2017 Awards: Factory of the Year

90. 92. 89. 91. 87. 87. 91. 88. 92. 90.

Those are the scores for new cigars from the Cigars Davidoff factory in 2017, an 89.7 average, the highest of any factory where we reviewed more than two cigars. We don’t simply take the highest average for this award, but the numbers back up the selection: it was a good year for the Davidoff brand and the factory that produces it.

From The Late Hour, the six Master Selection releases, Art Edition, Chef’s Edition and even the company’s latest take on a culebra, Davidoff was making cigars that match the price tags associated with them. And while Davidoff is known for its quality, we’ve noted that it isn’t always the case. In fact, the last cigar the brand released in 2016 scored a 78 and in 2015 we noted that Davidoff as a company was not consistently putting out good new blends.

That being said, this isn’t a most improved award. Perhaps most importantly for 2017, it avoided any obvious duds, something that cannot be said about many of the other contenders for this award.

Cigars Davidoff won this award in 2013.

It’s worth noting this is the closest voting we’ve had for factory of the year. Fábrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua S.A. got as close as mathematically possible to tying for the top spot.

Other honorable mentions include Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia, Tabacalera La Flor S.A. and Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A.