5 New Cigar Releases to Smoke Right F**king Now!

The cigar world has two huge directional forces: one looks backward, striving to maintain and perfect traditional methods that have worked for generations. The other looks forward, trying to find the new leaves, blends, and practices that will keep the industry fresh and ensure that we’ve always got something interesting to look forward to.

To that end, we’ve created this list of 5 new cigars in 2021 that all offer something fresh. There are limits to how crazy things can get. These stogies are still required to be made with rolled tobacco (and pretty much nothing else)—so these manufacturers didn’t break the mold or anything. But if you want a few new cigars in your humidor to reach for when you’re in the mood for a fresh puff, these are all great candidates.

2021 was another weird year, but the cigar makers kept working and delivered these beauties ready to smoke.

5 Fresh Cigars from 2021 You Can’t Miss Out On

Crowned Heads Le Pâtissier

Crowned Heads is definitely on fire (no pun intended). If you follow any cigar brands on social media, this is a good one to pick because something new is almost always popping up. It’s one of the best places to hear about new cigars in 2021 or any other year. Whether it’s a full-on new blend ready to go or just a few guys drinking wine or whiskey in a new country searching for good tobacco, you’re going to be the first to hear what’s coming down the pipe.

Le Pâtissier has got a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper that just won’t quit. Then, the inside is a Nicaraguan Jalapa binder over a filler blend from Ometepe and Pueblo Nuevo Nicaragua, as well as leaves from Costa Rica. It’s getting rolled up over at Don Pichardo’s place (the longtime cigar maker behind Ace Prime). We’re expecting loads of complex flavor and also the artisan touch that Crowned Heads is becoming known for.

A pâtissier is the term for a French pastry chef. Maybe this one will have some creamy, sweet notes? Snap it up and let us know!

Viaje Layer Cake

Man, sometimes it seems like these cigar makers are just trying to make us hungry. We know we can’t eat the cigars, guys! But we do love it when a name like this is inspired by flavor notes in the smoke of the cigar.

Like all of Viaje’s Craft Series, the Layer Cake was created using some insight from the craft beer industry. We’re not sure exactly what got the company thinking with this one, but the faint taste of sweet baked goods is floating around in there somewhere. 

Layer Cake is one of our new cigars 2021 that is a bona fide Nicaraguan puro. There’s a shiny criollo wrapper and all the AGANORSA leaf you can smoke on the inside. 

Light it up and you get toastiness and white pepper – which is pretty standard. But as you go along, there’s a creamy, bready sweetness that might perhaps have been the reason this one got named after a dessert. This cigar would be great with a nice whiskey of your choice. It’s mild enough to let good scotches shine, but would also be a fine companion for a bourbon or Irish whiskey too.

Grab a slice!

Southern Draw Manzanita

The name means “little apple,” but this new blend from Team Holt isn’t at all fruity. Instead, this gem from our set of new cigars 2021 is really dominated by hazelnut, cinnamon, and pepper notes. There’s also chocolate and a light floral flavor on the finish at times. It’s a complex and quite delicious blend that could easily wind up becoming a star for this breakout cigar company.

As the story goes, Robert and Sharon Holt were visiting with A.J. Fernández. They inspected some tobacco and saw a fermented Habano hybrid with irresistible red coloring. This reminded them of the bark of a manzanita tree, and we had a name for the blend that would use that leaf for its wrapper.

Usually, we like our apples big and juicy, but this little apple is something special. We feel like Southern Draw is on their way to big success, and this may be the cigar that helps them take the next step. While many stogies from the company are built to honor the Holt family’s hard-working military roots, this first “luxury” offering is cut from a different cloth.

The joke’s really on them, though. We considered a few of their cigars luxuries already! They just didn’t necessarily have the price tag to match!.

Underneath the Habano hybrid wrapper, the binder is a more straightforward Habano leaf. The filler blend is one to remember, though. It starts with Pelo d’Oro, the golden hair tobacco that Don Pepin Garcia of My Father Cigars is so fond of. This is then joined by Corojo ’99 and Ligero leaf for strength. The result is a medium-full cigar that is one of our favorites of the new cigars released in 2021.

Tatuaje T110 Capa Especial

This blend isn’t totally new, but the wrapper is. Those who have seen the T110 in the past probably won’t recognize the profile once they get it lit. The Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper is the capa leaf that makes this one special.

The blend has been through several iterations, including one that never made it to market. Originally, the blend was called “Thermonuclear,” and it was all Ligero tobacco. Ligero is the high nicotine content leaf that grows at the top of the stalk of the tobacco plant. It’s added to give cigars strength, but is typically joined with other kinds of leaf for balance. An all-Ligero blend, on the other hand, is one that goes balls to the wall to make a cigar that will sit you down right quick if you smoke it too fast. 

Cooler heads prevailed, and the Thermonuclear blend was shelved. It was simply too dangerous for the likes of mortals! The more refined T110 was what Tatuaje chose to release, named in reference to the 110 mm measurement of the scrapped Thermonuclear stick.

The Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper of this new cigar 2021 is lovingly rolled around a Nicaraguan filler blend by the skilled torcedores at the My Father Cigars factory in Costa Rica. Toast up this medium-full blend for the flavors of red pepper, earth, caramel, citrus, spice, and candy. 

The T110 could give the T-1000 a run for his money with all that action going on!

HVC First Selection Broadleaf 

For those who don’t know, HVC is the company founded by Cuban expat, Renier Lorenzo. He came to America at the ripe old age of 23. His work ultimately took him to Aganorsa’s tobacco fields in Nicaragua, and the cigar bug bit him hard and bit him good. A decade after the launch of this first blend in 2011, he’s still here – a cigar man, through and through. 

HVC First Selection Broadleaf is one of the new cigars 2021 that has been on the market before. But now, with some fine-tuning, HVC’s first foray into broadleaf is truly ready for prime time. Inside the genuine Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, you’ll find a delightful blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos. The Aganorsa team has put together something truly special here, and one light is all it takes to see what makes this cigar so interesting.

Is it a chocolatey churro to be enjoyed with a nice expresso? Or is it a cigar? At times, it can be hard to tell the difference. Then the spice note kicks in and we’re reminded that this is a stogie.

The cigar industry is many things, but it’s never boring. Enjoy these new cigars and let us know if you find a winner among them that can earn a place in your humidor.

Cigars Direct is proud to be the best source for today’s top brands of cigars. Check out our online store to shop for the best cigars to enjoy inside or outside this spring. Can’t decide which one to try next? Let us figure it out for you—join our Cigar of the Month Club today!