 countries, and winning accolades at every stage, damn near everything bearing the Ashton band is perfection. Rocking palates since its debut in 1985, this father-and-son legacy cigar brand has seen an immense amount of success since its inception.
Although it may appear to be its own unique entity, Ashton cigars have been, and continue to be handmade in the Tabacalera A. Fuente factory in the Dominican Republic. By utilizing the Fuente family’s expertise and unwavering attention to detail, the Ashton brand has been able to forge a partnership that does not cut corners, while still benefiting all parties involved.
Although the original Ashton Classic and its darker, Aged Maduro offshoot are what helped make the brand what it is today, this legacy cigar brand’s VSG, ESG, and Symmetry releases all offer outstanding levels of intense complexity and meticulous construction.
Cohiba
First introduced in 1966, Cohiba cigars are both a Cuban state-owned tobacco brand and a product line within the General Cigar Company's ever-expanding portfolio. But for the non-Cuban Cohiba legacy cigar brand, gaining this esteemed title was no easy task.
It took winning a lengthy (and outright expensive) legal battle in the U.S. courts for General Cigar to even be granted the option of using the iconic legacy brand's Cohiba name. The only stipulation was that these cigars had to affix a disclaimer on each box, explaining that they were not affiliated with the Cuban brand.
What began as an unsure bet in 1978, hit unprecedented heights in the 1990s, when the cigar boom became dotted with "Red Dot Cohiba" smokes. This not only served as an attractive marketing move but as a method of further differentiating General Cigar's Cohiba brand from its Cuban alternative.
Currently, General Cigar’s Cohiba Collection is offered in eight different styles, all of which are extremely attractive looking and beautifully boxed. You’ve got the Blue Honduran blend, classic “Red Dot” with its toasty Cameroon cigar wrapper, Cohiba Black maduro, and a series of Madagascar, Connecticut, and Nicaraguan themed options to choose from. There’s also a full-bodied, ultra-premium Royale edition, and a Spectre limited release, which is rum cask-conditioned and crafted by just two artisans, one rolling and one bunching.
Davidoff of Geneva
As one of the leading names in construction and quality control, Davidoff of Geneva has stood strong as a cornerstone of cigar culture since its emergence in 1911. While it does still produce its own line of signature cigars, the Davidoff portfolio has expanded to include names like AVO, Camacho, Plasencia, and Zino, just to name a few. This Dominican manufacturer plays host to another legacy cigar brand on today’s list, as Oliva remains one of its more recognizable award-winning brands.
With white bands and black band collections helping distinguish wrapper differences, an entire line of signature Churchill size cigars and petite, machine-rolled cigarillos are offered beneath the Davidoff name. Limited edition versions include small-batch releases, artist-oriented variants, and a series of “gastronomical” cigars that are meant to be paired with Michelin Star cuisine.
And while we’d love to get our paws on a special edition Davidoff “Year of the Tiger” cigar, or a bespoke “Royal Release,” which Davidoff claims takes a whopping 10-years to create, the plain old line-up continues to impress every time we light up.
H. Upmann
Way back in 1844, the two Upmann brothers started the H. Upmann cigar brand. As some of the earliest names in the cigar game, these two were responsible for discovering that by storing cigars in a cedar box, humidity levels could be better controlled, bugs could be naturally repelled, and pleasant aromas could be instilled in each cigar.
Although the Cuban branch of the brand continue to churn out cigars sporting the same name, the Altadis U.S.A. operation relies upon tobacco grown primarily in the Dominican Republic and Honduras for its cigars, with factories in Mexico and Nicaragua rolling up the rest.
A few of the more recognized bands you’ll see in circulation bearing the H. Upmann name include the AJ Fernandez line, the 1844 Classic, a Reserve Maduro, a Vintage Cameroon, an Añejo, an 1844 Reserve, and a double-fermented 4-year-old cigar wrapper encapsulated smoke called “Herman's Batch,” just to name a few. The latter of these refers to the elder of the company’s two founding brothers, which explains where the “H” in the H. Upmann name originates.
Hoyo de Monterrey
First registered in Cuba in 1865 by José Gener y Batet, Hoyo de Monterrey’s story begins with the purchase of one of Pinar del Rio’s best plantations. Literally translated, this “Hole of Monterrey” relied upon the Basin of Monterrey in Cuba’s Vuelta Abajo growing region for its tobacco. Centered within the folds of some of the best tobacco-growing farms on the planet, the Hoyo de Monterrey factory quickly grew into one of Cuba’s largest production facilities of the late 1800s.
Then, in 1931, the Hoyo de Monterrey brand was sold to the owners of Punch Cigars, one of whom was Fernando Palicio. After fleeing Cuba in the early 1960s, Palicio found himself (along with some tobacco seeds) in Florida, where he sold the rights to the name to the Villazon family, a Tampa-based cigar family that would go on to produce and sell Honduran versions of the Hoyo de Monterrey brand of cigars.
Nowadays, Hoyo de Monterrey’s non-Cuban offerings are all owned by General Cigar. As with everything this legacy cigar brand produces, the top-tier smoking experiences it provides are guaranteed to impress. Favorites include the entire Excalibur line, Hoyo’s Tradición throwback to Cuba, and Amistad series are all exceptionally blended and constructed.
Be sure to give Hoyo de Monterrey’s La Amistad Gold a puff, especially if you find it in a Rothschild size. This full-bodied collaboration smoke is something Hoyo de Monterrey created with cigar master, A.J. Fernandez, and it provides an outstanding Nicaraguan experience.
La Aroma de Cuba
For La Aroma de Cuba, its story may have begun in Cuba during the late 1880s, but its prominence was not felt in the United States until well over a century later. The La Aroma de Cuba name, and all of its branding, blends, and devoted fan base had long been labeled defunct by the Cuban government.
More than 120 years later, La Aroma de Cuba re-emerged on the market, this time in the United States, with backing from none other than the family behind the Ashton brand. What started as a small operation in 2002 in Honduras, has evolved into an international powerhouse, with all of this legacy cigar brand’s production now being housed in Nicaragua.
Featuring vibrant, original La Aroma de Cuba artwork on each band, and blends coming straight out of the hands of legendary cigar mastermind Jose ‘Pepin’ Garcia, the entire La Gloria Cubana line features some of the finest construction of premium aged tobaccos on the planet.
With smokes like the Edicion Especial #3 serving as a financial pillar, Pepin is allowed to play with more experimental cigar blends and high-dollar limited releases in his spare time. While the entire line of cigars from Aroma de Cuba is fantastic, the highly-rated Edicion Especial, espresso-like Mi Amor tobacco blend, Rosado cigar wrapper clad Noblesse, intense Cuba Pasión Nicaraguan Puro, and full-strength Cuba Reserva all deliver the flavor profiles and brilliant balance that demand attention.
Tobacco Nerd Note: The annals of history show that 1895 was both a year of inner turmoil and external support for Cuba. As the Cuban people revolted against their Spanish oppressors, a young British soldier by the name of Winston Churchill arrived on the island.
Churchill was there to report on the Cuban war of independence from Spain for the Daily Graphic in London, a year-long stint that would allow him to develop an unwavering adoration for hand-rolled Cuban cigars. While the Romeo y Julieta cigar that would bear his name is easily the most recognized, it was the La Aroma de Cuba legacy brand that got the future political leader to put down the pipe and stick with cigars.
La Gloria Cubana
Known for its robust flavors and impressive strength levels, as well as equally impressive ring gauges, La Gloria Cubana is one of those cigar manufacturers that favors the intense things in life.
Founded in Cuba in 1885, this moderately priced and super popular legacy cigar brand moved from one Cuban owner to another, until old Gloria fled Cuba during Castro’s takeover. While the production of the original line of La Gloria Cubana cigars is still being produced beneath its original name in the Partagas factory in Havana, the Dominican offshoot is what Americans have come to know and love.
Produced in the Dominican Republic by General Cigar, these cigars are hand-crafted with people who prefer full flavors in mind. While spicy Nicaraguan tobacco is almost always a component within this legacy line, the brand does love to dabble in the wares coming out of the world’s top cigar tobacco-producing countries.
After making its big debut in one of the first issues of Cigar Aficionado, La Gloria Cubana’s non-Cuban “Classic” became synonymous with legacy cigar tobacco almost overnight. The Ecuadorian Sumatra cigar wrapper, coupled with the combination of Dominican and Nicaraguan internals made this medium-bodied smoke a huge hit.
Nowadays, you can find an entire catalog of cigars bearing the La Gloria Cubana name, with many of its offerings providing a prime example of what intense cigar flavor profile experiences look and feel like. Cigars like the La Gloria Cubana Serie R, with its massive circumference (70 ring gauge anyone?) and full-on olfactory experience are not something to be taken lightly. But that’s perfectly fine, especially for those of us who love a strong legacy cigar with loads of flavor.
Macanudo
Up next is one of those “gateway cigar brands” that many people recognize as their first cigar experience. Like many cigar brands, Macanudo started life in one country and ended up in another, before settling in a third. The only difference with this brand is that the island of Cuba is not one of them.
What began as a single style of cigar produced by the Punch brand’s now-defunct Guatemalan factory, eventually traded hands and was relocated to Jamaica, where it would become a brand destined almost exclusively for British soil. This provides some intriguing context, especially since the brand still produces cigars with names like Macanudo Cafe Prince Philip.
As for the whole United States side of this cigar legacy’s saga, the upper 48 got its first serving of Macanudo flavor in 1971, when General Cigar relaunched the overhauled Macanudo brand. Relying upon a Connecticut cigar wrapper that had been aged for a few years (something unheard of at the time) the Macanudo brand hit the U.S. market hard from every angle. With its clean appeal, silky smoke, and sweet finish, American cigar smokers fell in love with Macanudo in no time flat, and for good reason too.
While more recent ventures into more diverse smoking experiences have materialized (be sure to check out the more robust Inspirado collection and M line of flavored cigars), it is Macanudo’s aptly named Legacy lineup that retains the crown. As milder offerings serve up those sumptuous layers of lush cream and nutty nuances that many of us recall from our first cigar smoking experience, more full-bodied cigars like the Macanudo 1968 provide a smoking experience that is anything but light and mild.
Tobacco Nerd Note: The word macanudo is derived from the Argentinian slang word for magnificent. But unlike other cigar brands, which produce products around a particular master blender’s preferences, Macanudo’s reincarnation was built purely upon an intent to appeal to the average American cigar smoker. To this day, Macanudo remains recognized as one of the original cigar brands to be tailor-made for the U.S. market post-Cuban embargo.
Montecristo
Conceived in Cuba in 1935, the legacy cigar brand that is Montecristo first came to fruition in the Particulares Factory in Havana. The company’s owner, Alonzo Menendez, insisted upon paying a trained raconteur to read books out loud to his employees as they rolled cigars. Menendez hoped that this would help pass the time and boost morale, which it did.
One of the employee favorites at the time was the novel The Count of Monte Cristo, which Menendez himself equally adored. This eventually gave rise to the compounding of the latter part of the book’s title into “Montecristo,” and an entire line of cigars to go with it. Accompanying this evolution was the addition of a trio of rapiers on each band and cigar box, an obvious nod to the swords referenced in the novel, that doubled as a clever marketing ploy.
After fleeing Cuba with little more than their lives and a pocketful of tobacco seeds in the early 1960s, Menendez’s son Benjamin began a small cigar operation in the Canary Islands. It was here that one of the world’s most loved cigars would be formed, a damn near identical replica of the original Montecristo from Cuba. Its name was Montecruz and was about to become one of the better-selling cigars in United States history.
By 1990, Montecristo’s Montecruz cigars had become a smashing success, and after being purchased by the company that would eventually become Europe’s Altadis, the Montecristo name was turned into a signature smoke intended with the American market in mind.
Altadis U.S.A. currently produces a dozen different flavors of Montecristo cigar, ranging from the traditional No. 2 and flawless No. 4, all the way up to a Plasencia produced Nicaraguan flavor bombs and top-reviewed anniversary releases. But for many cigar smokers, it is the balance that can be found within the brand’s original line of smokes that makes Montecristo a legacy. From a mild morning smoke to a full-flavor midday Robusto, or a rich after-dinner maduro tobacco digestif, Montecristo has you covered, regardless of what you opt to fire up with your torch lighter.
Tobacco Nerd Note: Unbeknownst to any of the parties involved, a 1972 lawsuit between Montecristo’s heir and owner and a Cuban importing company would revolutionize cigar distribution and name branding. The case was Menendez v. Faber, Coe, and Gregg Inc., and the plaintiff was an importer of Cuban cigars that had issues with the Montecristo name being used for promoting the non-Cuban cigar type and bearing a similar likeness. In a landmark ruling, the court favored Menendez, making it legal for exiled cigar manufacturers to produce and market their variant of the brand(s) they once produced in Cuba.
Oliva
Although it may be housed within the Davidoff portfolio, the brand known as Oliva Cigar stands out as a legacy in the cigar community for a multitude of reasons.
Long before Davidoff of Geneva ever came into existence, a man by the name of Melanio Oliva was busy tending to his first crop of tobacco in Cuba. The year was 1886, and little did he know that this sweat equity would pay off in spades down the line when Melanio’s grandson would move the entire operation to Nicaragua following the Cuban communist revolution.
Over half a century later, the Oliva Cigar brand is Nicaragua’s second-largest grower of Cuban-seed tobacco, and one of the most awarded names in cigar culture. This ultimately led to Cigar Aficionado Magazine naming the Oliva Serie V Melanio in Figurado form “Cigar of the Year” in 2014, with a plethora of accolades before and following dotting this legacy cigar brand’s resume.
All of the various blends, box-pressed forms, and flawless construction that go into each of these legacy cigars add even more value to the flavor profiles provided by the Oliva brand.
Other smokes within the Oliva portfolio that we find particularly delicious are… well… everything. From the Gilberto Oliva Reserva, with its sultry Sumatran cigar wrapper, to the flawless V Series, Habano Puro powered O Series, and lush maduro G Series, excellence awaits at every puff.
Padrón
Cigar strength, flavor, body, and aroma are all there to take you on a journey when you fire up a cigar from Padron. You’d better buckle up and hold onto something if you plan on taking this ride too because when it comes to a legacy cigar brand like Padrón, things can get intense pretty quick.
Relying primarily upon a valley in the Estelí region of Nicaragua for its tobacco, Padrón cigars feature flavors from a part of the world where the soil and atmosphere are almost identical to that of the fertile land of Pinar del Río, Cuba. Specializing in box-pressed cigars, while loading as much flavor as possible into each stick has become Padrón’s calling card over the years, with one limited release after another receiving rave reviews.
As for this legacy brand’s portfolio, the mid-strength Padrón Series is a great place to start, for in itself you will discover fifteen medium- to full-bodied smoking options. There’s also a milder Dámaso Series, the beautifully box-pressed Anniversary Series, a “counterfeit-proof” 1926 Serie celebrating José O. Padrón’s 75th birthday, a 10-year vintage Padrón Family Reserve, and an ultra-exclusive 50th Anniversary release.
Tobacco Nerd Note: After fleeing Cuba and relocating to Miami in the early 1960s, José Orlando Padrón found himself working as a carpenter to make ends meet. Realizing that special types of cigars, the ones that many Cuban exiles were used to smoking in Cuba, could not be purchased in Miami, he decided to use his hammer and frugal spending habits to save up enough money to open Padrón Cigars in September of 1964.
A few of the obstacles that the Padrón brand has had to overcome include, but are not limited to: A civil war in Nicaragua, a fire that destroyed the primary plantation and production facility in Estelí, acts of violence and racism against his Miami manufacturing operations, and multiple bombing attempts by a localized group of local extortionists.
Partagas
As the story goes, it was a Spanish immigrant by the name of Don Jaime Partagas y Ravelo who was responsible for the formation of the Partagas factory in Havana, Cuba in 1845. Equal parts driven, experimental, and financially well-endowed, the Spaniard proceeded to procure one promising tobacco plantation after another until his empire had a solid base from which it could stand.
From there, Ravelo went on to test various approaches to curing tobacco leaves, all in the hope of producing a more complex and enjoyable cigar smoking experience. This dedication (and ultimate success) has caused many to view Don Jaime Partagas y Ravelo as the innovator of modern cigar aging, and a godfather in the realm of tobacco fermentation.
But as with almost every other legacy cigar brand in today's tale, the Partagas name fell on hard times when Castro came to power. Even though the brand’s owner at the time, Ramon Cifuentes, was offered a position in the government-controlled company, he opted to flee and take the Partagas name with him.
By the late 1970s, Partagas was absorbed by General Cigar. The company viewed the iconic name as an opportunity to create a line of Cuban alternatives, stogies that would be able to please American cigar smokers while retaining the level of quality the Partagas name was known for.
Constructed almost exclusively in the Dominican Republic, the Partagas brand of today offers a wide range of smoking experiences for cigar lovers. Heritage, Extra Fuerte, Extra Oscuro, an 1845 Clásico, Legend, and a Black Label are all up for grabs any given day. There’s also the original Partagas Classic, a timeless cigar type with spiced sweetness and an earthy finish. More recent additions include a Cortado blend, which marks the first Partagas in history to be crafted in Nicaragua and features a Connecticut shade wrapper, another first for the 175+-year-old legacy cigar brand.
Tobacco Nerd Note: For those who sign up for a boutique cigar subscription from Klaro Cigars, cigars like the Partagas Decadas 2020 Dalia become available, a cigar that was only produced once, and relies upon tobacco from the 1997-1998 growing season. Due to limited vintage tobacco supplies, Only 25,000 of these cigars were ever rolled, making it one of the most highly coveted non-Cuban Partagas cigars of all time.
Perdomo
Family-owned and operated, the Perdomo brand relies heavily upon its tobacco plantations and factories in Estelí, Nicaragua for crafting its cigars. Quality control and value are the name of the game with this legacy cigar brand, as it is one of the only vertically integrated cigar manufacturers on the planet. This means that doing things the ”Perdomo Way” allows the brand to control every step of the cigar production process.
From picking plant seedlings and conducting cultivation to curing, fermentation, selecting premium cigar blend tobaccos, rolling, and distribution, this cigar brand does it all.
Hell, Perdomo Cigars even produces its cigar boxes in-house, and remains the only cigar manufacturer to absorb the United States SCHIP federal excise tax for every cigar within its portfolio to provide cigar smokers with “the highest quality premium cigars at affordable prices.”
Perdomo has expanded its offerings to such an extent, that it would take an entirely separate write-up to cover a fraction of the cigars it produces. Bourbon barrel-aged Habano cigars, hulking 70 ring gauge cigars, and Double Aged 12-year vintage cigars from Perdomo are but a few of the many options one can enjoy from this legacy brand.
When it comes time to puff on something milder, we adore the Perdomo Reserve Champagne 10th Anniversary for its honey-like smoothness and the oak-rich Perdomo Estate Seleccion Connecticut Imperio medium-bodied smoking experience.
Punch
As one of the original cigar manufacturers in Cuba, Punch Cigars has evolved into one of those legacy brands that everyone knows in name, if not by the appearance of its puppet mascot.
After decades of success, followed by near financial ruin, the Punch brand was bought by Fernandez, Palicio y Cia in 1930, and for the better part of the next thirty years would rise to become one of Cuba’s most recognized cigar figureheads.
The Cuban communist crisis eventually caused the production rights to the Punch brand to end up in America, where after being sold off to the highest bidder, eventually ended up in the hands of General Cigar. Made almost exclusively in Honduras, Punch’s line of cigars continues to be produced in massive numbers for America and other international markets.
Clasico, Maduro, Grand Cru, Signature, Rare Corojo, Gran Puro, Deluxe, and even a “Knucklebuster” variant have all been added to this legacy cigar brand’s regular lineup in recent decades. Although each of these cigars offers its own unique profile and smoking experience, we still find ourselves reaching for the Punch Grand Cru for milder smoking sessions, with the Rare Corojo Pita and Diablo Scamp serving as more robust selections.
Tobacco Nerd Note: First released in 1840, the Punch cigar brand came to adopt its signature clown puppet a year after forming. The company decided to utilize the cigar-smoking likeness of a maniacal character called “Mr. Punch” from a British magazine, which caused it to become a huge hit in the United Kingdom. Extremely violent in nature, this marionette and its antics served as the ideal representation for a cigar brand sporting the name “Punch.”
Romeo y Julieta
Established in 1875 in Cuba, Romeo y Julieta relocated to La Romana, the Dominican Republic during the Cuban revolution, where to this day it is still produced at the Tabacalera de Garcia factory. Owned outright by Altadis U.S.A., the Dominican variants have seen sensational amounts of success within the American market, while Cuba retains its rights to produce the ”original” version and sell it to the rest of the world.
With a dozen offerings being displayed on the Romeo y Julieta portion of the Altadis U.S.A. website, variety is one of this manufacturer’s strong suits. Despite Romeo y Julieta’s Reserve, Reserva Real, and 1875 line being the most instantly recognizable, it is within the collaborative work produced that things get interesting. Try a Romeo 505 Nicaragua collab cigar from the Plasencia family and you’ll see why these recent additions to the Romeo y Julieta portfolio get our pistons pumping.
Tobacco Nerd Note: Romeo y Julieta’s most recognized admirer was Sir Winston Churchill. Preferring a longer parejo (a cigar with a straight barrel), Churchill’s clout would provide the Romeo y Julieta brand with all the reason it needed to name a style of a cigar after the British leader. A name that to this day is used by a slew of cigar brands as a descriptor for longer parejo-style cigars.
Sancho Panza
Formed in 1848 by Don Emilio Ohmsted, the Sancho Panza cigar brand’s earlier years remain something of a mystery even today. However, the company began to gain momentum in the early part of the 1940s, when Rey del Mundo bought the name, thus upping both productivity and quality control levels. Despite being widely respected and smoked by the international community, Sancho Panza is viewed as a bit of a blue-collar smoke in Cuba, with zero limited releases or plantation exclusive options.
As for the line of Sancho Panza cigars not produced in Cuba, General Cigar holds the keys to that humidor and prefers to keep things straightforward. Owned outright by the tobacco giant since the 1980s, and still made in Honduras, the non-Cuban Sancho Panza relies almost exclusively upon Honduran and Connecticut Broadleaf wrappers and binders, with Dominican, Honduran, and Nicaraguan fillers being found throughout.
Box-pressed and moderately priced, the non-Cuban menu for this legacy brand consists of just three options: The original Sancho Panza Natural cigar wrapper that started it all, a Double Maduro, and an Extra Fuerte variant. Each offers boat-loads of complexity and bold characteristics and comes in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Be sure to try the Sancho Panza Dulcinea, a tasty torpedo cigar with a 93 rating and outstanding sweet cedar nuances.
Parting Puffs
If you’ve made it this far, chances are you’ve been able to gather a firm understanding of what goes into making a legacy cigar brand so special.
It’s more than just history or having a really popular cigar style on your resume. There has to be an uninhibited level of dedication to the craft of cigar manufacturing, an ability to change with the times, and the creativity to formulate a new cigar type out of thin air when things begin to get a bit bland.
Oh, and let’s not forget that every one of the cigar brands on this list has garnered a ton of awards and 90+ ratings from the international cigar smoking community and trained tobacco judges alike. Perhaps that in and of itself warrants a legacy cigar maker status…