Cigar Award Winners Top 25

#5 Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars 2024

Línea Maestra is a premium extension to the Partagas range in the same way that Behike was for Cohiba in 2010, Línea 1935 for Montecristo in 2017 and Línea de Oro for Romeo y Julieta in 2020. It is the second addition following the introduction of the Partagas Línea Maduro in 2018.

The three new sizes which make up the Linea Maestra are Origen, Rito and Maestro. All are unique within the Habanos portfolio and have been crafted with a Cabeza Tumbada or ‘dropped head, a style often referred to as a ‘109’ due to Partagas 109 cigars rolled with the same finish included in commemorative branded humidors in the past. This traditional style of finishing was last seen on the Ramon Allones Hunters & Frankau Anniversario 225, a special release in 2015 to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the company.

For the first time in the history of the brand and the Habanos, S.A. portfolio, all the tobacco for the new Línea comes exclusively from the San Luis region of Pinar del Río, Cuba. This gives them a special aromatic complexity without losing the brand’s unique character and blend and are classified as full bodied like the rest of the portfolio. The Línea Maestra range is presented in striking blue lacquered boxes containing 20 cigars. Each cigar is dressed with a unique blue band sporting the name of the vitola as well as an additional foot band.

Size: 5 1⁄4” (132mm) x 56 

#1 Cigar Aficionado Top 25 Cigars 2011

Alan Rubin created a blend called Alec Bradley Prensado. Rubin had smoked a very dark wrapper leaf grown in a region of southern Honduras called Trojes and decided to build a cigar brand around it, using Central American tobacco exclusively. And what a cigar he made.

The brand hit the market in 2009 and was acclaimed from the very beginning. In a vertical brand tasting in Cigar Insider of the five original sizes, each scored 91 points or more and earned our accolade of Humidor Selection. The Alec Bradley Prensado Churchill, made at the superb Raices Cubanas factory in Danlí, Honduras, is as gorgeous a cigar as you'll ever see, with a picture-perfect head and a stunning wrapper. But it is the flavor that makes it a classic smoke. The Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos come together to create leather, chocolate and spice notes, and a long, lush finish.