Alec Bradley

Alec Bradley cigars are so good, they garnered first-place honors in Cigar Aficionado in 2008 and were even named Cigar of the Week at one time. They...

Alec Bradley cigars are so good, they garnered first-place honors in Cigar Aficionado in 2008 and were even named Cigar of the Week at one time. They still have pride of place in most cigar surveys and polls for providing a flavor treat within a well-constructed form. Honduran-grown, Cuban tobacco makes its way into this stellar cigar manufactured in Honduras. The Honduran filler is encased in a variety of wrappers, resulting in an astonishing range of flavor categories.

Its name gives it away: Tempus Cigars Have a distinctive red-brown wrapper grown in Honduras. This extraordinary leaf delivers a complex coffee-pepper taste to the cigar, one with a slow burn allowing longer smoking pleasure. This is not a cigar for the novice or the delicate, but rather for the cigar enthusiast who relishes a memorable smoke. Available in smaller 41- and 42-ring sizes for the before-dinner smoke or in substantial 49- and 52-ring size for a long evening over a bottle of cognac with select friends, it is difficult to overlook premium cigars like the Tempus by Alec Bradley.

Pryme Cigars are a limited-release product of about 1,500 boxes. Despite its rarity, the Pryme still offers a luxurious smoke at an affordable price between $5 and $10. The Ecuadorian wrapper is the source of the Pryme’s scarcity, taken from the priming of the tobacco plant, a notoriously fragile ingredient for incorporation into a fine cigar. A blend of Honduran, Nicaraguan, Mexican, and the Dominican Republic make up the filler, the heart of the cigar. As expected in a cigar made with this level of care and attention to detail, the Pryme is exemplary. Its aroma is rather earthy, its taste rich and complex. Despite its exclusive origins, the Pryme is surprising affordable, ranging from $6 to $10.

Continuing in the iconoclastic vein, the mild-but-wild may enjoy the Fix, the Maxx, the Trilogy, or the Freak. The most traditional and sedate may settle on the Spirit of Cuba Sandwich, constructed with a longer leaf the length of the cigar aiding in a longer-lasting smoking experience.