Nelson Alfonso has now named a cigar after himself, and he had the credentials to do it. The fourth brand from Selected Tobacco — the house that gave the world Atabey, Byron, and Bandolero — the Alfonso Extra Añejo Producción Limitada is the most personal release he’s made. Named in honor of the Alfonso family’s cigar-making heritage stretching back to 1850s Cuba, the line takes the cedar-aging process that made Atabey legendary and adds one more dimension borrowed from the French winemaking tradition: French oak. The wrapper is a 2-year-aged Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade. The binder, also Ecuadorian Connecticut, is aged three years. The Nicaraguan Ligero and Peruvian fillers are aged three years before rolling. Then the finished cigar rests for four more years in those extraordinary cedar and French oak aging rooms, humidity cycling daily, the tobacco breathing itself into something that simply cannot be rushed. The No. 3 is the 6×54 Toro — medium-bodied, refined, and loaded with aromatic cedar, lemongrass, cream, peanut butter, creme brûlée sweetness, and white pepper. halfwheel named it the #1 Cigar of 2023. That says everything that needs to be said.