Today, we look at the performance of cigars on Cigar Coop by Factory for 2023. 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 regarding how the cigars were evaluated.
For the 2023 year, a total of 148 cigars (down from 152 in 2022) were considered for this analysis. The average score for the entire set of 148 cigars was 88.59. (Statistically, this was down 0.13 points from 2022, when the average was 88.72). This is not necessarily an award, but a look at how the scoring went and what we can 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, 2022, through October 31, 2023. Our focus is on new releases.
- Ties would be broken by 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 alsoseparately list the factories withd less than four.
- 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 intangible factors other than score. Performance Rankings are purely based on average scores. The Prime Time Awards include intangible factors and are voted on by five members of the Prime Time team while this author assessed all of the cigars scored on Cigar Coop.
2023 Cigar Coop Factory Performance Rankings
The following are the 12 factories that were included in the Performance Rankings. This is based on having four cigars reviewed from that factory. There was also a listing for “Undisclosed” Factory (of which there were five)
| Rank | Factory | Count | Avg |
| 1 | Tabacos de Costa Rica | 4 | 90.75 |
| 2 | Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia | 5 | 89.80 |
| 3 | TABADEX | 4 | 89.75 |
| 4 | San Lotano | 7 | 89.00 |
| 5 | Plasencia Cigars SA | 5 | 88.80 |
| Undisclosed | 5 | 88.80 | |
| 7 | My Father Cigars SA | 15 | 88.67 |
| 8 | Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A. | 6 | 88.67 |
| 9 | Tabacalera La Alianza | 5 | 88.40 |
| 10 | Fábrica Joya de Nicaragua S.A | 7 | 88.29 |
| 11 | Agricola Ganadera Norteña S.A. | 9 | 88.22 |
| 12 | General Cigar Dominicana | 6 | 87.50 |
Observations
- Tabacos de Costa Rica tops the Factory rankings for 2023. This is based on the four assessments from Selected Tobacco, allscoringd over 90 points. It is the first time a factory from Costa Rica has topped the performance rankings.
- Eight of the 12 factories that qualified with the minimum threshold scored above the average cigar score for 2023.
- Factory Breakdown by Country
- Nicaragua – 6
- Dominican Republic – 4
- Costa Rica – 1
- Undisclosed – 1
- For the second year in a row, My Father Cigars S.A, had the most cigars reviewed from a single factory on Cigar Coop in 2023, with 15
Other Factories
Those factories that 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 | Count | Avg |
| Fabrica Oveja Negra | 1 | 91.00 |
| Tabacalera La Flor | 3 | 90.00 |
| KBF | 1 | 90.00 |
| Las Lavas | 1 | 90.00 |
| Micallef Cigars S.A. | 1 | 90.00 |
| TABOLisA | 1 | 90.00 |
| Fábrica de Tabacos Raíces Cubanas S. de R.L. | 3 | 89.67 |
| La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate | 3 | 89.67 |
| Fabrica de Tabacos HVC S.A. | 2 | 89.50 |
| Nicaraguan American Cigars S.A. (NACSA) | 3 | 89.33 |
| Tabacalera Von Eicken | 2 | 89.00 |
| Luciano Cigars SA | 1 | 89.00 |
| OK Cigars | 1 | 89.00 |
| Tabacalera Carreras | 1 | 89.00 |
| Tabacos Cubanica SA | 1 | 89.00 |
| Tabacos de Oriente | 1 | 89.00 |
| El Titan de Bronza | 2 | 88.50 |
| Tabacalera William Ventura | 2 | 88.50 |
| J. Fuego Cigar Co. de Nicaragua | 3 | 88.33 |
| TAVICUSA | 3 | 88.33 |
| Cigars Davidoff | 3 | 88.00 |
| PDR Cigars | 2 | 88.00 |
| Tabacalera Palma | 2 | 88.00 |
| American Caribbean Cigars | 1 | 88.00 |
| Arnold André Dominicana S.R.L. | 1 | 88.00 |
| Fabrica de Puros Aladino S.A. | 1 | 88.00 |
| La Aurora SA | 1 | 88.00 |
| Tabacalera Jurarip | 1 | 88.00 |
| Villiger de Nicaragua | 1 | 88.00 |
| La Zona | 3 | 87.67 |
| Tabacalera de Garcia | 3 | 87.67 |
| STG Esteli | 2 | 87.50 |
| Garmendia Cigar Co. | 3 | 87.00 |
| CLE Cigar Factory | 1 | 87.00 |
| Fabrica Centroamericana de Tabaco SA (FCT) | 1 | 87.00 |
| Fabricas de Nica Sueño | 1 | 87.00 |
| Tabacalera Tambor | 1 | 87.00 |
| J.C. Newman PENSA | 2 | 86.50 |
| Diadema Cigars de Honduras, S.A. | 1 | 86.00 |
| El Paraiso | 1 | 86.00 |
| Manifatture Sigaro Toscano S.p.A. | 1 | 86.00 |
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)
2023 Tabacos de Costa Rica (Costa Rica)
