Alec Bradley Prensado Torpedo

Being named Cigar of the Year by Cigar Aficionado is, depending on who you ask, either the highest honor in the industry or a marketing event dressed up as journalism. The truth sits somewhere in between. What is not debatable: the cigars that earn it are almost always genuinely exceptional at the time of the award, and many — the Padron 1964 Anniversary, the My Father Le Bijou — have proven themselves in the years since.

The Alec Bradley Prensado is in that company. The 2011 Cigar of the Year was not a surprise to anyone who had been smoking it regularly — it was a confirmation of what a subset of cigar smokers already knew. The question is whether it still holds up more than a decade later. It does.

The Prensado is a Honduran puro: wrapper, binder, and filler all from Honduras. The box-pressed torpedo format — "prensado" means "pressed" in Spanish — gives the cigar a distinctive feel and, more importantly, a cooler smoke than a round torpedo of the same dimensions. The wrapper is a dark Honduran Corojo with visible oiliness and a slightly rough surface texture that speaks to its density.

Cold draw delivers dark earth, leather, and espresso. Everything you want to find on a full-bodied cigar before you even light it. First light confirms the promise: the earth arrives and stays. The espresso deepens within the first inch. The pepper begins threading through the draw — not spikes, consistent presence — and the leather from the wrapper contributes a structural dimension that keeps everything organized rather than chaotic.

Second third is where the Prensado earns its reputation. Dark chocolate joins the profile, layering over the espresso and earth in a way that adds sweetness without reducing the strength. There is genuine complexity happening here — the kind that makes you slow down, pay attention, and resist the urge to rush to the finish. The draw benefits from the prensado pressing: even, cool, and perfectly calibrated.

Final third brings everything home. The leather intensifies, the pepper holds, the dark chocolate and espresso close with a finish that is genuinely long — one of the longest finishes in this price range. No bitterness at the nub. Both samples I smoked required zero touchup throughout.

At around $15, the Prensado torpedo remains one of the most compelling full-bodied cigars you can buy. Cigar of the Year was not hype. It was accurate. Pair it with Four Roses Single Barrel or a well-aged Scotch. Give it the 75 minutes it deserves.