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.
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)
Today we slice this data by Factory – a category introduced for 2017. This is not meant to be necessarily an award, but a look at how the scoring went, and what can we learn from it.
We used the following criteria to implement the rankings
- The cigar must have its score published during the 2022 adjusted Cigar Year on Cigar Coop – November 1, 2021, through October 31, 2022.
- All cigars scored were eligible regardless of release date. The goal here is to see how the factory performed during the Cigar Coop Cigar Year.
- Ties would be broken with the factory with more cigars assessed breaking the tie (there were no ties this year).
- A minimum of four cigars assessed made in a particular factory were required to make this ranking. For reference purposes, we list also separately all factories from all reviews.
- While for the Prime Time Awards we separated by small and large factories, this distinction was not made for the Performance Ranking. The Prime Time Awards factored in other intangible factors other than score. Performance Rankings are purely based on average score. The Prime Time Awards include intangible factors and are voted on by all three members of the Prime Time team while this author assessed all of the cigars scored on Cigar Coop.
The following are the 17 factories that were included in the Performance Rankings. This is based on having four cigars reviewed from that factory.
| Rank | Factory | Average | Count |
| 1 | TABADEX | 91.40 | 5 |
| 2 | Tabacalera Pichardo | 89.50 | 4 |
| TABOLISA | 89.50 | 4 | |
| 4 | TABSA | 89.00 | 7 |
| 5 | Plasenica SA | 89.00 | 6 |
| San Lotano | 89.00 | 6 | |
| 7 | La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate | 89.00 | 5 |
| 8 | My Father SA | 88.82 | 16 |
| 9 | TAVICUSA | 88.80 | 5 |
| 10 | NACSA | 88.75 | 4 |
| 11 | La Zona | 88.67 | 6 |
| 12 | Tabacalera de Garcia | 88.60 | 5 |
| 13 | Joya de Nicaragua | 88.50 | 8 |
| 14 | HATSA | 88.50 | 4 |
| JC Newman PENSA | 88.50 | 4 | |
| 16 | Tabacalera AJ Fernandez | 88.43 | 7 |
| 17 | Cigars Davidoff | 87.50 | 4 |
Observations
- There were 17 factories that met the minimum four-cigar rule.
- TABADEX tops the Factory ratings for 2022 for factories that made the minimum threshold. San Lotano also placed three cigars on the 2021 Countdown.
- After five consecutive years of decline in the average score for the top-ranked factory, TABADEX turned the corner and had 1.20 average than the 2021 Factory that topped the rankings, San Lotano.
- There are 13 factories from Nicaragua, three from the Dominican Republic, and one from Honduras that made the 17 included factories.
- My Father Cigars S.A., had the most cigars reviewed from a single factory on Cigar Coop in 2022 with 16.
Other Factories
Those factories which did not reach the four review minimum are listed below for reference. There isn’t much to infer from these numbers as each computation was from a much smaller dataset.
| Factory | Average | Count | |
| Fabrica de Tabacos Nica Sueño S.A. | 91.00 | 2 | |
| Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubanas S. de R.L | 91.00 | 2 | |
| El Reloj | 90.00 | 1 | |
| Fabrica Oveja Negra | 90.00 | 1 | |
| Tabacalera La Isla | 90.00 | 1 | |
| Tabacalera Perdomo | 90.00 | 1 | |
| Tabacos de Costa Rica | 90.00 | 1 | |
| Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia | 89.50 | 2 | |
| Tabacalera Carreras | 89.50 | 2 | |
| Fabrica de Puros Aladino SA | 89.00 | 1 | |
| Flor de Copan | 89.00 | 1 | |
| Micallef Cigars SA | 89.00 | 1 | |
| STG Esteli | 88.50 | 2 | |
| Tabacalera JVM | 88.50 | 2 | |
| La Aurora SA | 88.33 | 3 | |
| Tabacos de Oriente | 88.33 | 3 | |
| General Cigar Dominicana | 88.00 | 3 | |
| Diadema Cigars de Honduras SA | 88.00 | 2 | |
| CLE Factory | 88.00 | 1 | |
| De Los Reyes SA | 88.00 | 1 | |
| Las Lavas | 88.00 | 1 | |
| Manifatture Sigaro Toscano S.p.A | 88.00 | 1 | |
| OK Cigars | 88.00 | 1 | |
| Tabacalera La Familia | 88.00 | 1 | |
| Tabacalera La Perla | 88.00 | 1 | |
| Tabacos Cubanica SA | 88.00 | 1 | |
| n/a | 87.67 | 3 | |
| Tabacalera La Alianza | 87.33 | 3 | |
| PDR Cigars | 87.00 | 2 | |
| American Caribbean Cigars | 87.00 | 1 | |
| Tabacalera La Flor | 87.00 | 1 | |
| Charles Fairmorn | 86.00 | 1 | |
| Tabacalera La Palma | 85.50 | 2 |
Top Factory Performers
Since 2017 when we introduced this metric, four different factories have had the highest average.
2017 La Zona (Nicaragua)
2018 Fábrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua SA (Nicaragua)
2019 Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia (Dominican Republic)
2020 Tabacalera Perdomo (Nicaragua)
2021 San Lotano (Nicaragua)
2022 TABADEX (Dominican Republic)
