Cigar Aficionado’s perpetually divisive list of the top 25 cigars of the year continues to provoke emotionally charged discussion among aficionados around the world with the recent release of The 25 Best Cigars of 2011. Perhaps no other cigar on this year’s list has garnered as much criticism as the Alec Bradley Prensado Churchill, which secured its place at the top as 2011′s Cigar of the Year. Many cigar smokers retorted in disgust, claiming that the Prensado Churchill did not belong on the list whatsoever. Other smokers raised the more general complaint that the proportion of domestic cigars to Cuban cigars was too high given the fact that Cigar Aficionado had dubbed 2011 a “vintage year” for Cuban cigars months earlier. Either way, the list of cigars assembled by the Cigar Aficionado staff is a thought-provoking arrangement of quality cigars.

The top five cigars of 2011 as rated by Cigar Aficionado are:

1. Alec Bradley Prensado Churchill
2. La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Belicoso
3. Illusione Epernay Le Taureau
4. Partagás Serie P No. 2
5. Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series Exclusivo Maduro

I personally would have swapped the first and second place cigars; however, I feel each of the top five cigars are deserving of mention.