Today, we are examining the performance of cigars on Cigar Coop by country of origin for 2024. Performance rankings, introduced in 2012, are based on a statistical analysis that calculates the average numerical score of all cigars evaluated on Cigar Coop over a 12-month period. The purpose of performance rankings is to serve as a barometer regarding how the cigars were assessed. Performance rankings are not meant to be an award but a look at how the scoring went and what we can learn from it.
For the 2024 year, 168 cigars (down from 148 in 2023) were reviewed. The average score for the entire set of 168 cigars was 88.45. (Statistically, this was down 0.15 points from 2023, when the average was 88.59)
We used the following criteria to implement this:
- The cigar must have its score published from November 1, 2023, through October 31, 2024.
- All cigars scored were eligible regardless of release date. The goal is to see how the country of origin performed during the Cigar Coop Cigar Year.
- Most cigars smoked were from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua. As a result, these three countries have a significantly larger sample set than other cigar-producing countries. So, we divided the sampling data into small and large groups. A large sampling group had 12 or more cigars assessed.
2024 Cigar Coop Performance Rankings by Country of Origin
Overall Average 2024: 88.45 (158 Cigars)
Large Sampling Data ≥12 Cigars
| Country | Avg Score # of Cigars (2024) |
Avg Score # of Cigars (2023) |
Avg Score # of Cigars (2022) |
Avg Score # of Cigars (2021) |
Avg Score # of Cigars (2020) |
Difference (2024 vs. 2023) |
| Nicaragua | 88.61 (83) | 88.53 (81) | 88.83 (96) | 89.30 (101) | 89.67 (85) | +0.08 |
| Dominican Republic | 88.26 (46) | 88.65 (43) | 88.35 (37) | 88.69 (36) | 89.45 (51) | -0.39 |
| Honduras | 88.18 (23) | 88.17 (12) | 88.79 (14) | 88.63 (16) | 89.28 (25) | +0.01 |
Small Sampling Data <12 Cigars
| Country | Avg Score # of Cigars (2024) |
Avg Score # of Cigars (2023) |
Avg Score # of Cigars (2022) |
Avg Score # of Cigars (2021) |
Avg Score # of Cigars (2020) |
| United States | 88.83 (4) | 88.5 (2) | 90.00 (1) | 87.5 (2) | 90.5 (2) |
| Costa Rica | 88.67 | 90.75 (4) | 90.00 (1) | 91.0 (2) | 90.0 (2) |
| Mexico | 88.0 (1) | 87.5 (2) | 91.00 (1) | ||
| n/a | 87.67 (3) | 89.67 (3) | 89.00(2) | 88.4 (5) | 85.75 (4) |
| Italy | 86.00 (1) | 88.00 (1) | 87.00 (1) | 87.00 (1) |
Assessing the Results
- Nicaragua tops the large data set rankings for the fourth time in five years.
- Since 2017, the average score for the country with the best average in the large data set has decreased.
- Nicaragua and Honduras were nearly statistically tied with the average scores from last year.
- Nicaragua achieved the lowest average score (88.61) of any country that has topped the Country of Origin rankings since they began in 2015. However, Nicaragua’s average score did increase from the previous year by 0.08 points, rising from 88.53 in 2023.
- There are still a large number of cigars from Nicaragua (83) compared to the next most, the Dominican Republic (46)
- Cigars produced in the United States, Costa Rica, and Mexico were reviewed in 2023, but those countries had a small set of data and were only included for reference purposes.
