CA Top 25 rankings - 2010 - Finished

xmacro

Well, it's widely known that CA has a lot of biases, both cigars/brands that they always give an award to, and cigars/brands they never give one to. But it's still interesting to see how things came out.

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/top25/show

10. La Flor Dominicana Air Bender Chisel (MSRP 8.50)
9. H. Upmann #2 (Cuban)
8. E.P. Carillo Elencos Edicion Limitada 2010 (MSRP 15.00)
7. Illusione Epernay Le Matin (MSRP 11.20)
6. La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Magnifico (MSRP 7.50)

1/4 - UPDATE:

5. Camacho Corojo Churchill (MSRP $6.85)
4. Padrón Family Reserve No. 45 (Natural) (MSRP $25.00)
3. Fuente Fuente OpusX XXX Belicoso (MSRP $10.20)
2. Viaje Oro Reserva VOR No. 5 (MSRP $10.80)

1/5 - UPDATE:

1. Cohiba Behike BHK 52 (Cuban)

1/6 - UPDATE:

11. Ambos Mundos No. 1 Grande (MSRP $6.25)
12. Carlos Toraño Exodus 1959 50 Years Box Press (MSRP $6.95)
13. Punch Grand Cru No. 2 Maduro (MSRP $10.99)
14. A. Turrent Triple Play Belicoso (MSRP $8.00)
15. C.A.O. La Traviata Divino (MSRP $4.95)
16. My Father No. 2 Belicoso(MSRP $11.50)
17. Brick House Robusto (MSRP $4.95)
18. Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial (MSRP $9.00)
19. Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary Toro (MSRP $10.50)
20. Alec Bradley Prensado Gran Toro (MSRP $11.75)
21. Partagas Lusitania (Cuban)
22. Montecristo Platinum Churchill Tube (MSRP $10.50)
23. Ashton VSG Eclipse (MSRP $12.00)
24. Casa Magna Colorado Churchill (MSRP $6.90)
25. Aurora 1495 BME Dominicana (MSRP $10.00)

Vulchor

Air Bender was very good----not great.H.Upman----we cant smoke Cubans here;)E.P.----decent, WAY overpriced for tasteIllusiones are loved by many---not me, but I can see itLa Aroma is a damn good stick.

j0z3r

The only one I don't agree with, and my disagreement rests more with its placement on the list than with it being there, is the LADC Mi Amor, I just didn't think it was worthy of the 6th spot. That's my opinion of course, and I don't expect anyone to give it any weight, but to me spots 7-10 are legitimately better cigars.

Alex Svenson

Vulchor:

Air Bender was very good----not great.H.Upman----we cant smoke Cubans here;)E.P.----decent, WAY overpriced for tasteIllusiones are loved by many---not me, but I can see itLa Aroma is a damn good stick.

+1

Alex Svenson

Interesting that they all scored 94. That is pretty hefty. If No. 10 scored 94 I wonder if what the top score will be this year. Technically, these all scored 94 so it is like a 5 way tie for 6th place LOL.

Redtailhawkoz

Alex Svenson:

Interesting that they all scored 94. That is pretty hefty. If No. 10 scored 94 I wonder if what the top score will be this year. Technically, these all scored 94 so it is like a 5 way tie for 6th place LOL.

Im hip on that and I agree with Vuchor also.... Good tatse but i do Love all LFD's Im predjudice! LOL

kuzi16

xmacro:

Well, it's widely known that CA has a lot of biases, both cigars/brands that they always give an award to, and cigars/brands they never give one to. But it's still interesting to see how things came out.

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/top25/show

10. La Flor Dominicana Air Bender Chisel (MSRP 8.50)
9. H. Upmann #2 (Cuban)
8. E.P. Carillo Elencos Edicion Limitada 2010 (MSRP 15.00)
7. Illusione Epernay Le Matin (MSRP 11.20)
6 La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Magnifico (MSRP 7.50)

i would have put this selection a bit different.
the Air bender IMHO is way better than the illisione.
though i enjoy the airbender more than the LAdC i can see why they would place it higher.

iduno... the top 25 according to CA doesnt mean much to me and many of my friends at my local B&M.

Jetmech_63

Would be nice to see Ruination or Diesel Unlimited in the top 5... But then that means the A-holes at CA would actually "have" to smoke good cigars

docbp87

Jetmech_63:

Would be nice to see Ruination or Diesel Unlimited in the top 5... But then that means the A-holes at CA would actually "have" to smoke good cigars

House blends and website exclusives never really get included in these lists...


I think it's a decent start so far. I like everything on the list that I have smoked (all but the LAdC), and would not have a problem putting any of them in a top 20 or so cigars for the year. The Air Bender is my favorite of the cigars revealed so far.


I think the EPC brand as a whole is really good, and aside from the Edicion Limitadas, are really well priced. I think the ELs belong maybe closer to the 10$ range, but they are limited production cigars, and are priced as such. The Short Run and Core Line are two of the better cigars I've smoked, and both are from the past year or so, and are extremely good values. I think the Short Run robusto ran me about $6 a pop, and for that, well I was amazed by it.

As for all scoring a 94, do they say if that was what they scored when tasted earlier in the year? Or is it a new score, because if it is the score from earlier in the year, then the rankings do hold up, and are not a tie. CA re-tastes their best cigars of the year to narrow down to the top 25, blind again (obviously the Chisel is kind of easy to figure out though LOL). Now I know that CA gets a lot of crap, and most certainly deserves it, but for my money, this list is damned solid so far...

Alex Svenson

I think they retaste them. That said if you click on the detail it shows you the new scores and tasting notes. All 94. I think the year casa magna took first it took it with 93 points. I like most of the folks here don't give much weight to lists and ratings but being on the retail side, I can tell you that these do drive demand fairly well. Not as much as the did a few years ago and certainly not as much as during the boom. A 90+ rating 10 years ago was very rare. In fact, 10 years ago, as a cigar maker, if you got a 90+ you could pretty much write your own ticket. It was your invitation to party so to speak. Not sure if the ratings have inflated over time or if there are just better cigars now vs 10 years ago. Probably a combination if the two. 10 years ago hardly anyone was using ecuadorian wrapper, now it is where the worlds best wrapper is grown IMHO.

Krieg

I believe they take all the cigars that have scored 90+ and then retaste them all, then narrow down the field...retaste again...narrow down...retaste..etc. This is how their video explains it anyway.

madurofan

Krieg:

I believe they take all the cigars that have scored 90+ and then retaste them all, check advertising dollars spent, then narrow down the field...retaste again...recheck advertising dollars spent...narrow down... retaste..etc. This is how their video explains it anyway.

Fixed that for ya!

Alex Svenson

madurofan:

Krieg:

I believe they take all the cigars that have scored 90+ and then retaste them all, check advertising dollars spent, then narrow down the field...retaste again...recheck advertising dollars spent...narrow down... retaste..etc. This is how their video explains it anyway.

Fixed that for ya!

LMFAO

madurofan

Alex,what happened to the reviews you guys were doing in the ccom mag?

dennisking

I'm looking forward to seeing what their opinion is on the rest of the sticks. I don't think the Air Bender is better than a DL Maduro Chisel so maybe that's in the top 5.

Fourtotheflush

docbp87:

Jetmech_63:

Would be nice to see Ruination or Diesel Unlimited in the top 5... But then that means the A-holes at CA would actually "have" to smoke good cigars

House blends and website exclusives never really get included in these lists...

Im pretty sure that in order to get tasted you have to be sold at a B&M (they only go to local NY B&M's to pick up their tasting cigars).... Supposidly.

Krieg

Looks like the Padron Family Reserve 45 natural came in #4, and have to say that this is a great cigar...I thought it would rank pretty high if picked at all. I have a box of 2009s, damn good smoke.

Fourtotheflush

Out of all the 9 cigars that I've tried (4) on this list I thought the that the Airbender was good and that DPG my Father was significantly better than any on the list so far.

xmacro

Updated first post with the list for all viewing the thread, I'll re-post the new ones here too:

5. Camacho Corojo Churchill (MSRP $6.85)
4. Padrón Family Reserve No. 45 (Natural) (MSRP $25.00)
3. Fuente Fuente OpusX XXX Belicoso (MSRP $10.20)
2. Viaje Oro Reserva VOR No. 5 (MSRP $10.80)

docbp87

Rumors for number 1 are Alec BRadley Family Blend T11, Behike BHK, and Trinidad Robusto T. All I can say is that if the Alec Bradley wins, I'm never looking at CA again. It's a good cigar but IMO, not better than ANY of the cigars already revealed.

xmacro

I've also heard the Behike is a strong contender for #1; seems CA won't get off the cuban kick

stephen_hannibal

docbp87:

Rumors for number 1 are Alec BRadley Family Blend T11, Behike BHK, and Trinidad Robusto T. All I can say is that if the Alec Bradley wins, I'm never looking at CA again. It's a good cigar but IMO, not better than ANY of the cigars already revealed.

Alec Bradley is dead to me...
His stuff is mediocre at best.

boydmcgowan

stephen_hannibal:

docbp87:

Rumors for number 1 are Alec BRadley Family Blend T11, Behike BHK, and Trinidad Robusto T. All I can say is that if the Alec Bradley wins, I'm never looking at CA again. It's a good cigar but IMO, not better than ANY of the cigars already revealed.

Alec Bradley is dead to me...
His stuff is mediocre at best.

haha, thats funy, but pretty harsh man. So, I'm not a huge Alec Bradley fan, but I've never had a bad one, and the Tempus and the Family Blend are both REALLY good cigars. In my opinion the family blend is way better, but both we're good.

Didn't the family blend make the top 25 list a year or two ago? as well? Like most on here, I don't put too much stock into CA's list but its cool to see it every year.

xmacro

CA supposedly buys all their cigars from a B&M in NY (doesn't explain how they get cubans though . . . ), and IIRC, Alec Bradley is a big fan of NY - he's even made a cigar that's exclusive sold in NY B&M's ("Empire State", or something like that), so that may be one reason the CA guys are attracted to his stuff - either bias, or sheer availability.

docbp87

xmacro:

I've also heard the Behike is a strong contender for #1; seems CA won't get off the cuban kick

Cuban kick? So far there is only on Cuban cigar on the list. CA is a global publication, and outside of the American market, Cuban cigars dominate... If you go to a shop in England, or France, you'll see just as many, and probably far more, Cuban cigars than Non-Cuban. It just comes down to business...


Ironically, a Cuban cigar forum I post on, has a similar topic running right now, and everyone (mostly Aussies, but people from all over the world, Russia, Malaysia, etc.) are all complaining that the Upmann 2 is the only CC on the list! I have not had the Behike, but I hope that it, or the Trinidad Robo T win. James Suckling (formerly the European correspondent for CA, Cuban cigar expert, and acclaimed wine writer) just picked the Trinidad Robusto T as his cigar of the year. We'll see if that holds true for his former employers...

Alex Svenson

docbp87:

xmacro:

I've also heard the Behike is a strong contender for #1; seems CA won't get off the cuban kick

Cuban kick? So far there is only on Cuban cigar on the list. CA is a global publication, and outside of the American market, Cuban cigars dominate... If you go to a shop in England, or France, you'll see just as many, and probably far more, Cuban cigars than Non-Cuban. It just comes down to business...


Ironically, a Cuban cigar forum I post on, has a similar topic running right now, and everyone (mostly Aussies, but people from all over the world, Russia, Malaysia, etc.) are all complaining that the Upmann 2 is the only CC on the list! I have not had the Behike, but I hope that it, or the Trinidad Robo T win. James Suckling (formerly the European correspondent for CA, Cuban cigar expert, and acclaimed wine writer) just picked the Trinidad Robusto T as his cigar of the year. We'll see if that holds true for his former employers...

Believe it or not, many people from the other countries have to get their Cigar Aficionado info online because the publication is banned. I went to a store in New Zealand about 10 years ago and was shocked. issues were never for sale and if they were, it was super expensive $20 or $30+ What issues they did accumulate came by way of people bringing them into the country. New Zealand is just one but there are others. Here is an idea, fly to new zealand with a suitcase full of cigar aficionado mags and sell them to pay for your trip LOL.

kuzi16

im very happy to see the Camacho Corojo Churchill on there.
this is one seriously underestimated cigar.

docbp87

kuzi16:

im very happy to see the Camacho Corojo Churchill on there.
this is one seriously underestimated cigar.

And inexpensive too! I'm really glad it's there too. Great stick.

stephen_hannibal

Welp that was a severe waste of anticipation.

madurofan

Boo ....

kuzi16

the other thing i find mildly frustrating about this top 25 is that the #2 spot ( Viaje Oro Reserva VOR No. 5 ) is an LE.

seriously... go out and try and find these.

there should be a top 25 for regular production lines and a top 25 for LEs