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These cigars would make stellar additions to any well-stocked humidor.

Although the basic art of cigar rolling hasn’t changed in centuries, the cigars themselves have become a reflection of our times. Few busy people today can spend an hour smoking a 7.5-inch Churchill. Shorter shapes, such as the robusto, are more in vogue, as are gurado cigars like pyramids and perfectos. In addition, milder tobaccos like candelas have given way to cigars with more body and character, like maduros and extra-aged Connecticut shade wrappers.

There are three components to a cigar: the filler, composed of different long-leaf tobaccos blended or “bunched” to provide a distinctive taste; the binder, a coarse tobacco that holds the filler together; and the wrapper, or outermost leaf, which provides 60 to 80 percent of a cigar’s overall flavor. With hundreds of brands, there’s a size, shape and taste for everyone. Here are a few we’ve selected to go up in smoke.





MACANUDO VINTAGE -2000 CABINET SELECTION
cigarworld.com


Macanudo is the bestselling cigar in America. With its middle-of-the-road spicy mildness, it is the perfect smoke for day or night. However, as with fine wines, there are certain vintage years that yield extraordinary crops. This is the case with the brand’s Vintage 2000, a Dominican cigar with one of the silkiest Connecticut shade wrappers available.


DAVIDOFF CAPA DOMINICANA
davidoff.com


The new limited-edition Capa Dominicana (capa means wrapper in Spanish) is a Dominican puro, in which all components—wrapper, binder and filler—come from the same country, which in this case is the Dominican Republic. Available only as a robusto, the cigar has a peppery, wet-grass flavor worthy of the nest Highland single malt.


PADRÓN 1964 ANNIVERSARY
padron.com


Rich and meaty, this Nicaraguan puro has a smooth, sophisticated strength that makes it an ideal after-dinner pairing with XO cognac. The tobaccos are aged four years before being box-pressed. The 1964 Anniversary was created to commemorate the company’s founding.


CAMACHO TRIPLE MADURO
caribeimportedcigar.com

Typically, thick and costly maduro tobaccos are reserved only for wrappers.This dark, chocolaty, rough-hewn leaf is produced by aging the tobacco longer than usual, giving it a deeper color and sweeter taste. The hefty binder and filler leaves sometimes make this Honduran cigar hard to keep lit, but the leathery finesse in the smoke is worth the effort.
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RICHARD CARLETON HACKER is a freelance writer in Beverly Hills.