‘Best of…’ lists are always fun. Will we ever find one with which we agree? Good luck. But that won’t stop us all checking them out. Best wines, books, films, cars, spirits. And this is the time of year for it.

My favourite (and allow me to digress for a moment about cricket – just a moment, I promise) was some woman who decided she wanted to be a cricket writer. She gave her list of the top four batsman from South Africa. Among them was Shaun Pollock. Now Shaun was a brilliant world class all-rounder, but top batsman? Spare me. What was embarrassing was that his uncle, Graeme, is one of the top half dozen batsmen ever to play the game. For any country. Even Bradman was a huge fan. When I pointed this out, I was told that we were all entitled to our opinions. With this I agreed, but I did add that her’s was not only wrong but that it was truly imbecilic (no Barry Richards either). Needless to say, I am no longer a participant on that forum.

For our non-cricket fans, it would like saying Bernard Tomic was a better tennis player than Federer or Laver. Or Taylor Heinicke, Dwight Haskins and Ryan Leaf were all better quarterbacks than Tom Brady. It would be like Godfather 3 topping the list of great movies with no sign of 1 or 2.

Anyway, our lord and master (I’m safe here because he never reads these) has recently done his top 26 cigars from 2021. Trust me, it is way closer to the mark than our dopey cricket fan managed. Partagas P2 as number 1. I could get on board with that. I even had a couple down here with me. One was obviously for Kenfessions (looked like something the cat had dragged in after a night on the piss) but the other looked magnificent. As good as a cigar can look.

I thought I'd go with the ratty one first, and pulled out the last of a sample of the Glenfarclas 30-Year-Old Malt as it seemed that one should go big with the best cigar of the year.

As mentioned, a bit ratty (not that I am complaining). A ragged and torn wrapper, but I have seen, and smoked, worse and sometimes, book/cover does apply. What would we find?

First puff was promising. Deep, rich, lots of bread and toast. Soon moved into chocolate and raisins. The first third was a bit special. I was fully on board. Sadly, when it hit around the tears in the wrapper, it was tears from me. A very iffy construction from here on. It did not proceed well. Very quickly went hot and not all that pleasant. A cigar where the construction did reveal an unfortunate cigar and it all combined to destroy the poor thing. Thumbs down for me. A score? Not sure the point of that. But I will give Whipcrack the benefit of the doubt. Not his fault. Well, he did send it to me so perhaps a little blame.

The second? A deep chocolatey wrapper, seemingly perfect construction. Firm in hand, immaculate. It could not have looked better. This surely would right the ship and prove our best cigar in the Top 26 was deserving of such accolades – I have had plenty of P2s in the past and loved them, though not sure I'd rank them quite so high. All this was about to change. Surely?

Fired up and from the kickoff, this was special. This must be what we are talking about. Rich and dense, velvety smoke. Plush and full of flavour. Chocolate and orange rind notes. Old soft kid leather. Cloves. Imagine a fresh mango, picked at the perfect ripeness. It had that, ‘this is the moment’ thing about it. A superb cigar. Powerful but knife-edge balance. Loving it. I was all in.

And then… After such a crap 2021, surely the first cigar of 22 would not fail me. Fat chance. A plug. About a third of the way in. Had been no sign of it in the hand and while it was not a huge concrete, won’t-move-in-an-earthquake plug, it was still more than an irritant (this was one of mine – far too good to have got out the Czars door as a smoke for Kenfessions, unless there was literally inside knowledge). Not tragically plugged, but a plug, nonetheless. A little manoeuvring and hard puffing (good test for those lungs) and I was working through it. There were flickers of it picking up where it left off, pre-plug, but it didn’t last. Despite appearances, internally, this was not special. I struggled on. Minor plugs, hotness, wonky burn. All a little bit like aftershocks from the plug.

Again, not much point in scoring. But cigar of the year? Clearly this was a Shaun Pollock compared to the expected Graeme.

The drinks on the other hand, more than saved the day. The Glenfarclas 30-Year-Old was a stunning malt. Deep mahogany in colour, flavours of Christmas pudding, orange rind, glacéd fruit, woodsmoke, teak, raisins and more. Complex, intense, balanced. Wonderful. Would have been a magic match for a good cigar.

The Cubaney 25-Year-Old rum, just as good. Glorious stuff. Treacle, glacéd oranges here, white chocolate, honeycomb, fruitcake. Just gorgeous and yet another drink which would have made for an ideal match for a good cigar. Just brilliant. Such a shame it was let down. But we struggle on.

I am assuming, based on Whipcrack’s recommendations for 2021, that the top cigar for 2022 will be the Monte C. 

KBG