Do you want to know about the best cigars from Honduras? Interested in Honduran cigars?
This selection will convince you!
While less publicized than their counterparts from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, Honduran cigars should not be overlooked. Quite the opposite!
The temperate climate of the country is perfectly suited for growing rich and flavorful tobacco, resulting in a robust smoke that is distinctly Honduran.
In this article, we will explore some of the excellent cigars from this Central American nation, often underestimated, that every aficionado should try.
The selection of the best cigars from Honduras:
- Alec Bradley Prensado Robusto
- Alec Bradley Black Market
- CAO Osa Sol Lot 58
- CAO Brazilia (World Series)
- Punch Rare Corojo
- Punch Gran Puro
- Rocky Patel The Edge Corojo Robusto
- Rocky Patel Number 6
- Camacho Corojo Robusto
- Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged
Scroll down the page to discover them in more detail.
Alec Bradley Cigars
The founder of the Alec Bradley brand, Alan Rubin, entered the cigar industry towards the end of the 1990s cigar boom. He introduced Alec Bradley (named after his two sons) in the early 2000s.
The brand's growing collection includes numerous popular cigars crafted in Honduras, such as the Family Blend, Tempus, Black Market Sanctum, Mundial, and many others.
Profile: Alec Bradley cigars are typically characterized by rich notes of cayenne, earth, cedar, leather, and spices.
Our favorite Alec Bradley cigars:
1. Alec Bradley Prensado Robusto
Alec Bradley Prensado cigars are crafted with carefully selected Honduran and Nicaraguan long-filler leaves and a special Honduran Trojes Corojo wrapper.
Our preferred version of the Prensado is the Robusto, which is full of subtle flavors but can be bold when needed. In fact, it earned the top spot among Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 cigars with an impeccable score of 96 out of 100, making it a sure bet.
Offering a smooth yet powerful smoke, this cigar is ready to captivate with its extraordinary dark Honduran Corojo wrapper.
- Strength: Strong
- Wrapper: Corojo
Flavor profile: a divine blend of fragrant cocoa, roasted and ground cocoa beans, nuts, caramel, and spices.
2. Alec Bradley Black Market
While the Estelí version (from Nicaragua) of Alec Bradley's Black Market is often considered a better choice, the original is crafted in the Plasencia factory in Honduras.
- Strength: Medium - Strong
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Wrapper: Nicaragua
Flavor profile: opulent yet flavorful, it's a characterful cigar that produces a diverse array of notes. With additional tobacco from Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Panama, it highlights the Jamastran Valley leaf from Honduras.
Cigars CAO
CAO is named after the founder of the brand, Cano A. Ozgener, an engineer who began designing pipes in 1968 before venturing into the high-end Honduran cigar industry in the 1990s. Today, CAO is owned by the tobacco conglomerate General Cigar Company.
While a number of CAO cigars are handmade in Nicaragua, the brand's cigars, distinguished by their national theme, are handcrafted in Honduras.
CAO America, CAO Brazilia, and CAO Italia are respectively crafted in various shapes with Connecticut Broadleaf, Brazilian, and Honduran wrappers. As part of this "World" series, the blends are derived from a complex range of multinational tobaccos.
Profile: CAO cigars primarily feature medium to full-bodied profiles of leather, cocoa, coffee beans, and spices.
Here are our favorite CAO cigars:
3. CAO Osa Sol Lot 58
CAO cigars are renowned for creating unique blends with every tobacco that passes through their hands. Offering a smooth and medium-bodied smoke, the CAO Osa Sol Lot 58 is an exceptional addition to their great success.
The distinctiveness of this gem lies in its rustic wrapper, cultivated in the rich and fertile soil of the San Agustín valley in Honduras.
- Strength: Medium
- Wrapper: Honduras
Flavor profile: This results in a tobacco with an earthy flavor that is undeniably a hallmark of Honduran craftsmanship. During the smoke, a gentle hint of pepper will delight your taste buds, transitioning into aromatic roasted coffee, a subtle citrus note, and a lingering spice towards the finish.
4. CAO Brazilia
Within their World series, which showcases some of the world's most sought-after tobaccos, we have the CAO Brazilia. This cigar is assembled in Honduras instead of the Nicaraguan factory, celebrating Brazil's often overlooked tobacco heritage.
- Strength: Medium - strong
- Wrapper: Brazil
Flavor profile: It offers an earthy and opulent experience with distinctive robust flavors.
Punch Cigars
Punch is a Honduran brand with roots dating back to Cuba. Established in 1840, the company was named after a puppet in an English traveling show (proving how names come from unexpected sources!).
The brand changed hands multiple times before being acquired by Fernando Palacio, a cigar manufacturer who fled Cuba due to trade embargo. Today, the famous brand is owned by Villazon & Company (a subsidiary of General Cigar Company), which also owns two other Honduran productions: Hoyo de Monterrey and Belinda.
Profile: Punch cigars are crafted in Honduras using Cuban-seed tobaccos grown in Central America. The original Punch blend is handmade in various sizes, featuring both natural and maduro wrappers.
Here are our favorite Punch cigars.
5. Punch Rare Corojo
The Punch Rare Corojo is a distinguished cigar with a rich taste, square-pressed. Introduced as a limited edition in 2001, these special cigars are released only once a year and in limited quantities, making them hard to come by.
Continuously handcrafted, the Rare Corojo is made with rich, dark Sumatra wrapper leaves. These are grown in the mountains of Ecuador, while the filler is a rich blend of Honduran, Nicaraguan, and Dominican tobaccos.
Although these cigars are excellent right out of the box, an additional one to two years of aging takes the Rare Corojo to a whole new level.
- Strength: Medium - strong
- Wrapper: Honduras
Flavor profile: A robust, well-balanced, aromatic, and very smooth cigar. Its rich flavor makes these full-bodied cigars a true delight.
6. Punch Gran Puro
Do you enjoy a bit of spice? Punch Gran Puro cigars deliver! As the name suggests, this is a puro made solely from local leaves, featuring a blend of Honduran tobaccos, including a dark sun-grown Havana-seed wrapper.
- Strength: Strong
- Wrapper: Honduras
Flavor profile: The binder is selected from leaves with a strong priming for a richer flavor, making this cigar one of the strongest, if not the boldest, offerings from Punch.
Rocky Patel Cigars
Rocky Patel is one of the most prolific producers, as evidenced by his extensive collection of cigars that spans key tobacco-growing regions. However, a handful of his best-sellers are handcrafted in Honduras.
Arguably the most famous cigar in his collection is the Rocky Patel Decade. It features an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over a solid blend of proprietary long-fillers.
The entire Rocky Patel Renaissance line is also produced in Honduras, featuring varieties with Connecticut Broadleaf, Ecuador Sumatra, Ecuador Connecticut, and Cuban-seed wrappers.
Profile: We've only mentioned a few of the most beloved Honduran cigars from the brand. There are far too many to list here. Rocky Patel takes pride in showcasing the terroirs from which all these cigars originate. There's something for every palate.
Presenting you the best!
7. Rocky Patel The Edge Corojo Robusto
Rocky Patel The Edge cigars are loaded with bold ligero fillers from Nicaragua and Honduras to provide experienced cigar smokers with dark and flavorful flavors from start to finish.
Launched in 2004, this cigar will appeal to seasoned connoisseurs as well as medium-strength enthusiasts.
Rocky Patel The Edge Corojo Robusto is a gem that offers a strong dose of flavors without overwhelming you. Constructed with meticulously aged interior tobacco, this high-class cigar shines through a beautiful Cuban Corojo wrapper.
- Strength: Strong
- Wrapper: Cuban Corojo
Flavor profile: With each puff, the abundant richness of peppery notes and spices evolves into a very pleasant chocolate aroma, promising a phenomenal experience.
8. Rocky Patel Number 6
Closely resembling a Honduran puro, there's just a touch of extra Nicaraguan tobacco in the blend to provide a subtle hint of spice. Rocky Patel's Number 6 features a Corojo seed wrapper and uses tobacco from the Plasencia family.
- Strength: Strong
- Wrapper: Honduran Corojo
Flavor profile: The resulting blend reveals notes of cocoa, orange zest, black pepper, and a vanilla finish.
Camacho Cigars
Simon Camacho founded the brand in 1961. It's one of many cigar names that originated in pre-Castro Cuba. After leaving the country, Camacho relocated his operations to Miami, Florida, until his death in 1995.
The Eiroa family acquired the company and moved production from Nicaragua to the current factory location in Danlí, Honduras. Although the factory was sold in 2008 to the Oettinger Davidoff Group, the Eiroa family still owns the Honduran tobacco fields that supply the materials for Camacho cigars.
Profile: All Camacho cigars are crafted to the rigorous standards of the Davidoff brand and offer a wide variety of peppery, medium to full-bodied blends.
Here are their two best cigars!
9. Camacho Corojo Robusto
Packaged in a box of 20, the Camacho Corojo Robusto truly lives up to its motto "Live Loud." Pioneering the use of authentic Corojo tobaccos from the Jamastran Valley, where conditions are comparable to the famous Cuban region of Vuelta Abajo, this bold cigar releases a multitude of potent flavors.
- Strength: Strong
- Wrapper: Honduran Corojo
Flavor profile: Aggressively peppery and full-bodied, as you smoke, succulent flavors of cocoa and leather meld with robust spice and a subtle earthiness that envelops your palate. Quite an experience.
10. Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged
Aged for 6 years, this cigar blend earned its name by aging its Corojo leaf for an additional 5 months in Nicaraguan rum barrels.
- Strength: Medium - strong
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano 2000
Flavor profile: Delivers wonderfully caramelized flavors, and the tobacco has been infused to not have the distinct rum flavor. Instead, it imparts subtle notes that contribute to its overall complexity.
Honduran Cigars: Strong Yet Approachable
We've reached the end of this selection of Honduran cigars. Needless to say, there's something for every taste. While Honduran cigars are traditionally "strong," they express a diverse range of flavor profiles, making them more approachable than Brazilian cigars.
If you were a die-hard Cuba fan coming to this page, reading these lines might have piqued your interest in exploring Honduran cigars a bit more. That's part of the richness of the cigar world: exploration. And if you're interested, you can also discover our selection of Nicaraguan cigars.
When you're about to enjoy one of the cigars from this article, don't forget to pair it with one of our ashtrays!
