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Why do they always tease us?   http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Top_25/Top_25_Display/0,4320,2008,00.html

From a pool of nearly 700 cigars tasted by our panel in 2008, 25 stood out from the rest, and from that group one rose above all the others. In the fall of 2008, we pored over the top-rated cigars from those 700 and selected 45 of the best. Our tasting coordinator purchased them at retail, rebanded each with a new code, and our tasting panel rated them again. At the conclusion of that test, we chose the dozen highest-rated cigars, again had them rebanded, and smoked them anew to crown a victor. Here are the results of that tournament of champions, starting with the top 10 in reverse order. On January 8 we will reveal cigars five through two, and on January 9 we will unveil the number one Cigar of the Year

Thanks Terry.   The La Gloria Cubana Artesano made it to #9.   I think its the best.

Nice find Unc T.  Not that any of those schmoes knows what I look for in a good cigar, but it is a starting point at least.........

US_Tank Wrote:Thanks Terry.   The La Gloria Cubana Artesano made it to #9.   I think its the best.

This is our annual life's to short to smoke SHITty cigars list.  Go fourth and buy the list before the s-shit bill passes. If you have room.[lol]

tafdom Wrote:

US_Tank Wrote:Thanks Terry.   The La Gloria Cubana Artesano made it to #9.   I think its the best.

This is our aunal life's to short to smoke SHITty cigars list.  Go fourth and buy the list before the s-shit bill passes. If you have room.[lol]

Great words of wisdom

US_Tank Wrote:Thanks Terry.   The La Gloria Cubana Artesano made it to #9.   I think its the best.

Im saving up for some of these to be my next purchase.  If you and Don say its the cigar of the year it must be damn good and something I need to try!

At the end of the video about the tasting, they show a shot of the ashtray and it looked like they didn't even smoke to the half way point of many of the cigars :?

tafdom Wrote:

US_Tank Wrote:Thanks Terry.   The La Gloria Cubana Artesano made it to #9.   I think its the best.

This is our annual life's to short to smoke SHITty cigars list.  Go fourth and buy the list before the s-shit bill passes. If you have room.[lol]

Don't you mean 'have the money'?  hock:

This is the second time that Romeo y Julieta’s robusto has shown up in our Top 25, following its debut in Cuba’s annual cigar festival in March 2006. We said then that the Short Churchill was “destined to be another classic,” and we were right. It’s one of those “go to” Cuban cigars that never disappoint, and it’s incredibly popular in the global market at the moment. It’s proving more popular than the RyJ Churchill, which had been an icon cigar for decades from Cuba. Production at the H. Upmann factory—the newest export factory on the island—is finally up to capacity, and the cigar seems to be getting better and better, even richer to our taste than on release. It also comes in tubes, which makes it convenient to throw in your pocket if you are going out for the night. The cigar traditionally comes with an almost claro, or light-brown, wrapper, and its red, white and gold livery. The cigar delivers full-bodied flavor yet remains balanced and refined. Leather, cocoa bean and wood abound, and are punctuated with an almost citrus element.
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MADE BY: Habanos S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION: Cuba
WRAPPER: Cuba
BINDER: Cuba
FILLER: Cuba
PRICE: £12.00
RING GAUGE: 50
LENGTH: 4 7/8"
RATING: 94

Large cigars have gone almost completely out of fashion. It’s not that their quality has diminished: they still deliver loads of flavor with a cool, refined character. The problem is that few people have the time to smoke such a large cigar as the Sir Winston—let alone such longer ones as double coronas. But aficionados who do opt for a large cigar usually puff on a Romeo y Julieta Churchill or a Cohiba Esplendido. Perhaps that’s why Cuba makes so few Sir Winstons, most of which are rolled in the new H. Upmann factory on the outskirts of Havana. Until the mid-1990s, the cigar came in a smart green lacquered box, but today it comes in a varnished cedar one with a clasp. The band, once the standard brown and white H. Upmann, is now gold, white and red.

Find some time if you are going to smoke this. It’s worth relaxing and contemplating what the Sir Winston has to offer. It’s so good to look at that you may not want to see it go up in smoke. The ones we smoked had beautiful silky, oily wrappers and excellent caps. The first puffs were immediately rich with leather and spice, then developed into woody, meaty undertones. This cigar has the richness and structure to age well. We think that Winston Churchill would have loved this cigar.

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MADE BY: Habanos S.A.
FACTORY LOCATION: Cuba
WRAPPER: Cuba
BINDER: Cuba
FILLER: Cuba
PRICE: £21.00
RING GAUGE: 47
LENGTH: 7 "
RATING: 93

Lanceros, long revered by smokers of Cuban cigars, have lately become a hot size in the United States. Cigarmakers have responded with amazing thin smokes, none finer than the Don Pepin Garcia Lancero, made by Jose “Pepin” Garcia at his tiny El Rey de los Habanos factory in Miami. The fabrica is one of the world’s smallest, with all of a dozen rollers.

Garcia makes many brands for other companies; Don Pepin is one of his own, and his oldest—he began making it in 2003. The lancero is a new size for the line, introduced in May. The cigar is exquisitely crafted from a core of Nicaraguan tobacco and finished with a leaf from Ecuador. The cigar is ultra sweet from the first puff, tremendously rich and flavorful. Although his favorite size to smoke is a robusto, Garcia excels at the lancero format.

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MADE BY: El Rey de los Habanos Inc.
FACTORY LOCATION: U.S.A.
WRAPPER: Ecuador
BINDER: Nicaragua
FILLER: Nicaragua
PRICE: $9.00
RING GAUGE: 38
LENGTH: 7 1/2"
RATING: 93