Hall of Legends

To celebrate six decades, Padrón rolled a curved perfecto, only the second perfecto shape the family has ever released commercially, and a shape that is not easy to roll. The company that José Orlando Padrón started in 1964 is now led by his son Jorge, and this anniversary cigar became Padrón's fifth Cigar of the Year. Cigar Aficionado's tasters were struck by the intensity of flavour from the very first puff.

“a rich smoke, stronger than many Padróns”

• Perfecto, 6½ in × 56 ring
• Nicaraguan wrapper, binder and filler
• Medium-full strength
• $75 at the time

With 98 points, The Judge holds the top score of any Nicaraguan Cigar of the Year. It comes from the Garcia family's My Father Cigars, and its boxes carry lithographic art revived from 1905. The blend draws on at least three Nicaraguan growing regions, from La Bonita Two in Jalapa and El Pedrero in Estelí to San Rafael in Namanji, under a dark Ecuadoran Sumatra-seed wrapper and two binders, Corojo and Criollo.

“an ample core of earth, toast and wood”

• Grand Robusto, 5 in × 60 ring
• Ecuadoran Sumatra-seed wrapper
• Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo binders, Nicaraguan filler
• $13.30 at the time
• Tobacco: Jalapa, Estelí and Namanji

Seventeen years after its first win, Padrón took the top spot again with this box-pressed torpedo from the 1964 Anniversary Series, named for the year the company began. It was the family's fourth Cigar of the Year, a record no other maker had reached. Cigar Aficionado's tasters described hazelnut turning into cocoa, with a perfect draw and burn, and joked that the cigar's only flaw is that it ends.

“a rich, opulent smoke of cocoa bean”

• Box-pressed torpedo, 6 in × 52 ring
• Natural wrapper; all Nicaraguan tobacco
• Medium-full strength
• $17.80 at the time

Rafael Nodal came to the United States from Cuba in 1980 on the Mariel boatlift and first chased a career in music before turning to cigars. His Aging Room brand began in the Dominican Republic, but its crowning achievement was made in Nicaragua by A.J. Fernández, with his own tobacco and factory style. Every leaf is Nicaraguan, and Cigar Aficionado's tasters found it swinging between dark chocolate and wood and subtler caramel and toasted almonds.

“every puff is an overture of flavors”

• Box-pressed torpedo, 6 in × 52 ring
• Nicaraguan wrapper, binder and filler
• Made by Tabacalera A.J. Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua
• $10.95 at the time

The 1922 in the name is the birth year of José Garcia, father of master cigar maker José "Pepín" Garcia, and this line was Pepín's tribute to him. Unlike the Ecuador-wrapped original My Father, Le Bijou is Nicaraguan from top to bottom, under Cuban-seed wrappers the family calls oscuro. Made at the Garcias' factory in Estelí, it won for what Cigar Aficionado called an ideal combination of power and finesse, the family's second Cigar of the Year.

“uncanny impressions of dark chocolate-covered raisins, savory leather”

• Box-pressed torpedo, 6⅛ in × 52 ring
• All Nicaraguan: wrapper, binder and filler
• Medium-full strength
• $11.40 at the time
• Tobacco: Estelí

The Melanio edition honours Melanio Oliva, who began growing cigar tobacco in Cuba in the late 1800s. His grandson Gilberto Oliva Sr. left Cuba in 1964, and when the young company later ran short of cash it turned to his stocks of Nicaraguan tobacco, which changed its flavour and, in Cigar Aficionado's words, helped Oliva survive. After nine straight years on the Top 25, this figurado gave the company its first Cigar of the Year.

“It's a classic smoke.”

• Figurado, 6½ in × 52 ring
• Ecuador-grown Sumatra-seed wrapper
• Nicaraguan binder and filler
• $14 at the time

Flor de las Antillas reached shops only in May 2012 and was crowned Cigar of the Year that same year. The Garcia family started in Miami with a tiny factory of a dozen rollers, found early acclaim making Tatuaje for Pete Johnson, and went on to build their own large factory in Estelí. The name honours Cuba, the largest of the Antilles, and this was the family's first Cigar of the Year.

“delicious from the first puff”

• Toro with a gentle box press, 6 in × 52 ring
• All Nicaraguan: wrapper, binder and filler
• Sun-grown wrapper and the family's double binder
• $6.90 at the time
• Tobacco: Estelí

Released on September 8, the 45th anniversary of Padrón Cigars, the No. 45 carries a hammer on its band. It recalls a gift from a friend when José Orlando Padrón was nearly penniless: the tool let him earn a living as a carpenter and save enough to start his cigar company. Some of its leaves are as old as 10 years, according to company president Jorge Padrón, and it gave Padrón a third Cigar of the Year.

“an intense smoke jammed with rich, hearty, coffee notes”

• Heavily pressed parejo, 6 in × 52 ring
• Maduro wrapper; all Nicaraguan tobacco
• Full strength
• $25 at the time

At $5.25, the Casa Magna proved a great cigar need not be expensive. Manuel Quesada, making cigars since 1974, joined forces with Nestor Plasencia, Nicaragua's largest grower of cigar tobacco, and created the blend in Plasencia's Segovia Cigar factory. It marries strong Estelí tobacco with the more balanced, elegant leaf of Jalapa, and Cigar Aficionado's tasters found coffee, cedary sweetness and a hint of raisins.

“full of rich coffee notes”

• Robusto, 5½ in × 52 ring
• Nicaraguan wrapper, binder and filler
• Blended at Plasencia's Segovia Cigar factory
• $5.25 at the time
• Tobacco: Estelí and Jalapa

The Serie 1926 is named for the year José Orlando Padrón was born, and the No. 9 debuted in 2002 on his 76th birthday. It is rolled at the Padrón factory in Estelí under the eye of José Orlando, his son Jorge and the family. Its 97 points were, Cigar Aficionado said, the highest it had given a recent-production cigar in many years, with chocolate, coffee, nuts and black cherry. It was Padrón's second Cigar of the Year.

“richer, rounder, more complex and rewarding than any other cigar we smoked”

• Pressed, 5¼ in × 56 ring
• Nicaraguan wrapper, binder and filler
• Rolled in Estelí
• $18 at the time
• Tobacco: Estelí

When Cigar Aficionado began naming a Cigar of the Year, the very first went to Nicaragua. The magazine admits it doubted Padrón could top its own winning formula for a 40th anniversary, then called this natural-wrapped torpedo possibly the best cigar the Padróns had ever made. Every leaf was at least five years old, and the first release came in 400 hand-painted, hand-carved boxes of 40.

“heavy chocolate notes framed by earthy spices”

• Box-pressed torpedo, 6½ in × 54 ring
• Nicaraguan wrapper, binder and filler
• Every leaf aged at least five years
• $25 at the time