2020 Reviews in Review

Like last year, I’m going to start off the Awards Week at halfwheel with a look back at some of the data from 2020. I guess I should also start with a disclosure: for the purposes of this article, last year is a reference to 2019.

This is only the second year I’ve published this data in an article like this, so much of this is to see how things changed particularly given the complications of 2020 forced us to adjust the schedule by which we review cigars. What’s most interesting about this data is how similar much of it is to 2019. But the next most interesting factoid is that despite us modifying our review schedule for a couple months to schedule less cigar reviews, we actually reviewed 36 more cigars in 2020 than in 2019.

The reason for this improvement is simple: we didn’t travel as much.

In order for us to produce our reviews, it takes one person smoking three samples of the same cigar. That is challenging enough as it is when you are responsible for writing two of those reviews per week and want to try to smoke cigars on a clean palate, but once you start traveling it gets much more complicated. The lack of travel after February meant that Brooks and, particularly I (Charlie) dramatically improved the consistency in which our reviews are published. Furthermore, we also typically take a few weeks off from reviewing around the annual PCA Convention & Trade Show, something that didn’t happen in 2019.

THE BIG PICTURE

In 2020 we published 273 reviews with an average score of 87.22, which is just one-tenth of a point lower than last year.

For a normal review, i.e. the ones published Tuesday-Sunday, we try to smoke three samples per review. For redux reviews and many of our Holy Grail Week reviews, it’s usually only one sample, which oftentimes produces a different distribution of scores.

Here’s the average score for each of those categories:

• Regular Reviews: 87.01 (87.23 last year)
• Redux Reviews: 88.41 (88.77)
• Holy Grail Week Reviews: 86.33 (81.67)

As you can see, there’s remarkable consistency in the regular and redux review numbers compared to 2019. What’s quite different is the Holy Grail Week reviews, which isn’t surprising given the 2019 Holy Grail Week had some pretty low scores, though I imagine 2021 is probably going to be even lower than 2020 on that front.

At halfwheel, the most important score is 91. If a cigar scores 91 or greater and meets some other qualifications, it’s eligible for our Top 25. We had 53 cigars score 91 or above, though many of those were redux reviews or older cigars that would not meet those qualifications.

In 2019 there were only 13 cigars that scored 92 or greater, that number increased to 24 in 2020. What’s interesting about that is it really just a concentrated increase in cigars scoring 92 versus a widespread distribution of scores more than 91 points. For example, there were just seven cigars that scored 93 or above compared to five in 2019.

There wasn’t as stark of an increase in scores at the bottom end of the table. Only 11 cigars—roughly 4 percent—scored below 80. That’s an increase from the eight in 2019, which was roughly 3.3 percent.

REVIEWERS BY NUMBERS

Patrick retains his crown for most reviews published in a year, I retain the crown for being the toughest scorer.

• Brooks — 87.25 Average (89 Reviews)
• Charlie — 86.41 Average (90 Reviews)
• Patrick — 87.98 Average (94 Reviews)

While I might be the toughest grader, I’m responsible for the highest score (97) and one of two instances of the second-highest score (94). Patrick was the only reviewer to score a cigar 93 points, he did it four times. I was also responsible for the two lowest scores—a 65 and a 66—as well as the eight out of the 10 lowest scores.

I’m not particularly thrilled with the lattermost fact as that means I had way more shittier cigar experiences than Brooks and Patrick combined.

Just to reiterate, none of us actually know what the scores are going to be until after the reviews are finished. While we certainly know whether or not the cigar will “do well” or “do poorly,” it’s not as if Patrick was trying to give 93 point ratings.

Country	Number of Cigars Reviewed	Average Score
Brazil	1	88
Costa Rica	3	76.33
Cuba	21	84.71
Dominican Republic	63	87
Honduras	23	88.26
Italy	1	86
Mexico	1	87
Nicaragua	139	87.63
Undisclosed	10	87.8
USA	11	88.55

BY COUNTRY

Out of all the various conclusions that can be drawn from this data, the most startling to me is the following: in 2019 we reviewed 129 cigars that weren’t from Nicaragua, in 2020 that number was 134. It’s a remarkably consistent number, though it means that the percentage of cigars reviewed from Nicaragua decreased slightly from 52.74 percent to 50.92 percent.

I’m a bit surprised that we reviewed more Honduran cigars in 2020 than 2019, particularly consider how coronavirus restrictions had a much greater impact in Honduras than elsewhere.

As I said last year, I’d like to review more Cuban cigars. We are trying, but it’s tough given how Habanos S.A. seems to be releasing new items these days, i.e. way less supply than demand.

Company	Average	Count
7-20-4	81	1
A.J. Fernandez	85.67	3
ACE Prime	84	1
ADVentura	90	3
AGANORSA Leaf	87.75	4
Agio	87	1
Alec Bradley	88.5	4
All Saints	91	1
Altadis U.S.A.	88.13	8
Arturo Fuente	84	3
Ashton	85	1
Big Sky	84	1
Black Label Trading Co.	86.33	3
Casa Turrent	87	1
Casdagli	82	2
Cavalier Genève	89.25	4
Cigar Culture	88	1
CLE	90	1
Crowned Heads	88.14	7
Crux	88	1
Cubariqueño	89	1
Curivari	92	1
Daniel Marshall	87	1
Dapper	84.5	2
Davidoff of Geneva USA	89.06	16
De Los Reyes	89	1
Debonaire	91	1
Dissident	88	1
Drew Estate	87.83	6
Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust	89.57	7
E.P. Carrillo	87.4	5
El Artista	89	1
El Septimo	65	1
Emilio	89	2
Epic	88	1
Espinosa	88	2
Esteban Carreras	86	1
Falto	86	1
Foundation	90.33	3
Fratello	83	2
General Cigar Co.	86.82	11
GTO	82	1
Gurkha	87.67	3
Habanos S.A.	84.41	22
Hiram & Solmon	85	1
HVC	85	2
Illusione	90.67	3
Indianhead	79	1
Isabela	87	1
Island Jim	90	1
J.C. Newman	88.5	2
Jake Wyatt	80.5	2
Jas Sum Kral	84	1
Joya de Nicaragua	91.33	6
JRE	88.33	3
Kristoff	89	1
La Aurora	89	3
La Familia Robaina	84	1
La Flor Dominicana	90	5
Lars Tetens	84	1
Miami Cigar & Co.	90	1
Micallef	83	1
Mombacho Cigars S.A.	87.5	2
MoyaRuiz	87	1
My Father	86.8	5
Nat Sherman International	89	2
Oliva	87.5	2
Oscar Valladares	88	2
Padilla	90	1
Padrón	87	2
Patina	90	1
Patoro	89	3
Paul Garmirian	89	1
Paul Stulac	80	1
Perdomo	85.33	3
Plasencia	90	1
Platinum Nova	84	1
Powstanie	89.5	2
Principle	84	1
Quesada	80	3
Rocky Patel	88.67	6
Rojas	89	2
RoMa Craft Tobac	89.63	8
Room101	89	2
Southern Draw	89	1
Tabacalera S.L.U.	86	2
Tarazona	81	1
Tatuaje	88.67	12
Toscano	86	1
Ventura	84.5	2
Viaje	86.17	12
Villiger	87.3333333333	3
Warped	86.14	7

BY Company

If you’ve been paying attention to halfwheel’s annual awards for the last few years, it should come as no surprise that Joya de Nicaragua manages to take the top spot in terms of companies where we reviewed at least two cigars.

Congrats to Joya, Foundation, Illusione and RoMa Craft Tobac for making the top eight again, the consistency is impressive.

1. Joya de Nicaragua (91.33)
2. Illusione (90.67)
3. Foundation (90.33)
4. ADVentura & McKay (90), La Flor Dominicana (90)

	Average	Count
Casa Favilli	87.5	2
Casa Fernandez Miami	90	1
Casa Turrent	87	1
Charles Fairmorn	88.5	2
Cigars Davidoff	90	6
De Los Reyes	89.4	5
Diadema Cigars de Honduras S.A.	88.4	5
El Rey de los Habanos	87.67	3
El Septimo	65	1
El Titan de Bronze	87.67	3
Fabrica de Puros Aladino at Las Lomas Jamastran	88.33	3
Fabrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua S.A.	89.07	14
Fabrica de Tabacos NicaSueño S.A.	89.6	10
Fabrica Oveja Negra	87.85	7
Flor de Copan S.A.	92	1
General Cigar Dominicana	84	3
J. Fuego Cigar Co. de Nicaragua	84	1
J.C. Newman PENSA	89	1
Kelner Boutique Factory	84	1
La Aurora Cigar Factory	87	5
La Corona	84	1
La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate	87.5	8
La Zona Cigar Factory	88	5
Manifatture Sigaro Toscano S.p.A.	86	1
Micallef Cigars S.A.	83	1
My Father Cigars S.A.	87.8	15
NACSA	88.29	7
O.K. Cigars	88.67	6
Oscar Valladares Tobacco & Co.	88	2
Plasencia Cigars S.A.	86.88	8
Quesada Cigars	80	3
Raíces Cubanas	85	2
San Judas Tadeo	89.25	4
San Lotano Factory	87	1
Southern Classic Cigars	81	1
STG Danlí	87.33	3
STG Estelí	86.5	2
Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia	85.4	5
Tabacalera AJ Fernandez	87.67	15
Tabacalera Carreras	86	1
Tabacalera de Aragon S.A.	84	1
Tabacalera de García	86	2
Tabacalera El Artista	89	1
Tabacalera El Puente	88	1
Tabacalera Flor de San Luis S.A.	89	2
Tabacalera GTO Dominicana	82	1
Tabacalera JVM	80.5	2
Tabacalera La Alianza S.A.	87.5	8
Tabacalera La Flor S.A.	89.5	6
Tabacalera La Perla	80	1
Tabacalera Palma	79	1
Tabacalera Perdomo S.A.	85.33	3
Tabacalera Pichardo	88.67	3
Tabacalera William Ventura	88.75	4
Tabacos Cubanica S.A.	87	2
Tabacos de Costa Rica	91	1
Tabacos de la Cordillera	73	1
Tabacos de Oriente	88	2
TABOLISA	87.5	2
TABSA	87.11	19
Tacasa S.A.	84	1
TAVICUSA	89	7
The CLE Factory	90	1
Undisclosed	85.7	33
Villiger do Brasil	88	1

BY FACTORY

Cigars Davidoff, the Dominican factory that makes Davidoff but not AVO, takes the top spot at 90 with six cigars reviewed. Like last year, some of the names on the top five might be surpising. Perhaps more notable is that Fabrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua S.A. didn’t make the top five, missing out by .16 points.

1. Cigars Davidoff (90)
2. Fabrica de Tabacos NicaSueño S.A. (89.6)
3. Tabacalera La Flor S.A. (89.5)
4. De Los Reyes (89.4)
5. San Judas Tadeo (89.25)

You can download the full data here.