Well here we are, another year has gone by and hundreds of cigars have been sampled. Some I’ve reviewed and enjoyed and some have never made it past the halfway mark before they were left to die in the ash bin. But, as is the case every year, there are those which I reviewed that make it to my yearly top lists. As many of you know, that read Stogie Press, I have three lists – one for large companies, one for medium companies and one for small companies.
If you ask me how I decide the difference between large, medium, and small companies, I will say I look at:
- The reach of the company i.e. how big is their network to get quality leaf
- Do they have their own farms or factories
- Generally how many cigars they produce a year
It is not an exact science, but it is my way of being able to recognize not just the large companies but the smallest of brands.
Over the next two weeks, Stogie Press will be rolling out the candidates for the 2023 top cigars that I have sampled and reviewed throughout the year. Of course, if I did not have a cigar that you think is incredible, it will not be on my list, but feel free to let me know and I will try to add it to the 2024 rotation.
As usual, we will not announce the final rankings and stackings until New Year’s Eve at midnight. Until then we will be announcing the ‘candidates’ in articles in the next two weeks. Like previous years, there will be 15 cigars in each category and each category will have a #1 cigar, with the overall Top Cigar of 2023 named from those top 3.
So let’s get this ball rolling. The first set of candidates, in alphabetical order, are as follows:
- Black Works Studio 2023 S & R Robusto
- Byron 19th Century Petit Poemas
- Cigar Clowns Master of Puppets Volume 1 “The Geppetto”
- Dalay Nicaragua Robusto by Luciano Cigars
- Espinosa Premium Cigars Knuckle Sandwich Connecticut Short Churchill G
- Lovely Cigars Elegante X2 Toro
- Mega Legend Dorado Series Lancero
- Micallef Black Robusto
- Villiger de Nicaragua Edición Limitada 2022
- West Tampa Tobacco Co. – Red Toro