Luxury Cigar of the Year 2022 – Alfonso Añejos

With our Luxury category taking into account packaging, attention to detail, and overall opulence, it should come as little surprise that Selected Tobacco’s latest release would claim the prize. The company—best known for cigar lines such as Atabey and Byron—is the creation of Nelson Alfonso Egüed, the man responsible for the packaging designs of many of the most high-profile/luxurious Cuban releases of the modern era (including the Cohiba Behike BHK), as well as Padrón’s famed 50th Anniversary Humidor of 2014. With his latest creation, Alfonso drew inspiration from the world of winemaking; specifically, the use of French oak during the aging process of many of the most acclaimed wines in the world. While Selected Tobacco has long aged their cigars in cedar rooms for two to five years, the Alfonso Añejos adds French oak into the process, aging the cigars for five years with both types of wood. Like many Atabey and limited Cuban cigars before it, the Alfonso Añejos arrives in an assortment of packaging arrangements, not limited to humidors, jars, tubos, and a more standard dress box. For the blend, the Alfonso Añejos showcases Ecuadorian Connecticut not only as the wrapper but the binder as well. These leaves surround Nicaraguan and Peruvian fillers, being rolled by the company’s usual manufacturing partner, which is located in Costa Rica. Of course, such stats would be rendered useless without a superior smoking experience to accompany such accoutrements, and the cigar delivers. It begins with a mild-to-medium body, having characteristics of sweet florals and clean cedar. With a soft texture, the cigar opens up to include almond butter, creamy malt, and slightly zestier notes of cinnamon and cardamom through the retrohale (topping out at a medium body).

Alfonso Añejos Breakdown

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