Top 15 Best Cigars of 2010 by Western Taste

After a year of puffing on some 300 new cigars from all around the world, the smoke has finally settled in the WesternTaste.com locations and we have our Top 15 cigars of the year.

We began with a list of our top-scoring cigars culled from blind tastinged and cigars with top raitings. Then we narrowed it down with some of our favourits and rare products.

Only the truly superb would emerge on top. After that first round, we assembled the very best one more time, then resmoked the finalists until we had our Top 15, and our Cigar of the Year. The premium, handmade cigars that appear on this list are all exceptional smokes that have undergone a thorough vetting process. We’ve enjoyed smoking them, and now we hope you seek them out and give them your attention as well. We at WesternTaste.com think you’ll be pleased.

No. 1 Cohiba Behike BHK 52

In 2010, which will likely go down as the year of the Cuban cigar, we smoked many fine Havana-made smokes, from majestic double coronas to bracing robustos, and found the quality of Cuban cigars to be at its best since the mid-1990s. And no cigar from Cuba—or from anywhere else for that matter—impressed our tasting panel as much as the Cohiba Behike BHK 52. This is a classic cigar. The shortish, fat smoke, made with an artful pigtail and clad in gorgeous Colorado wrapper of reddish brown, is a phenomenally rich, delicious smoke that more than lives up to the reputation of cigars with the name Cohiba. It is the finest cigar to come out of Cuba in a long time, and WesternTaste.com's top cigar of 2010.

We find this cigar to be perfectly balanced and with amazing flavours. It will always be loved and smoked by passionate cigar enthusiasts.

MADE BY: El Laguito Factory
FACTORY LOCATION: Cuba
WRAPPER: Cuba
BINDER: Cuba
FILLER: Cuba
PRICE: £28.70
RING GAUGE: 52
LENGTH: 4 3/4"
RATING: 97


No. 2 Viaje Oro Reserva VOR No. 5

MADE BY: Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubanas S. de R.L.
FACTORY LOCATION: Honduras
WRAPPER: Nicaragua
BINDER: Nicaragua
FILLER: Nicaragua
PRICE: $10.80
RING GAUGE: 52
LENGTH: 5 1/2"
RATING: 95

No. 3 Fuente Fuente OpusX XXX Belicoso

MADE BY: Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia.
FACTORY LOCATION: Dominican Republic
WRAPPER: Dom. Rep.
BINDER: Dom. Rep.
FILLER: Dom. Rep.
PRICE: $10.20
RING GAUGE: 49
LENGTH: 4 5/8"
RATING: 95

No. 4 Padrón Family Reserve No. 45 (Natural)

MADE BY: Padrón Cigars Inc.
FACTORY LOCATION: Nicaragua
WRAPPER: Nicaragua
BINDER: Nicaragua
FILLER: Nicaragua
PRICE: $25.00
RING GAUGE: 52
LENGTH: 6"
RATING: 95

No. 5 Camacho Corojo Churchill

MADE BY: Tabacos Rancho Jamastran S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION: Honduras
WRAPPER: Honduras
BINDER: Honduras
FILLER: Honduras
PRICE: $6.85
RING GAUGE: 48
LENGTH: 7"
RATING: 94

No. 6 La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Magnifico

MADE BY: My Father Cigars Inc.
FACTORY LOCATION: Nicaragua
WRAPPER: Mexico
BINDER: Nicaragua
FILLER: Nicaragua
PRICE: $7.50
RING GAUGE: 52
LENGTH: 6"
RATING: 94

No. 7 Illusione Epernay Le Matin

MADE BY: Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubanas S. de R.L.
FACTORY LOCATION: Honduras
WRAPPER: Nicaragua
BINDER: Nicaragua
FILLER: Nicaragua
PRICE: $11.20
RING GAUGE: 46
LENGTH: 6 1/2"
RATING: 94

No. 8 E.P. Carrillo Elencos Edición Limitada 2010

MADE BY: Tabacalera La Alianza
FACTORY LOCATION: Dominican Republic
WRAPPER: Brazil
BINDER: Dom. Rep.
FILLER: Nicaragua
PRICE: $15.00
RING GAUGE: 54
LENGTH: 6"
RATING: 94

No. 9 H. Upmann No. 2

MADE BY: Habanos S.A.

FACTORY LOCATION: Cuba
WRAPPER: Cuba
BINDER: Cuba
FILLER: Cuba
PRICE: £16.90
RING GAUGE: 52
LENGTH: 6 1/8"
RATING: 94

No. 10 La Flor Dominicana Air Bender Chisel

MADE BY: Tabacalera La Flor S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION: Dominican Republic
WRAPPER: Ecuador
BINDER: Dom. Rep.
FILLER: Dom. Rep.
PRICE: $8.50
RING GAUGE: 54
LENGTH: 6 1/2"
RATING: 94

No. 11 Ambos Mundos No. 1 Grande

MADE BY: My Father Cigars Inc.
FACTORY LOCATION: Nicaragua
WRAPPER: Ecuador
BINDER: Nicaragua
FILLER: Nicaragua
PRICE: $6.25
RING GAUGE: 56
LENGTH: 5 1/2"
RATING: 93

No. 12 Carlos Toraño Exodus 1959 50 Years Box Press

MADE BY: Scandinavian Tobacco Group, Estelí
FACTORY LOCATION: Nicaragua
WRAPPER: Brazil
BINDER: Honduras
FILLER: Nicaragua
PRICE: $6.95
RING GAUGE: 55
LENGTH: 5"
RATING: 93

No. 13 Punch Grand Cru No. 2 Maduro

MADE BY: Honduras American Tabaco S.A. (General Cigar Co.)
FACTORY LOCATION: Honduras
WRAPPER: Ecuador
BINDER: U.S.A./Conn. Broadleaf
FILLER: Dom. Rep., Honduras, Nicaragua
PRICE: $10.99
RING GAUGE: 54
LENGTH: 6 1/8"
RATING: 93

No. 14 A. Turrent Triple Play Belicoso

MADE BY: La Flor de Copan S.A. (Altadis U.S.A. Inc.)
FACTORY LOCATION: Honduras
WRAPPER: Mexico
BINDER: U.S.A./Conn. Broadleaf
FILLER: Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras
PRICE: $8.00
RING GAUGE: 54
LENGTH: 6 1/8"
RATING: 93

No. 15 C.A.O. La Traviata Divino

MADE BY: C.A.O. Fabrica de Tabacos S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION: Nicaragua
WRAPPER: Ecuador
BINDER: Cameroon
FILLER: Dom. Rep., Nicaragua
PRICE: $4.95
RING GAUGE: 50
LENGTH: 5"
RATING: 93

Written by: Alexander Yü