Cigar pairings can elevate your smoking experience, whether by bringing out the complex flavors of your favorite premium hand-rolled cigar or taking it in a different direction by adding something new.
Cigar drink pairings keep your palate moist throughout your smoke, including 90-minute Churchills and Lanceros. If you're hosting a cookout, offering cigar food pairings to your guests is a great way to add to the occasion.
In this guide, we'll look at the best food and drink to pair with cigars, ranging from coffee and whiskey through to the best wine and cigar pairings. We'll also detail the most common foods paired with cigars to see what makes the perfect match.
Cigars and coffee
The best coffee and cigar pairings work at any time of day. If you need an eye-opener to kick off your morning, a smoke and a cup of joe will do the trick.
Espresso: New World Connecticut by AJ Fernandez
If you prefer your coffee strong and black, New World Connecticut by AJ Fernandez is the perfect pairing. The 5 x 50 Robusto should take about an hour to smoke and is packed with flavor.
New World Connecticut's flavor profile includes cocoa, dark caramel, and toasted nuts, which make it the ideal companion to your morning coffee.
Latte: Don Pepin Garcia Blue
Enjoy your coffee 'au lait'? No problem. Don Pepin Garcia Blue is our second pick of coffee and cigar pairings, with a profile that includes toasted espresso with a rich creaminess that will go great with your latte.
This full-bodied smoke is best enjoyed later in the day when you have time to really relax and enjoy every inch of the 5.6 x 46 Exquisitos.
Cigars and meat
Talk about cigar food pairings and your first thoughts are probably of meat. Lighting up a boutique cigar at a barbecue is one of life's simple joys — but what's on the grill?
Steak: Punch Knuckle Buster Maduro
The feisty name given to Punch Knuckle Buster Maduro is just a hint of why it's one of the best cigar pairings to go alongside a hearty steak.
The stick offers flavors of molasses, roasted nuts, and spices that work well with a heavily seasoned flame-grilled porterhouse or New York strip and really bring your palate to life.
Chicken: Oliva Serie V Melanio
If you're grilling chicken, we suggest the Oliva Serie V Melanio. It delivers woody and toasty notes with hints of vanilla and coffee.
The 7 x 50 Churchill vitola is available in boxes of 10 at Cigars.com. Hand the Melanio out to your guests and it should last up to two hours, depending how fast they smoke. It’s a perfect addition to your party atmosphere.
Cigars and Wine
Wine and cigar pairings add a new dimension to two of the planet's best-loved pastimes. Because of their wide variety of flavor profiles, both white and red wines are ideal for cigar drink pairings.
White Wine: Flor de Oliva Gold
Contrary to what some may think, there are premium cigars that pair well with white wine. Flor de Oliva Gold is one example, with mellow strength and a sweet profile.
The golden-brown Connecticut wrapper surrounds a stick that delivers a smooth smoke, subtle spice, and a creamy finish, which won't overpower the delicate bouquet of a good-quality vin blanc.
Red Wine: Cohiba Red Dot
It's not just the name that makes Cohiba Red Dot a great cigar pairing for red wine.
This leathery smoke offers tastes of caramel, cinnamon, and nuts, with a depth that perfectly complements a full-bodied red wine like an Argentinean Malbec.
Cigars and Whiskey
Bourbon or Scotch, the best cigar and whiskey pairings are one of the easiest places to begin when you're just starting to explore cigar pairings for the first time.
Other dark liquors, such as brandy, cognac, and dark rum, also work well with whiskey. Here are two of our favorite cigars to pair with whiskey.
Scotch: Partagas Black Label
Partagas Black Label is hand-rolled using aged Nicaraguan binders and fillers, which might sound like 5,000 miles away from the heather and hillsides of Scotland.
But with flavors including blackberries and a surface sprinkle of peppery spice, this premium stick can bring through the complexity of the peat in a single malt.
Bourbon: Odyssey Habano
If there's a glass of bourbon in one hand, you’ll probably want an Odyssey Habano in the other.
Leather, spice, and rich tobacco add up to an all-American flavor profile in this 6 x 50 Toro, which should give you about an hour of very enjoyable smoking time.
Cigars and Pizza
Pizza shouldn't be ignored when it comes to choosing cigar food pairings. As one of the planet's favorite foods, it's earned the right to feature in this list of the best food and drink cigar pairings.
Ham and Olives: Joya de Nicaragua Antano Connecticut
For pizzas with salty toppings like black olives and Parma ham, reach for the Joya de Nicaragua Antano Connecticut.
Its medium-full body holds its own against almost anything you might have on your pizza while bringing cedarwood and toasted nuts to the flavor party.
Margherita: Romeo y Julieta Anejados
If you're pairing with a simple Margherita, we'd suggest a Romeo y Julieta Anejados.
We've found this one to be right on the edge between mellow and medium, with a rich flavor profile of coffee, wood, and spice. The pizza’s creamy melted mozzarella will help those flavors shine, making for an enjoyable cigar food pairing.
Find Your Own at Cigars.com!
One of the biggest joys of pairing cigars with food and drink is when you discover a new favorite combination.
If your preferred food or drink isn’t listed here, don't worry — there's still a perfect cigar out there to smoke alongside it.
With so many smoking choices at Cigars.com, it's time to get started. Pick up a few boxes today, and take your palate on a whole new journey through taste and texture!