Table of contents for July/August 2025 in Cigar Aficionado

For the last two years, Sony’s A95L was the reigning monarch of OLED televisions and pretty much the accepted goldstandard in picture quality. Not anymore. Sony has surpassed itself, dethroning the old A95 with its next-generation Bravia 8 II, a television of remarkable contrast, brilliance and clarity. An entire suite of technological innovations gives this set the ability to render vivid colors—without ever looking exaggerated—and to deliver sharp images without fatiguing the eye. More than 8 million self-lit pixels means that this Quantum-Dot OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panel shows deep shades and vibrant hues from a palate of billions of colors while the XR Contrast Booster produces eerily deep levels of pure black, even when viewed in a dark room. Artificial intelligence also plays a major roll. The Bravia 8…

One look at a beach in the summer is all it takes to understand that humans have considerably different builds, with only a few blessed with bodies that resemble models or mannequins. For the rest of us, off the rack seldom fits right, leaving us with baggy shoulders, a collar that won’t button or perhaps a blousy fit that feels like you’re in a circus tent. A custom shirt is your welcome to the world of just right. “The number one differentiator is fit,” says David Hamilton, the co-owner of Hamilton, a Houston company that’s made shirts (and only shirts) since 1883. “Second is certain style elements to a specific individual.” Custom allows you to choose from a host of collars, add a monogram or even make adjustments to the…

At more than 3,000 pounds, a Chevy Malibu is a formidable vehicle with a crash-safety test rating of five-stars. But against a 60-ton Chieftain tank, it’s a mere speed bump. That is, if speed bumps came with the sound of crunched steel and shattered glass. Driving a tank that’s the weight of 20 Cadillac Escalades over a junked auto is the “Crush a Car” option of Drive A Tank, the Minnesota facility that offers customers maximal military sensations you’d otherwise have to enlist to experience. An entry package lets you drive a number of tanks and shoot an armory of heavy-duty weapons. Crushing things comes at an added expense. But realistically, if you are making this trip (it’s about 90 minutes from Minneapolis) do you want to come back without…

Who knew that this year’s theme at the Met Gala—Superfine: Tailoring Black Style—would spur a trio of fashionista celebrities to walk the red carpet sporting cigars? Flowing fabrics are famously the focus of the New York City charity event dubbed “fashion’s biggest night,” but this year the organizer’s suggestion that guests project dandyism had celebs arriving in pinstripes with canes and big hats. Of all the night’s props, The Fader, a magazine that arbitrates music, style and culture, declared that the rapper Doechii did it best by simply holding a cigar in hand. She was not alone. Madonna, already known for public displays of stogie appreciation, and the singer and actress Sabrina Carpenter, made the same stylish choice and captured attention with the least effort possible.…

Altadis U.S.A., owners of the Trinidad trademark for the U.S. market, has made many attempts to revitalize the Trinidad brand. The Espíritu Series No. 3 is perhaps its best effort yet. The belicoso scored 94 points and features a Mexican wrapper. It’s made by A.J. Fernandez in Nicaragua. In Cuba, Habanos looked to bring a new level of luxury to its Partagás brand by creating Línea Maestra, an ultra-premium offshoot to the already premium line. The Origen scored 93 points and, like the rest of the line, is made with a 109-style tapered head. Padrón’s lighter Nicaraguan line, Dámaso, scored 92 points with its No. 34 size while Fuente’s Dominican Rare Pink Signature perfecto scored 91. Some of the proceeds from the sale of Rare Pinks are donated to breast…

Few companies in the cigar industry celebrate birthdays and anniversaries as often as Padrón—and we’re thrilled that they do. It seems as if every time the company releases one, it’s nothing short of stupendous. The Family Reserve No. 85 is a perfect example. It scored 93 points and the Nicaraguan puro was created to mark the 85th birthday of company founder José Orlando Padrón, who died in 2017. Three cigars in this category scored 91, all from different countries. Fuente’s Rosado Sungrown Magnum R is made in the Dominican Republic and is named for its reddish Ecuadoran wrapper. From Nicaragua’s NACSA factory, the Crowned Heads Coroneta Habano delighted our panel, as did the Cuban Trinidad Media Luna, which is made with the brand’s signature pigtail cap.…

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Acursory peek at Ferrari’s newest convertible may belie its country of origin. Without a yellow logo with the rearing horse on its flanks, the Roma Spider’s long, sloped hood and short, tapered tail might evoke a body language that is very British. That rising pair of muscled rear fenders and a driving position behind the car’s centerline may appear like the sultry GTs that Aston Martin, Bentley and Jaguar have made since the 1960s. What is a Ferrari doing with these curves? Ferrari’s biggest business over the past 15 years has been in such mid-engine cars as the latest 296 GTS and SF90, with racing proportions and track performance. The Roma Spider is unashamedly a touring car and, at under $300,000 to start, an entry-level model. But on display is…

History is never far away on this fabled island off the coast of Massachusetts—from the colorful Victorian gingerbread cottages of Oak Bluffs to the stately 19thcentury homes of whaling captains in Edgartown to the quaint lighthouses to its antique carousel. That same sense of Martha’s Vineyard heritage suffuses Winnetu Oceanside Resort. The classic American summer getaway channels the spirit of New England’s old-timey seaside resorts. Here, the romantic nostalgia of summers gone by is conjured with nightly s’mores at the firepits, clambakes on the front lawn each Wednesday evening and joy rides on the resort’s fully restored antique vehicles: a 1956 pumper fire truck and an open-air, wood-paneled 1931 Model A Ford bus. There’s also a water taxi that ferries guests to and from downtown Edgartown with its boutiques, art…

Liev Schreiber doesn’t like what he sees. He has his eyes on a computer screen, scrutinizing a digital photograph. It’s a gloriously sunny (if slightly cool) spring day in downtown Manhattan, and the penthouse apartment of the Standard Hotel has been turned into a photo studio. The photo on the screen is his own. “I got old,” he says, his rich, familiar voice filling the room. He looks closer, scratches at a beard flecked with gray, then turns his face to the side. He jokes that what he thinks is an off-kilter look could be the result of having slept on one side of his face more than the other when he was a baby. He’s entertaining the room, throwing jabs at himself, acting more like an old friend showing…

From century-old, steam-powered autos that drip water from their engines to ultramodern hyper cars that devour 93-octane fuel with their 16 cylinders, upscale car shows are virtual museums on wheels. Outstanding and well-cared-for examples gather periodically across the country to showcase the never-ending variety that has always defined automobile design. Drawing enthusiasts and casual fans alike, expositions of fine cars range in size from the modest to the massive. Some have themes: cars of a certain era or genre (such as muscle cars) or even makes (e.g., Ferrari.) Most showcase all manner of vehicles. The finest are steeped in luxury and held in tony locations—Pebble Beach, Miami, Newport, Rhode Island and the Hamptons. Good food, fine wines and spirits are often castmates. And, as these are typically open-air events, cigars…

More than 30 years ago, in 1994, Litto Gomez began making cigars in the Dominican Republic. He was an outsider in a tight-knit world, the first of his family to enter the cigar business and a person who started with little knowledge about the industry. His start was modest—for years, restrained by limits on how much tobacco he could buy, he employed only a dozen cigar rollers. He would eventually expand his operation by adding a farm to grow his own tobacco. Gomez’s cigars have received high scores from Cigar Aficionado magazine, and his La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull was named Cigar of the Year for 2016. Today, he makes millions of cigars each year and his La Flor Dominicana brand is recognized not only around the United States, but…

Geoffrey Zakarian CELEBRITY CHEF Ferio Tego Timeless Prestige Chef Geoffrey Zakarian is instantly recognizable: white hair, perfectly and tightly cropped, very fit, dapper outfit and a million-dollar smile. He’s a fixture on Food Network, as a judge on the cooking contest show “Chopped” and as a host of “The Kitchen,” a casual, educational program and food talk show aimed at guiding home cooks. Whether it’s on television or on social media, Zakarian cooks with enthusiasm. A recent post on his Instagram account has him mixing up a spicy, buttery lobster roll to the pumping tune of the AC/DC classic “Highway to Hell.” He also channels that same energy when talking about fine cigars. He’s a fan of Ferio Tegos from the Dominican Republic and Partagás cigars from Cuba. “The Ferio…

Lancero lovers might find themselves disenfranchised when walking into their local tobacconist, as these long, thin panetelas are not the most popular size. If your local cigar shop has varied stock, you can hopefully find the Leaf By Oscar Corojo Lancero, which scored 93 points. It’s a brilliant smoke made in Honduras by Oscar Valladares and showcases a Honduran Corojo wrapper. The Cohiba Lancero is the quintessential Cohiba, as it was the first official Cohiba and made especially for Fidel Castro before the commercial release. They lived up to the legend in this tasting, scoring 92 points. Equally as compelling are two Nicaraguans: the Illusione Original Documents Habano Lancero, made by A.J. Fernandez, and the Tatuaje Black Petit Lancero, made by My Father Cigars.…

Bigger is not always better, but when it comes to golf, America’s biggest resort is better—better than ever. The Pinehurst story began in 1895 with the purchase of land, and ever since, a rich history of reinvestment and expansion has consistently maintained its status as the world’s largest golf resort outside of China. But beyond its size, Pinehurst also has exceptional courses and a heritage of tradition that puts it in the rarefied air of Scotland’s Old Course at St Andrews, the birthplace of the sport. In many ways, from its golf-centric North Carolina village to the vast array of courses to enthusiastic locals and numerous pubs, Pinehurst is the St Andrews of the United States. Some even call it “the cradle of American golf.” Even their geology is similar.…

It doesn’t seem to matter how long, short, thin or thick Padrón Serie 1926 cigars are—they perform at a very high level. The No. 1, a big and blocky box-pressed Churchill, scored 94 points and delivered the bold, rich and complex smoke the blend is known for. It’s an all-Nicaraguan cigar made in Nicaragua by a company that’s been family-owned since it started 61 years ago. Three cigars scored 93 points. Camacho Corojo is made solely of Honduran tobaccos and is rolled at Davidoff of Geneva’s Honduran factory. (Davidoff also owns the brand.) Both the Oliva Serie G Maduro and San Cristobal are produced in Nicaragua. While Oliva makes its own cigars at the Tabolisa factory, the San Cristobal brand is rolled by the Garcia family at My Father Cigars…

Small sizes with big flavor wound up being the overarching theme of this tasting of diminutive cigars. The Arturo Fuente Petit Corona is made in the Dominican Republic and scored 91 points for packing a substantial smoking experience into such a little format. It impressed our panel, as did the Brick House, which also scored 91 points and is made in Nicaragua at J.C. Newman’s PENSA factory. Three different countries had a three-way tie at 90 points. The Dominican La Nox Petite from La Flor Dominicana is a smaller version of the original toro size, and just as bold. And while the Ramon Allones Small Club Corona is a longtime mainstay for fans of small, hearty Cuban cigars, this is the first time that the Honduran Punch Rare Corojo Rapido…

Birthday celebrations in the cigar world are not at all uncommon, but they normally fall on even-numbered years. Viaje Cigars wanted to do something different. Its Fifteen Plus Two and a Half Anniversary not only celebrates an odd anniversary in the company’s history, but scored 94 points. This box-pressed toro is produced by Aganorsa Leaf in Nicaragua and is covered in a Nicaraguan Criollo wrapper. Viaje has always been a smaller cigarmaker and makes its brands in limited production runs, as does Black Label Trading Co. Its Super Deluxe Toro Box Press scored 93 points and is made in the company’s Oveja Negra factory in Estelí. The Cuban Bolivar New Gold Medal scored 93 points as well and is an exclusive release for La Casa Del Habano franchise shops across…

96 DON CANDIDO DUNHILL SELECCIÓN SUPREMA NO. 501 (CIRCA 1960) The Don Candido line was created in the 1930s by Cándido Vegas Díaz, owner of the El Rey del Mundo factory. This brand was positioned as being even more high-end than the already premium El Rey del Mundo cigars. Dunhill became its exclusive distributor until the brand was discontinued in the early 1980s. These softly-pressed lonsdales came from a 50-count cabinet and still have a tremendous amount of body considering their age. The draw is flawless and produces a dense, nutty smoke. It starts with notes of chestnut and almond that develop a marzipan and caramel sweetness before an elegant, chocolate-and-hazelnut finish. A cigar that lasted a lot longer than was probably ever intended. —Gregory Mottola 97 COHIBA (CIRCA 1980s) PANETELAS…