StogieGuys.com’s Top Cigars of 2015 (Part II)

Throughout the year, we smoked scores of cigars, and six of them achieved our top rating. That’s one more than last year and three times as many as in 2013.

Obviously, our top rating isn’t easy to get. Our system, which we’ve been using for nearly ten years) notes the five-stogies-out-of-five rating is reserved for cigars that are “tasty, complex” and “truly an occasion,” deserving “your full and undivided attention.” We think you’ll find these half dozen clear that high bar.

Two of our top-rated cigars for 2015 were also among the most anticipated: Nick Melillo’s El Güegüense and Steve Saka’s Sobremesa.

Reviewing the Robusto, I found “El Güegüense more than lives up to expectations.” Smoking the Sobremasa Cervantes Fino, my colleague called it “full-bodied, complex, and balanced with loads of rich flavor and a delicate peppery zing.”

Two others were from Tatuaje, a regular on our five-stogie list: the Black Robusto and the Havana VI Verocu No. 1.

My other colleague reviewed the Black Robusto. It was, he wrote, “the best of the bunch when it comes to the recent-era Tatuaje Blacks.” I found the new Verocu every bit as good as its predecessors, highlighting “smoothness and balance, as the flavors move and shift throughout the smoke.”

Another list regular, Don Gioloto’s Illusione, scored with the Singulare LE 2014 Anunnaki. For my colleague, this Singulare was “very similar to the Epernay, but with more sweetness and a velvety texture.”

The sixth spot was also held by a widely known name in cigars, José Blanco. His Las Cumbres Tabaco Señorial Paco Robusto is, according to my colleague, “the kind of cigar that makes you want to light up another as soon as it’s finished.”

If you’re looking for more suggestions, all of our five-stogie sticks through the years are here, and an alphabetical compilation of all reviews is here. And lastly, please keep in mind this best-of list is restricted not to cigars that were introduced in 2015, but rather cigars we reviewed in 2015.

–George E

photo credit: N/A