The Performance Rankings were introduced in 2012 as a statistical analysis based on the average numerical score of all cigars assessed on Cigar Coop. It is meant to serve as a barometer in terms of how the cigars were assessed.
Today we slice this data by Vitola – a new category introduced for 2015. This is not meant to be an award, but a look at how scoring went, and what can we learn from it.
The big change is that the calendar year (January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019) was used as opposed to the old Cigar Coop Year formula (Post-Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving) For the 2019 year a total of 174 (down from 199 in 2017) cigars were considered for this analysis. The average score for the entire set of 173 cigars was 89.99. (Statistically, this was down 0.75 points from 2018 when the average was 90.74)
We used the following criteria to implement this:
- The cigar must have its score published during the 2019 Calendar Year: January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019
- All cigars scored were eligible regardless of release date. The goal here is to see how a vitola performed during the Cigar Coop Cigar Year.
- For this analysis, sampling data was broken up into three sets: Small (5 Cigars or Less), Medium (6 to 20 Cigars), and Large (Greater than 20 Cigars).
- Robusto Grande and Toro Grande were separated from Robusto and Toro respectively- with the Grande size having a 54 to 56 greater ring gauge. Traditional Robusto and Toro have ring gauges 50 to 52.
- Gordos had 58 and 60 ring gauge.
- Regardless of ring gauge or length, all sizes of Torpedo, Perfecto, and Gordo were each put into a single category.
- Box-pressed cigars were not separated out and were included with the rounded vitolas.
For each of the sample sets below, the number of cigars in the set is listed in parentheses.
Large Sample Sets (> 20 Cigars Reviewed)
| Rank |
Brand |
Score |
| 1 | Toro (44) | 89.82 |
| 2 | Robusto (31) | 89.77 |
Medium Sample Sets (6 to 20 Cigars Reviewed)
| Rank |
Brand |
Score |
| 1 | Corona Gorda (11) | 90.82 |
| 2 | Robusto Grande (11) | 90.55 |
| 3 | Toro Grande (18) | 90.11 |
| 4 | Belicoso/Torpedo (11) | 89.64 |
| 5 | Short Robusto (9) | 89.63 |
Small Sample Sets (<=5 Cigars Reviewed)
| Rank |
Brand |
Score |
| 1 | Corona (2) | 92.00 |
| 2 | Churchill (5) | 91.20 |
| 3 | Short Churchill (1) | 91.00 |
| 4 | Perfecto (5) | 90.80 |
| 5 | Lonsdale (3) | 90.67 |
| 6 | Petite Corona (2) | 90.50 |
| 7 | Salomon (5) | 90.40 |
| 8 | Lancero (4) | 89.75 |
| 9 | Other (5) | 89.00 |
| 10 | Gordo (5) | 88.60 |
| 11 | Rothschild (2) | 88.00 |
Assessing the Results
- Toro and Robusto have remained the two largest sampling sets of vitolas assessed over the past few years.
- While Toro led Robusto for the second year in a row, the two were in a near-statistical dead heat separated by 0.05 points.
- The past two years Toro Grande has had a higher average, but this year the sample set for Toro Grande did not have enough to fall in the Large Sampling set category.
- In each of the past five years the Vitola Performance ratings have been done, the Toro size has been the most sampled. The 2018 sampling was no exception as Toro led the way with 44.
- Corona Gorda led the medium sampling set for the second year in a row
- While Gordo was in the low sampling set and had the second lowest average of vitolas, the 2019 Cigar of the Year, the Saga Short Tales Tomo VI: The Sixth Element was one of the Gordo sizes included in the sample set.
- There were no Super Gordo cigars assessed. Back in 2016, there were nine cigars of these size assessed.
- The Smaller Sampling Set was included mostly for reference. The sample set is too small to make any significant trend conclusions.
