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My Top 32 Cigars of 2023 ~ Rated 96 & Higher | Cigar Reviews by the Katman

By Cigar Reviews by the Katman on December 25, 2023

Instead of choosing my favorite 25 cigars of the year, I veered and decided to just let the numbers speak for themselves. And why is it 25. Where’d that come from.

Before you laugh, yes, I am very generous with my ratings. And why not. Who says that you must follow the Cigar Aficionado playbook and place every cigar in the 85-90 range. After a while, you no longer know what a reviewer truly likes. The possibly clever strategy might be that the critic does this so you will read the review and find out what he is really thinking…instead of you clicking on the review and immediately scrolling to the rating, bypassing the critique…which is what the vast majority of you do.

I make no bones that I am not a civilized member of the cigar industry. I am an outlier. Before the term ‘disruptor’ was coined, I was just an ‘asshole.’

As I built this tower of Babel, my preferences became laser focused. I make no apologies for leaning towards Casdagli Cigars as the manufacturer is one of my all-time favorite cigar creators. We’ve experienced sticker shock as prices pushed the edge of the stratosphere this year. Casdagli Cigars has maintained an even keel in its fair pricing for extraordinary quality. What’s next…a $40 Diesel. Question mark.

I’ve been pounding my shoe on the desk screaming this isn’t inflation. The cigar industry would like you to believe it is so. But we know it is an all-out assault of corporate greed. You will see the coup de gras in 2024. Grab your ass because your wallet is going to be seriously bitch slapped. You think your wife carped in 2019…

Rating a cigar 96-100 is an in-the-moment choice. I review contemporaneously. I am not inferring it is the best cigar in the world. It means I found no fault with it and, if I could, would rub it all over my body in addition to my daily bear-schmaltz scrub.

No idea how much longer I will do this. When my time is up, my cone will shrivel…and the stench will be great. Most reviewers my age are dead by now or have important roles with Cigar Aficionado.

The list is in order of numerical rankings from 96-100:

Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Barba Amarilla 2023 96