After another year of exhaustively tasting, examining and rating nearly 700 cigars, the stogie-obsessed editors at Cigar Aficionado tapped Nicaragua’s “My Father The Judge Grand Robusto” as the magazine’s 2024 Cigar of the Year with a score of 98 points.
For the annual ranking, Cigar Aficionado selects the highest-scoring cigars of the year, typically 91 points and higher, and subjects them to yet another test by the magazine’s tasting panel. The cigars are repurchased at retail, stripped of identifying bands and blind-tested through multiple rounds of tastings.
My Father was created and named in honor of company founder José “Pepín” Garcia by his son, Jaime. In 2008, Jaime surprised his father with a blend he’d been secretly working on, and presented it to Pepín as a dedication to all he’d done as a dad. Since then, there have been several spinoff brands from My Father, including “My Father The Judge” in 2016–a full-bodied cigar packaged in boxes with lithographic art resurrected from 1905. Cigar Aficionado further expounds upon their top-rated stogie of 2024 below:
The Cigar of the Year, The Grand Robusto, has a thick ring gauge which allows for a thorough exploration of Nicaragua’s tobacco appellations, making for a cigar that is rich and complex. It shows an ample core of earth, toast and wood along with finer nutty details and sweet undercurrents all amounting to a bold smoke that resonates with balance and satisfaction. Every puff is certainly a cross section of Nicaragua’s finest soils, but beyond that, it also affirms a passion for tobacco, a strong work ethic and an even stronger belief in the power of family. A detailed video on this cigar is available here.
Cigar Aficionado’s Top 10 Cigars of 2024
No. 1 – My Father The Judge Grand Robusto, Nicaragua, $13.30
No. 2 – Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua Espeso, Nicaragua, $18.00
No. 3 – E.P. Carrillo Encore Celestial, Dominican Republic, $13.50
No. 4 – Padrón Serie 1926 No. 6, Nicaragua, $17.40
No. 5 – Partagás Línea Maestra Maestro, Cuba, £71.30
No. 6 – Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro Torpedo, Nicaragua, $16.63
No. 7 – Rocky Patel Conviction Toro, Nicaragua, $100.00
No. 8 – Cohiba Maduro 5 Mágicos, Cuba, £77.00
No. 9 – Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Eye of the Bull, Dominican Republic, $12.80
No. 10 – Brick House Churchill, Nicaragua, $8.85
“This marks the 20th year Cigar Aficionado has named a Cigar of the Year. We’re proud to continue this tradition, and once again share the best the industry has to offer with our audience,” said Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado. “All of the cigars on this list share one thing in common — they’re all superb.”
For more details on each cigar, including tasting notes, scores, and a video of the editors tasting the cigars, visit https://www.cigaraficionado.com/top25/2024.
