Top 25 Cigars of 2024 (1-5)

The final day of the Top 25 extravaganza is upon us! We’ve smoked our way through hundreds of cigars to get to this point and by the end of the day, we’ll crown a new Cigar of the Year!

It has been a fantastic year for premium cigars, and we’ve had no shortage of top-notch smokes to choose from. We want to congratulate all the companies that made our list and a special recognition to the teams of artisans that have a hand in the production of these amazing blends.

We hope you enjoy our list and smoke your way through it. We’ll be on our social media channels after 4 PM to break down the top 5 and celebrate the #1 cigar of 2024.

5. Aganorsa Leaf Arsenio

Manufacturer: Aganorsa Leaf Factory in Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaragua; Binder: Nicaragua; Filler: Nicaragua
Vitola: Corona; Physical size: 6 x 44
MSRP: $14.99
Rating: 93

We had our first look at the Aganorsa Leaf Arsenio just before the 2024 PCA trade show. It was the first batch of the blend and it certainly impressed our panel – it scored 91 points in the Jul/Aug 2024 issue. While that score qualified it as a candidate for this list, the samples we re-tasted at the end of the year significantly outperformed those early smokes.

The brand is named after the late Arsenio Ramos, who was Aganorsa’s head of manufacturing until his passing in 2018. The Aganorsa Leaf Arsenio is the company’s rendition of his favorite blend using all Nicaraguan tobaccos grown on Aganorsa’s farms.

Get to know the history of Aganorsa and the man who made it all happen.