Best New Cigars of 2021
Who doesn’t love to smoke a new cigar? Cigar-makers debut new cigars throughout the year, but a greater number come out during the summer months when cigar industry’s annual trade show takes place. For some manufacturers, they’re simply showing off new sizes. Others release new blends or even entirely new brands. Most of them start shipping during the fall. Here are the best new cigars of 2021 to put on your radar, and you can also take a look at our list of the best new cigars for 2022.
1. La Aroma de Cuba Pasión
First on our list is La Aroma de Cuba Pasión, a new blend in the historic portfolio of La Aroma de Cuba. Award-winning father-and-son cigar-makers Pepin and Jaime Garcia blend an exceptional Nicaraguan Puro from tobaccos grown on prized family estates in Estelí, Jalapa, and Namanji.
Pasión boasts a glistening Shade Grown wrapper cultivated in the unique microclimate of Namanji, where warm days, cool nights, and abundant black soils produce tobaccos of exquisite flavor, aroma, and quality. A medium to full-bodied profile cedar, leather, smoked cashew, and spice enlivens the palate in six flawless shapes. Explore this 94-rated cigar the second you encounter it for sale.
2. San Cristobal Quintessence Churchill
In the first week of June, a new 7 x 49 Churchill debuted in the popular San Cristobal Quintessence blend. Quintessence now consists of six traditional shapes blended from an oily Cuban-seed wrapper grown in Ecuador and a robust interior of premium Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos aged to perfection. The 94-rated profile received a glowing review by the critics recently. Quintessence layers the palate with notes of cocoa, cedar, molasses, and fresh coffee with plenty of spice in a medium to full-bodied gem.
3. Oliva Serie V Melanio Toro & Servie V Melanio Maduro Toro
Oliva Serie V Melanio is one of the company’s top-selling brands thanks to its status as a former ‘#1 Cigars of the Year’ in Cigar Aficionado in 2014. Oliva is adding a traditional 6 x 52 Toro ($14) to the popular line, which is created from the same top-rated blend of well-aged Nicaraguan long-fillers tucked under a shimmering Ecuador Sumatra wrapper.
A 6 x 52 Toro ($14) will also be available in the Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro blend, which is getting a new 4.5 x 46 shape called the No. 4 ($9) and an oversized 6 x 60 Double Toro ($16). Serie V Melanio Maduro is finished in a dark and succulent San Andrés wrapper leaf. If you’re one of the few who haven’t tried either of these acclaimed Oliva cigars, you will have even more sizes to choose from.
4. Perdomo Inmenso Seventy Maduro & Perdomo Inmenso Seventy Sun Grown
Back in the early 2000s, Perdomo produced a comically fat 70 ring gauge cigar called the Inmenso. At the time, the super-chunky shape was considered a gimmick with its neon-yellow band and box art featuring an old lady smoking a fat cigar with the slogan, “I only allow my rollers to smoke one cigar a day.” Today, 70 ring smokes are no joke and Nick Perdomo has revived the behemoth-sized line in three different lengths: 5, 6, and 7 inches. Two blends are available, Perdomo Inmenso Seventy Maduro and Perdomo Inmenso Seventy Sun Grown. If you want to stretch your mouth out around a massive Perdomo, the Seventy guarantees to please with its bursting blend of well-aged Nicaraguan long-fillers in a spicy Sun Grown wrapper or a sweet and earthy Maduro.
5. E.P. Carrillo Pledge Apogee
Cigar Aficionado’s ‘#1 Cigar of the Year’ for 2020 was E.P. Carrillo Pledge. A Cuban-seed wrapper grown in Connecticut conceals a complex blend of long-filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and Ecuador. While Pledge isn’t new, Apogee is and will sell for around $15. Its 6.25 x 58 format is blended to deliver the same sweet and zesty flavors of hickory and pepper that made Pledge popular with the critics. Now you’ve got a thicker version to consider in the highest-rated E.P. Carrillo blend to date.
While there aren’t a ton of brand new blends to smoke this year, there are plenty of new sizes. And the trend is definitely aimed at big ring fanatics. Refill your torch before you fill your humidor with the parade of big rings coming your way. You’ll need a big flame to fire up the top new cigars of 2021.
