Top 10 Best Cigars Under $5
Buying great cigars for under $5 is easy with a little guidance. No matter how inexpensive a cigar is, it isn’t worth your money if it doesn’t offer great taste or isn’t made well. There are plenty of consistent and impressive cigars under $5 apiece. You can buy some brands by the single or in 5-packs, and others by the box or bundle. Here are the top 10 cigar brands you should consider when your budget is $5 or less for a good cigar.
1. La Aroma de Cuba
Award-winning cigar-maker Jose ‘Pepin’ Garcia blends La Aroma de Cuba to unparalleled standards for taste and complexity. A shimmering Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper embraces a medium-bodied blend of premium aged Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos in a wide collection of classic shapes, beginning around $5 for 5 by 50 Rothschild. Tasting notes of cocoa, cedar, molasses, earth, and spices enchant the senses. The 93-rated blend received ‘#1 Cigar Industry Best Buy’ honors in Cigar Aficionado and continues to set the benchmark for flavor and value today.
2. Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva
Virtually every premium cigar-maker achieves success with inexpensive cigars before they graduate to the upper echelon of price and rarity sophisticated connoisseurs expect. Celebrated blender Carlito Fuente crafts many of the world’s most sought-after high-end brands, and the Arturo Fuente portfolio begins with the affordable and consistent Grand Reserva blend for under $5, when you’re buying a box. The cigar is blended in a gingerbread-hued Cameroon wrapper (Natural), or a toothy Connecticut Broadleaf (Maduro), over a premium core of well-aged Dominican long-fillers. Tasting notes of cedar, coffee bean, cocoa, and black pepper culminate in a perfect Arturo Fuente cigar for beginners.
3. Padrón
The top-rated Padrón portfolio is built on the company’s original cornerstone blend of Nicaraguan long-fillers nestled beneath an oily brown Nicaraguan wrapper leaf. The smallest sizes begin under $5 apiece, but this legendary collection includes an extensive array of traditional formats to smoke. Notes of cocoa, cedar, cayenne, and baking spices punctuate a medium to full-bodied profile from one of the industry’s most popular Nicaraguan cigars.
4. Holt's Factory Specials
You can buy insanely affordable Holt’s Factory Specials in 5-packs or big boxes of 50 or 100 cigars. Three wrapper options are available: Natural, Maduro, and Sun Grown. Each version is handcrafted in Nicaragua from a balanced, medium-bodied recipe of Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Honduran long-fillers. Tasting notes include white pepper, roasted nuts, coffee beans, and leather. Scores of diehard aficionados leave glowing reviews of Holt’s Factory Specials because you can easily fill a coolerdor starting between $2 and $3 per cigar.
5. Argyle
As ‘America’s #1 Value Cigar,’ Argyle delivers loads of premium flavor for a fraction of the price. The Argyle portfolio is stacked with a wide variety blends handcrafted by seasoned cigar-rollers in the Dominican Republic. Shop a wealth of traditional long-filler options for under $5 per cigar in an array of wrappers, including Connecticut Shade, Connecticut Broadleaf, Corojo, and Ecuador Habano. Two Cuban-sandwich editions, Argyle Fumas and Argyle Fumas Connecticut, start between $1 and $2 apiece. Rely on Argyle for well-made profiles with notes of cedar, cocoa, nuts, coffee with cream, hickory, and black pepper.
6. Old Henry
The Old Henry portfolio is blended from top to bottom by celebrated father-and-son cigar-makers Pepin Garcia and Jaime Garcia at their prestigious My Father factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. A rich and robust collection includes five premium handmade blends with Ecuador Connecticut, Connecticut Broadleaf, Ecuador Habano, and Ecuador Sumatra wrappers. Beneath each is a classic blend of well-aged Nicaraguan tobaccos grown on select Garcia family estates. Plus, Old Henry Fumadores start at just over $3 per cigar when a tasty but inexpensive Cuban-sandwich bundle fits the bill.
7. Rocky Patel Mulligans
Rocky Patel Mulligans is the fastest-growing Rocky franchise in history. The famous Rocky Patel brand name adorns a sprawling collection of premium handmade gems for a fragment of the retail price. Because Rocky is ever in search of the perfect new blend, he produces several new projects at a time. Because not all of them see the light of day, RP Mulligans bundles were created as an unabridged platform for Rocky to crank out his finest work without the worry of designing boxes or charging big prices. Discover a stunning number of wrappers and popular shapes starting between $2 and $3 per cigar.
8. Villiger
Until recently, Villiger was better known as a big European brand that manufactured machine-made cigarillos. Over the past decade, the company has breached the premium handmade market in the U.S. thanks to big discounts and a handful of praise-worthy ratings in Cigar Aficionado. Because Villiger is constantly on sale at Holt’s, you can score illustrious blends like the 93-rated, former ‘Top 10 Cigar of the Year,’ La Flor de Ynclan, 94-rated La Vencedora, 93-rated San'Doro Colorado, 91-rated La Meridiana, the creamy and easygoing Villiger Cuellar Kreme, and more at rock-bottom prices. Villiger is also home to budget-friendly bundles like La Capitana and Cabarete between $2 and $3 per cigar.
9. Quorum
Quorum is a value brand handmade in Estelí, Nicaragua, for the folks at J.C. Newman. Bundles of 20 cigars begin under $2 per stick in six traditional cigar shapes. Quorum is crafted from an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper and a core of all-Nicaraguan tobaccos underneath. When you need a basic cigar for doing yard work or other outdoor activities that could interfere with your enjoyment of an expensive premium, Quorum is worth tossing in the coolerdor.
10. Don Lino
Don Lino has been the ultimate yard ‘gar for over twenty years. The brand debuted during the Cigar Boom of the 1990s, but faded in and out of blowout bins around the country before gaining a solid foothold among value buyers. Today, you can indulge in the ‘Don of Discounts’ in five distinct Dominican-made blends starting around $2 per cigar for Don Lino Fumas. Don Lino Dark Horse is a medium-bodied bestseller, and there’s even a Candela-wrapped gem, Casa Verde, to smoke. Creamy and complex notes of wood, baking spices, cocoa, leather, and more punctuate a well-made portfolio you can buy without thinking twice about the price.
