On the whole, 2025 was a really good year. Klaro Membership numbers grew exponentially, sales were up across the board, and feedback from viewers and readers alike was overwhelmingly positive. The cigars we smoked and reviewed weren't half bad either!
So, to showcase the best stogies that were burned in front of the camera this year, we have opted to release our second annual Best Reviewed Cigars of 2025, or the "Klaro Dynamite Dozen" as we like to call it around here at the office.
Like last year's release, this bundle of the best blends we burned in 2025 had to score 4.5 stars or higher and be readily available for restocking. Inside this Klaro-exclusive bundle, you will discover a dozen sensational smokes, ranging from dark and oily to spicy and auburn-like, and onward, to honey-colored and creamy. Together, these premium cigar blends promise to offer an all-star smoking experience that will not only help you expand your cigar horizons but also savor the best that the market has to offer.
Per usual, all of the links below can be found in a bold, orange font, with the names of each cigar leading directly to the cigar review itself, which contains backlinks to individual product pages, backstories, tobacco trivia, and more. Happy reading, and even happier puffing everyone!
This one is for all you strong cigar smokers out there who are fiending for your next nicotine fix but don't want to go too dark or ultra-heavy in body. A premium cigar blend for those looking for "raw power and flavor" along with a surprisingly soft underbelly and plenty of personality.
Bull & Bear by Crux Cigars brings you all of these things and more, and like the members of the animal kingdom that represent it, does not back down when confronted. At least when it comes to providing a super clean smoking experience, an impressive amount of fermented flavor, and some impressive aromatics.
Smoking a cigar that is formed into a whimsical shape or adorned in some unique fashion is not an experience that is meant for the masses. Oscar Valladares knows this better than anyone, which is precisely why he continues to roll some of the most creative cigars on the market today.
I have, and will continue to, smoke and savor anything with the name "Island Jim" on it just as long as it is produced by Oscar Valladares. Each one of the blends in this line brings something unique to the table, with this Connecticut version being the most milky and, at times, mild.
While my personal smoking preferences push me toward bolder, darker blends 90% of the time, I do dearly love a good Connecticut Shade smoke when the mood strikes me, and this cigar did not disappoint. It has a medium-bodied backbone, plenty of transitional flare, and a healthy mixture of spice and cedar upon retrohale.
When Dapper Cigar Co. founder Ian Reith first began blending the El Borracho Natural, it was intended purely for his own personal smoking pleasure. Like many of us, the man had developed an affinity for the utterly divine Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series, and was struggling to justify his pricey preferences.
What evolved was a blend that was very similar to this top-tier blend, but one that carried its own Dapper undertones and attitude. While a maduro variant does exist, this nutty, natural version of "The Drunkard" is a smoke that sports a San Andrés wrapper from Mexico that is dark enough that it could be confused for a more heavily fermented version. Box-pressed, bold, and rolling in refinement, the El Borracho Natural has quickly become one of my favorite newer blends in the Klaro collection.
As Klaro's "Surprise Stogie of the Show" at PCA 2024, Raumzeit by German Engineered Cigars, burns with a balance that is impossible to ignore. It also builds in character and smoothness as it goes, thanks to the use of a Nicaragua-grown Connecticut Shade wrapper, an authentic Indonesian binder, and a pinch of piloto leaf hidden within the long-filler for added pep.
The blend is named after interstellar space time, and like all of the German Engineered Cigars (GEC) portfolio, it has been constructed with aromatics in mind. Notes of nuts, honey, cream, stardust, white pepper, cloves, and nutmeg all rolled together create an exceptionally sweet and complex shade-grown experience.
First rolled to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the founding of La Palina, this blend not only honors one of the most unique, family-operated cigar companies in America, but it is also really rare. The 100% Nicaraguan puro throwback blend is 100% an Oliva production from start to finish.
Released in extremely limited quantities at random, the undisclosed ingredients that make this magnificent smoke receive an extra half-year of conditioning in the Oliva aging rooms prior to shipping. Expect rich flavors of toast and corojo tobacco tea tastes, along with copious amounts of cedar and plenty of baking spices. This cigar also seems to have a never-ending supply of refinement when it comes to retrohales, which are layered with a distinct floral aromatic.
You don't see Tennessee fire-cured tobacco used in a premium cigar blend all that often, and having the proper counterparts to balance out all that smoky sexiness is essential. In true Jake Wyatt form, countermeasures were set in place to both control and complement this vibrant-tasting tobacco leaf, and a significant amount of aging was added to the agenda.
This meant marrying a Dominican Olor binder to some Piloto Cubano and Criollo '98 long-fillers, adding a pinch of Pennsylvania Broadleaf, and topping it all off with a toffee-colored Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper.
The result? Well, let's just say that there is a reason why this tiny Dominican cigar company continues to surprise, impress, and in many ways, set the standard for what creative tobacco blending can be when done right. Flavors of cedar, leather, and molasses come layered beneath mesquite, spiced cookies, and medium roast coffee.
Known for being 100% homegrown and house-made, this Nicaraguan puro from Plasencia Cigars glides its way smoothly from one end to the other without a single misstep. While I did feel that the cinnamon and soil in the second half glossed over some of the more delicate dried fruit tastes and tannin textures, there was not much I could complain about when it came to the cigar flavor profile of this smoke.
Simple and satisfying, this smoke has enough push and pull to keep you coming back for another puff, without overheating or tasting charred at any point. Retrohales grow mellower as you smoke, and the construction and burn of the cigar rank right at the top for being one of the best in the Klaro collection. Notes of cedar, vanilla, and toasted pecan are backed by a base of cocoa and earth, with gentle hints of cinnamon spice and dried fruit emerging midway.
Originally dreamt up by Robert Caldwell of Caldwell Cigar Co., Matt Booth of Room101 Cigars, and AJ Fernandez, this box-pressed, medium-strength premium cigar blend is another one of those sleeper smokes that no one seems to notice, or even know about.
Made from 100% Nicaraguan leaf from AJF's farms, and then pressed on premise, this little brick is a brilliant example of what happens when worlds collide. Layered tastes of dark fruit, cocoa, roasted cashews, and cedar, with pepper and spice framing a creamy, mocha-leaning core, make this medium-powered Nicaraguan maduro a real treat.
If I were going to reach for a light breakfast cigar first thing in the morning, and intended to pair it with a cup of coffee, this would be one of my top picks. Of all the light cigars we've stocked over the years, I cannot recall one that has consistently provided more milky satisfaction than the Sobremesa Brûlée by Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust.
What is it about this blend that made me fall so hard for it? Was it the extra-aged, top-tier, "G2BW-grade" Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper? Maybe it was the mixture of a dark Mexican San Andrés binder with Criollo '98 and hybrid tobacco strains in the long filler? Or perhaps it's Dunbarton's impeccable construction standards and emphasis on aromatics as much as flavor and body.
Whatever the reason, this blend continues to provide loads of milk and honey flavor and an incredibly creamy cigar flavor profile.
Are you ready to go small batch and obscure? I mean, really small batch and obscure. The brainchild of Hendrik Kelner Jr., who is the son of famed Davidoff master blender, Hendrik Kelner Sr., Brothers of the Sabre Epicurist is the sort of smoke most people will never see in their lifetime, more or less sitting on a shelf at a local smoke shop.
With its Grade-A construction and burn, refined medium cigar flavor profiles, and unique formatting, the Epicurist instantly became one of the more memorable smokes I encountered in 2025. The blend's fantastic figurado form only adds value to the equation, as it limits the amount of smoke pulled and thus prevents overheating from occurring much of the time. It also looks awesome in the humidor, as well as in hand, and I really dig the band and backstory that came with this specialty size from 2024.
I also find it fascinating that the figurado vitola receives milder primings from the center of the tobacco plant. Crafting a cigar that can remain medium in flavor, but intensely full in aroma, is not always easy, and for the most part, Casdagli Cigars has nailed it with this limited run diadema. Smoking profiles are marked by layers of herbal tea, citrus, and cashew cream, evolving into notes of honeyed toast, paprika spice, and sweet brown sugar.
I genuinely believe that the BII Viso Jalapa by Cavalier Genève is one of the greatest tea-time cigars ever rolled. It's not that this blend wouldn't pair perfectly with a pour of single malt or a sip of distilled sugar cane, for it does have enough backbone to stand up to stronger forms of drink. I just feel that some of the subtler, more floral nuances from within the cigar would get lost beneath a blanket of booziness.
So, what's so special about this Nicaraguan puro beyond its edible 24-karat gold embellishments, oily, viso Jalapa wrapper, and all habano internals? Well, for one, there's the whole Cavalier Cigars backstory, which is pretty damn fascinating. But, there's also the aroma of the tobacco leaves that makes this boutique blend possible, for they are very tea-like in their own special way.
Darker and oilier than John Travolta's toupee in a Thai massage parlor, this oscuro delight from Crowned Heads was one of those left-field blends that totally took me by surprise.
Sweeter with every second puff, the first third is a prune and raisin pleasure cruise floating upon a raft made entirely from tanned leather. Look beyond those bold espresso overtones and chocolaty accent marks, and you too might detect some clove and all-spice, a pinch of cinnamon, and a little bit of vanilla along the finish. Mildly funky in that Jamaican pot still molasses rum sense of the word, flavors are round and relaxed, with almost no peppery heat to be found anywhere along the way.
There is no denying that this is both a big cigar and a BIG cigar. So choose your beverage wisely...
