Best Boutique Cigars: Our Top 5 Picks
Boutique cigars come and go, but some brands have more staying power than others. Boutique cigars are produced in small batches for a niche audience. Many new cigar companies introduce boutique blends on a smaller scale but graduate as their sales and exposure grow. Some cigarmakers retain their boutique status, even after their audience increases, simply because consumers perceive them as small, specialized producers. Here are five boutique cigar brands that are worth smoking. Some have been around for twenty years; others are relative newcomers. All of them produce consistent, complex cigars that are rated highly by Cigar Aficionado critics.
1. La Flor Dominicana
La Flor Dominicana brand founder Litto Gomez was born in Spain and raised in Uruguay. He came to the States from Canada as a young man and worked a variety of jobs before leaving a jewelry business behind to become a cigarmaker in the 1990s. He eventually settled in the Dominican Republic, where his factory produces a respected portfolio of small-batch cigars. For the past two and a half decades, La Flor Dominicana cigars have become popular among fans of full-bodied Dominican smokes. The brand’s best-known blends include the 94-rated La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero and the 96-rated Andalusian Bull, the ‘#1 Cigar of the Year’ in Cigar Aficionado for 2016. Gomez also pioneered the popular Chisel shape – a carefully handmade Figurado with a flattened head that you can smoke in several La Flor Dominicana blends.
2. Plasencia
Nestor Plasencia and his sons are not small-time cigarmakers – they’re among the biggest growers of tobacco in Nicaragua and Honduras. Still, the brand that bears their name is relatively new. For years, the Plasencias have been making cigars for some of today’s biggest brands, including Rocky Patel and Alec Bradley. They debuted their eponymous Plasencia Cigars brand in 2016. They are made in smaller quantities than other brands the Plasencias produce, and they’re relatively pricey because Plasencia cigars are blended with the family’s oldest and rarest tobaccos. Nestor’s son, Nestor Plasencia Jr., is the face of the company. The Plasencia portfolio appeals to fans of Nicaraguan cigars, and the family grows its own tobacco across the country’s best-known regions, including Estelí, Condega, and Jalapa, as well as the volcanic island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua.
3. Foundation
Foundation brand owner Nick Melillo spent a decade working at Drew Estate, learning all about tobacco procurement and blending before branching out on his own. Foundation Cigars are produced in Nicaragua at the AJ Fernandez factory and the TABSA (Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A.) factory. Melillo is a history buff, and he incorporates historical themes into his product lines. The Tabernacle is rooted in the story of King Solomon from the Old Testament. Melillo’s Olmec cigars celebrate the ancient Mesoamerican peoples who once occupied Mexico’s San Andrés Valley, where the cigars’ wrappers are grown.
4. Tatuaje
The Tatuaje portfolio has grown considerably since its inception in 2003. Brand founder Pete Johnson didn’t invent boutique cigars, but his brand was certainly at the forefront of their popularity. “Tatuaje” is Spanish for “tattoo,” and Pete Johnson fits the image of a boutique cigarmaker with his heavily tattooed arms and rock ‘n’ roll persona. In the early 2000s, Johnson partnered with legendary cigarmaker José ‘Pepin’ Garcia – who, at the time, was unknown in the U.S. – to blend the first Tatuaje cigars. Today, Tatuaje is home to over fifteen small-batch blends, including the original Tatuaje, Havana VI Verocu, and Nuevitas. Savor the strong and spicy taste of Tatuaje, the brand that put the Garcia family on the map before they launched their world-renowned My Father brand.
5. Southern Draw
Southern Draw cigars hail from the AJ Fernandez factory in Nicaragua, where they’re blended and handcrafted for Robert and Sharon Holt, the founders of Southern Draw. This small-batch collection features Ecuador Habano, Ecuador Connecticut, Indonesian, and Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper varietals. AJ blends Southern Draw cigars from a range of Cuban-seed long-fillers grown in Nicaragua, as well as select tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and the famous San Andrés region of Mexico. The brand’s top sellers include the creamy and mild profile of Rose of Sharon and the heartier, earthy taste of Jacob’s Ladder. Fans of AJ Fernandez looking for additional nuances in a premium Nicaraguan lineup should explore Southern Draw.
