There are some that look forward to this award even more than our top 25 list, and I understand why. Factory of the Year isn’t a most improved award; it’s a recognition that throughout the year, one single place—no matter the brand, shape or price—made notable product. This is the second year where our reviewers have voted on factories instead of simply relying on averaging scores, a decision we made because we believe this award should reflect all the cigars we smoked from a particularly factory, instead of simply those we scored. FACTORY OF THE YEAR: TABACOS VALLE DE JALAPA S.A. In 2012, Illusione took a gamble. It moved production of Singularé, its limited edition series that was barely a series at the time, to a relatively new factory in Estelí, Nicaragua called Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. (TABSA). The cigars were not great, as we noted at the time; not bad, but not up to the standards we expected from Illusione. And that’s because standards were exactly what TABSA needed. The factory is owned by Eduardo Fernández Pujals, the same man who owns the Casa Fernández brand and the large Nicaraguan tobacco operation, AGANORSA. While TABSA had good tobacco, it had work ...
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