The Performance Rankings were introduced in 2012 as a statistical analysis based on the average numerical score of all cigars assessed on Cigar Coop. It is meant to serve as a barometer in terms of how the cigars were assessed.
For the 2022 year, a total of 152 cigars (down from 163 in 2021) were considered for this analysis. The average score for the entire set of 152 cigars was 88.72. (Statistically, this was down 0.34 points from 2021 when the average was 89.06)
Today we slice this data by Factory – a category introduced for 2017. This is not meant to be necessarily an award, but a look at how the scoring went, and what can we learn from it.
We used the following criteria to implement the rankings
The cigar must have its score published during the 2022 adjusted Cigar Year on Cigar Coop – November 1, 2021, through October 31, 2022.
All cigars scored were eligible regardless of release date. The goal here is to see how the factory performed during the Cigar Coop Cigar Year.
Ties would be broken with the factory with more cigars assessed breaking the tie (there were no ties this year).
A minimum of four cigars assessed made in a particular factory were required to make this ranking. For reference purposes, we list also separately all factories from all reviews.
While for the Prime Time Awards we separated by small and large factories, this distinction was not made for the Performance Ranking. The Prime Time Awards factored in other intangible factors other than score. Performance Rankings are purely based on average score. The Prime Time Awards include intangible factors and are voted on by all three members of the Prime Time team while this author assessed all of the cigars scored on Cigar Coop.
The following are the 16 factories that were included in the Performance Rankings. This is based on having four cigars reviewed from that factory.
Rank
Factory
Average
Count
1
TABADEX
91.40
5
2
Tabacalera Pichardo
89.50
4
TABOLISA
89.50
4
4
TABSA
89.00
7
5
Plasenica SA
89.00
6
San Lotano
89.00
6
6
La Gran Fabrica DE
89.0
5
7
My Father SA
88.82
16
8
TAVICUSA
88.80
5
9
NACSA
88.75
4
10
La Zona
88.67
6
11
Tabacalera de Garcia
88.60
5
12
Joya de Nicaragua
88.50
8
13
HATSA
88.50
4
JC Newman PENSA
88.50
4
15
Tabacalera AJ Fernandez
88.43
7
16
Cigars Davidoff
87.50
4
Observations
There were 16 factories that met the minimum four-cigar rule.
TABADEX tops the Factory ratings for 2022 for factories that made the minimum threshold. San Lotano also placed three cigars on the 2021 Countdown.
After five consecutive years of decline in the average score for the top-ranked factory, TABADEX turned the corner and had 1.20 average than the 2021 Factory that topped the rankings, San Lotano.
There are 12 factories from Nicaragua, three from the Dominican Republic, and one from Honduras that made the 16 included factories.
My Father Cigars S.A., had the most cigars reviewed from a single factory on Cigar Coop in 2022 with 16.
Other Factories
Those factories which did not reach the four review minimum are listed below for reference. There isn’t much to infer from these numbers as each computation was from a much smaller dataset.
Factory
Average
Count
Nica Sueno
91.00
2
Raices Cubanas
91.00
2
El Reloj
90.00
1
Fabrica Oveja Negra
90.00
1
Tabacalera La Isla
90.00
1
Tabacalera Perdomo
90.00
1
Tabacos de Costa Rica
90.00
1
Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia
89.50
2
Tabacalera Carreras
89.50
2
Fabrica de Puros Aladino SA
89.00
1
Flor de Copan
89.00
1
Micallef Cigars SA
89.00
1
STG Esteli
88.50
2
Tabacalera JVM
88.50
2
La Aurora SA
88.33
3
Tabacos de Oriente
88.33
3
General Cigar Dominicana
88.00
3
Diadema Cigars de Honduras SA
88.00
2
CLE Factory
88.00
1
De Los Reyes SA
88.00
1
Las Lavas
88.00
1
Manifatture Sigaro Toscano S.p.A
88.00
1
OK Cigars
88.00
1
Tabacalera La Familia
88.00
1
Tabacalera La Perla
88.00
1
Tabacos Cubanica SA
88.00
1
n/a
87.67
3
Tabacalera La Alianza
87.33
3
PDR Cigars
87.00
2
American Caribbean Cigars
87.00
1
Tabacalera La Flor
87.00
1
Charles Fairmorn
86.00
1
Tabacalera La Palma
85.50
2
Top Factory Performers
Since 2017 when we introduced this metric, four different factories have had the highest average.
2017 La Zona (Nicaragua)
2018 Fábrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua SA (Nicaragua)
2019 Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia (Dominican Republic)
2020 Tabacalera Perdomo (Nicaragua)
2021 San Lotano (Nicaragua)
2022 TABADEX (Dominican Republic)
Originally posted on January 18, 2023 @ 7:17 am