Our 2016 Year in Review coverage continues with a look at how the various cigar brands did on Cigar Coop for 2016. This is a statistical analysis based on the average numerical score of all cigars assessed on Cigar Coop. It is not meant to be necessarily an award, but a look at how scoring went, and what can we learn from it. For 2016, a total of 243 (down from 247 in 2015) cigars were considered for this analysis.We used the
We used the following criteria to implement this:
- The cigar must have its scored published during the 2015 Cigar Coop Cigar Year that ran from November 27, 2015 to November 24, 2016.
- All cigars scored were eligible regardless of release date. The goal here is to see how the brand performed during the Cigar Coop Cigar Year.
- A brand or brand grouping must have 5 scored cigars to be eligible.
- Ties were broken with the manufacturer with more cigars assessed breaking the tie.
- This year we relied less on logical groups. The only logical groupings used were CLE /Asylum and Black Label Trading Company / Black Works Studio.
Best Brand Performance 2016: Davidoff
Crux Cigar Company finished second averaging an even 92.0 based on having the minimum of five reviews. Crux’s strong placement was on the strength of having the #1 Cigar of the Year for 2016 that scored a 95.
A surprise third place was Black Label Trading Company / Black Works Studio, the brands of Fabrica Oveja Negra finishing with a 91.80 average.
The following are the 15 brands that met the criteria above to qualify for this list.
| Rank |
Brand |
Score |
| 1 | Davidoff Cigars (8) | 92.63 |
| 2 | Crux Cigar Company (5) | 92.00 |
| 3 | Black Label Trading Co / Black Works Studio (5) | 91.80 |
| 4 | Bombay Tobak (7) * | 91.71 |
| 5 | MoyaRuiz Cigars (5) | 91.60 |
| 6 | Espinosa Cigars (6) | 91.33 |
| 7 | La Flor Dominicana (6) | 91.17 |
| 8 | CLE / Asylum (6) | 90.5 |
| 9 | Rocky Patel Premium Cigars (7) * | 90.43 |
| 10 | Viaje Cigars (10) | 90.20 |
| 11 | General Cigar (5) * | 90.20 |
| 12 | E.P. Carrillo (10) | 90.10 |
| 14 | Nomad Cigar Company (5) | 90.00 |
| 15 | Atladis USA (5) | 89.80 |
| 16 | Tatuaje Cigars (14) | 89.79 |
Average: 90.80
* Current Sponsor of Cigar Coop and Stogie Geeks during 2016
Other Observations
- For the 243 cigars assessed, the average was 90.80. There were only seven brands which qualified for the Performance Ratings that averaged higher than the 90.80 mark.
- There were 15 brands that met the minimum five cigar rule – the same as last year. There are no quotas set for how many cigars per brand are reviewed – it just turns out like that.
- Tatuaje’s lower numbers were primarily due to 11 of the 14 cigars being a part of the Skinny Monsters Series / Monsters Series which did score lower this year on Cigar Coop than most Tatuajes. The three Tatuaje cigars that did not fall into this category still averaged 91.67.
- Davidoff’s 92.63 score was only 0.03 higher than the 2015’s Performance leader Debonaire Cigars had (92.60). Debonaire Cigars did not have the five cigars to qualify for the 2016 Performance Ratings.
- CLE / Asylum has the highest average (90.5) for a brand that did not have a cigar on the 2016 Top 30 Countdown.
- Looking at these rankings over the past few years, I do question whether or not Cigar Coop spends too much time on reviewing boutiques – and in particular the newer boutiques. This isn’t a knock, but the larger companies still produce more in quantity – and I wonder whether more assessments are needed to better represent a powerful segment of the market.
Previous Brand Performance Ratings #1 by Year
2012 E.P. Carrillo (93.00)
2013 La Palina (93.80)
2014 Regius Cigars (93.40)
2015 Debonaire (92.60)
2016 Davidoff (92.63)
