Fastest-Growing Cigar Brands
It takes decades to learn the art of growing premium tobacco and how to age and blend it to create great cigars. Many of today’s foremost cigarmakers descend from families who’ve been farming tobacco and making cigars for generations. Iconic brands, including Arturo Fuente, Ashton, and Padrón, are pillars in the premium cigar industry, but they were built from humble beginnings. The boundless sacrifice and passion for premium tobacco of legendary cigarmakers Carlos Fuente Sr. and José Orlando Padrón are the reasons you’ll find their cigars in the finest cigar shops around the world.
Building a legacy doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve compiled a list of today’s fastest-growing cigar brands. Thanks to the significant strides these companies have made in recent years, their cigars are likely to continue gaining popularity for decades to come.
1. La Aroma de Cuba
The first La Aroma de Cuba cigars were made in Cuba, where Winston Churchill became enamored with them during his first visit to the island as a young officer in 1895, during the Cuban War of Independence. Despite their popularity, La Aroma de Cuba cigars fell out of commerce at some point during the early 1900s. Cuban cigar brands were often bought, sold, or traded among Cubans and foreign investors.
The Levin family, owners of the distinguished Ashton brand, secured the trademarks for La Aroma de Cuba cigars in the 1990s to revive the old-world label in today’s thriving premium cigar landscape. The Levins partnered with José ‘Pepin’ Garcia and his son, Jaime Garcia, in the mid-2000s to blend and produce La Aroma de Cuba cigars. The Garcias channel their deep Cuban heritage in expanding this ultra-popular Cuban-legacy portfolio. The brand is home to several bestselling cigars, including the 94-rated original La Aroma de Cuba.
In 2011, La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor debuted, earning a 95-point rating and ‘#2 Cigar of the Year’ honors from the critics at Cigar Aficionado. The 94-rated Reserva followed soon after. In 2021, the 94-rated Pasión premiered with a new Shade Grown wrapper harvested in Nicaragua’s fertile Namanji region. In 2023, the mild and mellow 92-rated Connecticut became an instant hit with cigar lovers, while 2024 saw the release of the exclusive Noblesse. And in 2025, La Aroma de Cuba Habano Reserve is on the horizon with a sneak preview available in the La Aroma de Cuba ‘92-93 Rated’ Fresh Pack Sampler. La Aroma de Cuba cigars enjoy epic demand around the world thanks to their versatile taste and unbeatable value.
2. My Father
José ‘Pepin’ Garcia was an accomplished cigar roller who had trained hundreds of rollers in Cuba by the time he emigrated to the States in the early 2000s. Already in his fifties, Pepin started over from scratch, opening a small factory with his son, Jaime, and daughter, Janny, in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. There, the Garcias garnered critical accolades for the strong, Cubanesque cigars they made for Tatuaje brand founder Pete Johnson, along with their Don Pepin Garcia line. As their business grew, they opened an impressive new factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, where they also produce the San Cristobal and La Aroma de Cuba brands.
In 2008, the Garcias introduced My Father cigars. The original 94-rated My Father blend features an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan long-filler tobaccos grown by the Garcias on an expansive network of farms. My Father Cigars is one of today’s most prestigious brands and is home to over twenty-five unique blends, including three ‘Cigar of the Year’ titleholders: the 96-rated Flor de las Antillas for 2012, the 97-rated My Father Le Bijou 1922 for 2015, and the 98-rated My Father The Judge for 2024.
The Garcias debuted the all-new My Father Blue in 2025, the first cigar produced at their new cigar factory in Honduras. Additionally, Blue is blended entirely from tobaccos grown in Honduras, where the family has invested in new tobacco farms to meet the increasing demand for their cigars.
3. Oliva
Oliva family patriarch Gilberto Oliva Sr. and his son, José Oliva, established Oliva Cigars as a major brand more than two decades ago, first with affordable bundles of Flor de Oliva cigars before moving on to powerful Nicaraguan profiles such as the 95-rated Oliva Serie V, which was introduced in 2007. Their journey into premium cigars began in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, in 1886 when Gilberto’s grandfather, Melanio Oliva, planted his first crop of tobacco. Oliva Serie V Melanio is named for him, and it scored a 96-point rating with a ‘Cigar of the Year’ title in Cigar Aficionado in 2014.
The Olivas sold their company to J. Cortѐs N.V., a Belgian-based business owned by Fred Vandermarliere, in 2016. Vandermarliere has substantially grown the company over the past nine years, acquiring farms and expanding factory space to meet increasing demand. Stacked with dozens of popular premiums for an excellent value, the Oliva portfolio includes Serio O, Serie G, and Connecticut. The ultra-rare Oliva Monticello features exclusive reserves of the company’s oldest Nicaraguan tobaccos. The Oliva ‘Celebration’ Sampler offers a thorough introduction to this popular portfolio. The company also owns and produces the Nub and Cain brands.
4. AJ Fernandez
AJ Fernandez was born and raised in Cuba’s famed Pinar del Rio region. A local tobacco farmer, Ricardo Ledezma, taught AJ the nuances of planting, harvesting, priming, fermenting, and sorting premium tobacco. AJ’s father, Ismael, left Cuba for Nicaragua in the mid-1990s to work for his cousin, cigarmaker Nestor Plasencia Sr. In 2003, AJ joined him and eventually started a modest cigar-rolling operation with three tables in his house. His production grew, and he was making 20,000 cigars per month for Nestor until he received a substantial contract to create some seasonal projects for Rocky Patel. AJ opened a proper factory and continued making cigars under contract for others.
In 2011, he debuted his first signature brand, San Lotano, a cigar with an oval-pressed shape. AJ introduced several new lines, including Enclave, New World, Last Call, Bellas Artes, and Dias de Gloria in the years that followed. Each line is available in multiple wrapper varietals, and the cigars are incredibly popular for their earthy and spicy Nicaraguan flavor, as well as their moderate prices. His newest projects include AJ Fernandez 20th Anniversary, a limited-edition cigar, and Decenio, set to hit retailers in the summer of 2025.
Today, AJ owns multiple farms and factories throughout Nicaragua, where he still produces cigars under contract for other brands, such as Foundation and Southern Draw, in addition to his burgeoning portfolio of popular AJ Fernadez cigars.
5. Rocky Patel Mulligans
Rocky Patel transitioned from a career as an attorney in Hollywood to become a cigarmaker in the 1990s. Rocky’s unconventional background and lack of family heritage in the cigar business never deterred him from pursuing his dream. It only made him more determined to succeed as he steered his eponymous brand into the spotlight, and he did it through his prolific output. Rocky has consistently released new cigars over the past thirty years to cater to consumers’ evolving tastes.
He developed the golf-themed Rocky Patel Mulligans franchise with your pals at Holt’s to serve as a proving ground for dozens of side projects and new cigars. This budget-friendly brand has grown into one of the most successful bundle lines in history, with over 20 unique blends. Rocky tests dozens of new ideas with his Mulligans cigars, and consumers scoop them up for a steal because the packaging is inexpensive. The top-selling Mulligans cigars include Eagle Reserve, Crown Jewel, Yacht Club, Masters Collection, and Groundhog. Order the ‘Albatross’ Collection to sample this insanely popular brand from Rocky today.
6. Plasencia
The Plasencia family owns and operates a considerable network of tobacco farms and factories in Nicaragua and Honduras. The Plasencias are sixth-generation tobacco growers with roots that stretch back to 1865 in Cuba. They’ve been making cigars for dozens of today’s most prominent brands for decades, including Alec Bradley, Rocky Patel, and Romeo y Julieta.
In 2016, Nestor Plasencia Jr. debuted the family’s Plasencia brand. Plasencia cigars are exclusively crafted from the family’s oldest and rarest tobaccos, making them more expensive than other Nicaraguan brands. Plasencia 1865 Alma Fuerte and Alma Fuerte Natural are the two most popular lines, despite prices that start around $15-20 per cigar.
Known for their quality and consistency, Plasencia cigars have earned a loyal audience that continues to grow. Their complex flavor and aroma come from Nicaraguan tobaccos grown on the family’s estates in Estelí, Jalapa, Condega, and Ometepe. They recently debuted Alma del Cielo, which translates to “Soul of the Sky,” a cigar comprised of tobaccos grown 3,500 feet above sea level in Nicaragua at the family’s San Julián farm. Add Plasencia cigars to your next order, or try an assortment and discover why consumers are enamored with the top Plasencia cigars.
