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 well companies scored overall for the year.
Today we slice this data by cigar company, a category we have ranked since 2012. This is not meant to be an award, but a look at how scoring went, and what we can learn from it.
For the 2022 year, a total of 152 cigars (down from 163 in 2021) were considered for this analysis. The average score for the entire set of 152 cigars was 88.72. (Statistically, this was down 0.34 points from 2021 when the average was 89.06).
We used the following criteria to implement this:
- The cigar must have its score published between November 1, 2021, and October 31, 2022.
- Rankings are done by companies. Prior to 2019, rankings were based on brands and also combined companies that distributed for other companies.
- 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.
- A company must have four scored cigars to be eligible. There are no quotas set as to a minimum number of cigars. For the most part, a first-in, first-out algorithm is used to determine the order cigars are assessed. Our focus is new releases and as a result, some companies simply land more cigars than others.
- While there were no ties, if there had been one, we would have had the manufacturer with more cigars assessed breaking the tie.
| Rank | Company | Count | Avg |
| 1 | Quesada Cigars | 4 | 91.33 |
| 2 | Espinosa Cigars | 5 | 89.80 |
| 3 | Altadis USA | 5 | 89.60 |
| 4 | Alec Bradley Cigar Company | 4 | 89.50 |
| 5 | Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust | 6 | 89.50 |
| 6 | Drew Estate | 5 | 89.00 |
| 7 | JC Newman Cigar Company | 6 | 88.83 |
| 8 | Rocky Patel Premium Cigars | 5 | 88.80 |
| 9 | Tatuaje Cigars | 13 | 88.77 |
| 10 | Scandinavian Tobacco Group | 10 | 88.40 |
| 11 | Protocol Cigars | 7 | 88.14 |
| 12 | Tabacalera SLU (VegaFina) | 4 | 88.00 |
| 13 | Davidoff | 7 | 87.71 |
Assessing the Results
- A total of 62 different companies had cigars assessed on Cigar Coop during the assessment period, two less than 2021 (the total was 63).
- Meeting the minimum criteria, Quesada Cigars was the only company with an average score over 90. This was fueled by three Cigar of the Year Countdown spots, and being the highest-scoring cigar of the past cigar year.
- This year we decided to recombine General Cigar & Forged into one category under Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG). Ultimately both General and Forged are really sales entities and the brands have a lot of cross-over into product management
- Altadis, Davidoff, Drew Estate, and STG (which includes General and Forged) are the “Big Four” companies that withdrew from the 2020 PCA Trade Show. All of these companies met the minimum four-cigar rule for the 2022 Performance Rankings. This accounted for 27 cigars assessed in 2021 or 17.8% (up from 38 and 23.30% in 2020).
- Of the Big Four, Altadis and STG had an average higher than the overall average for 2022 than the previous year
- At the same time, cigars from the Big Four (including Forged) averaged 88.56. This is +0.11 from the overall average of 88.45
- Davidoff finished at the top of the Performance Rankings in 2016. Since then it has ranked: 8th (2017, Avg: 90.54), 8th (2018, Avg: 90.67), 5th (2019, Avg: 90.14), 8th (2020, Avg: 88.86), 11th (2021, Avg: 88.56), and 13th (2022, Avg: 87.71)
Previous Company Performance Rankings #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)
2017 Bombay Tobak (92.00)
2018 Crux Cigars (91.80)
2019 Crux Cigars (90.60)
2020 Joya de Nicaragua (90.00) * (via tiebreaker w/ EP Carrillo and JRE Tobacco)
2021: Espinosa Cigars (90.50)
2022: Quesada Cigars (91.33)
Other Averages
Those cigars that had less than four cigars assessed are included here for reference here.
| Company | Count | Avg |
| Pospiech Cigars | 1 | 92.00 |
| Arturo Fuente | 1 | 90.00 |
| Ferio Tego | 2 | 90.00 |
| La Palina Cigars | 1 | 90.00 |
| La Sirena Cigars | 1 | 90.00 |
| Luciano Cigars | 2 | 90.00 |
| My Father Cigars | 1 | 90.00 |
| Oveja Negra Brands | 1 | 90.00 |
| Perdomo Cigars | 1 | 90.00 |
| RoMa Craft Tobac | 1 | 90.00 |
| Room101 (Prior STG) | 1 | 90.00 |
| Selected Tobacco | 1 | 90.00 |
| Crowned Heads | 2 | 89.50 |
| Esteban Carreras | 2 | 89.50 |
| Oliva CIga Co. | 3 | 89.33 |
| Aganorsa Leaf | 3 | 89.00 |
| ATL Cigar Co | 1 | 89.00 |
| Boutique Blends Cigars | 2 | 89.00 |
| Crux Cigars | 1 | 89.00 |
| HVC Cigars | 2 | 89.00 |
| Illusione Cigars | 1 | 89.00 |
| JRE Tobacco Co | 1 | 89.00 |
| La Aurora Cigars | 2 | 89.00 |
| Micallef Cigars | 1 | 89.00 |
| Plasencia Cigars | 2 | 89.00 |
| Reinado Cigars | 1 | 89.00 |
| Troianello Cigars | 1 | 89.00 |
| Viaje Cigars | 1 | 89.00 |
| Joya de Nicaragua | 3 | 88.67 |
| Jake Wyatt Cigar Co | 2 | 88.50 |
| Casa Cuevas Cigars | 1 | 88.00 |
| De Los Reyes Cigars | 1 | 88.00 |
| Frontline Cigars | 1 | 88.00 |
| Padron Cigars | 1 | 88.00 |
| Stallone Cigars | 1 | 88.00 |
| E.P. Carrillo | 3 | 87.33 |
| Ashton Cigars | 1 | 87.00 |
| CLE Cigar Company | 2 | 87.00 |
| Fratello Cigars | 2 | 87.00 |
| La Flor Dominicana | 1 | 87.00 |
| Nomos Cigars | 1 | 87.00 |
| PDR Cigar | 2 | 87.00 |
| Vintage Rock-A-Feller Cigar Grp | 1 | 87.00 |
| Southern Draw | 3 | 86.67 |
| Kristoff Cigars | 1 | 86.00 |
| Villiger | 1 | 86.00 |
| La Galera Cigars | 1 | 85.00 |
| Platinum Nova | 1 | 85.00 |
| Toscano Cigars | 1 | 85.00 |
Coop,
Your articles, ratings and analysis of the cigar industry is, in my opinion, the BEST there is. Although I don’t always agree, that’s the nature of smoking premium cigars. What I may enjoy, is not necessarily in the majority opinion.
Keep up your great work. I always look forward to opening my emails and social media and finding your many posts!
Great Article. Well thought out