Best Cigars With a Spicy Profile
Once in a while you’ll smoke a cigar that perks up your senses with a palate-searing zest. Cigars can be spicy. Many cigars have at least a moderate degree of spice, though most won’t cause you to consider sucking on a fire extinguisher. The best spicy cigars are balanced. They deliver a range of tasting notes that harmonize with a cigar’s spiciness. Great cigar-makers balance out the peppery, intense tobaccos they choose for a blend with other leaves that add complexity. Many of us love spicy foods, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we take shots of tabasco sauce for breakfast. Here are the top spicy cigars that belong in your humidor.
#1 - Fuente Fuente Opus X
Fuente Fuente Opus X is among the most sought-after cigars ever made. Carlito Fuente created Opus X over twenty-five years ago from a premium and ultra-rare recipe of aged Dominican binder and filler tobaccos beneath an oily reddish-brown Dominican wrapper leaf. Plenty of peppery nuances emerge in a profile of predominantly Ligero tobaccos. Smoky notes of cedar, leather, and coffee usher in an intense and chewy finish.
#2 - Ashton Symmetry
Legendary cigar-maker Carlito Fuente clearly has a gift for blending cigars with a vigorous kick that lack nothing in the way of complexity. Ashton Symmetry is an undeniable example with an ample profile of coffee beans, cinnamon, cedar, dried fruit, and figs. A sweet and zesty finish resonates with vibrant hearth-like spices. Ashton Symmetry is handmade from a glistening Cuban-seed wrapper leaf and an intricate core of Dominican and Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. The 94-rated gem is the first and only Ashton drafted with select Nicaraguan tobaccos.
#3 - My Father Le Bijou 1922
Celebrated cigar-maker Jose ‘Pepin’ Garcia created a 97-rated masterpiece and former ‘#1 Cigar of the Year’ titleholder with My Father Le Bijou 1922. A powerful and piquant profile of espresso, black pepper, hickory, leather, and earth emerges. An oily and intense Nicaraguan Oscuro wrapper leaf binds a hearty marriage of premium Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos grown on Garcia family estates. The ultra-full-bodied blend is best saved for after a meal.
#4 - La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero
Brand founder and master cigar-maker Litto Gomez blends a boutique portfolio of spicy small-batch gems like La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero. A shimmering Ecuador Sumatra wrapper leaf encapsulates a heavy recipe of premium Dominican Ligero binder and filler tobaccos. Leather, cayenne, black pepper, and hickory converge in a rich and focused finish. Gomez pioneered the tapering Chisel format, which concentrates the already strong flavor, and is among the bestselling sizes in the collection.
#5 - Oliva Serie V
The award-winning Oliva brand gained tremendous popularity with the bold and zesty taste of the 95-rated Oliva Serie V when it debuted back in 2007. Tasting notes of earth, leather, red pepper, and nuts converge in a lush conclusion in a nice collection of traditional and bigger ring gauge shapes. Oliva Serie V is the precursor to Oliva Serie V Melanio, the brand’s first #1 Cigar of the Year.’ Full-bodied fanatics prefer the original Serie V for its extra intensity.
#6 - Cain Habano
Handmade in Estelí, Nicaragua, at the award-winning Oliva factory, Cain pushes the limits of strength and spice with a bold and boisterous blend of Nicaraguan long-fillers tucked under a deep-brown Nicaraguan wrapper leaf. Tasting notes of cayenne, black pepper, and paprika accompany a dense and woody zest from beginning to end. The brand’s official mantra, “Cain is for Tough Guys Only,” is a direct reflection of the intensity the cigars possess. Fire one up and see why ten out of ten lumberjacks choose Cain when they’re craving a cigar strong enough to straighten out the curls on their moustaches.
