A toro is a cigar of six inches by 50 ring gauge, give or take a few points of gauge, and it is now the best-selling size in America. When Cigar Aficionado surveyed its retailers on what moves fastest, 69 percent named the toro as their top seller, ahead of the robusto that used to own that title. The format has quietly become the default, and this list is the Cigarro Concierge’s account of which thirteen deserve the position.
If you want the short version: the Padrón 1964 Imperial is the benchmark, the Flor de las Antillas Toro is the value play, the Cohiba Siglo VI is the Cuban argument, and the Undercrown Maduro Gran Toro is the one to keep by the dozen. The full thirteen run from under eight dollars a stick to a price that requires a quiet word with yourself, with the exact vitola named wherever my notes describe one. Every cigar here was smoked and logged in thirds, the way The Cigarro Method teaches, because the toro’s extra inch over a robusto is exactly where a blend earns or loses its third act.
| Cigar | Vitola | Wrapper | Body | Flavours | Price | Time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Padrón 1964 Anniversary Imperial | 6 x 54, box-pressed | Nicaragua (natural or maduro) | Medium to full | Cocoa, coffee, cedar, almond | $$$ | 70 to 85 min | The benchmark |
| Davidoff Nicaragua Toro | 5.5 x 54 | Nicaragua (Habano Rosado) | Medium | White pepper, cedar, dark sweetness | $$$ | 60 to 75 min | Restraint at volume |
| Flor de las Antillas Toro | 6 x 52, box-pressed | Nicaragua (sun grown) | Medium | Toast, cedar, sweet spice | $ | 65 to 80 min | The value play |
| Oliva Serie V Melanio Toro | 6 x 50, box-pressed | Ecuador (Sumatra) | Medium to full | Espresso, cedar, perfumed sweetness | $$$ | 65 to 80 min | The award-winner’s sibling |
| Drew Estate Undercrown Maduro Gran Toro | 6 x 52 | Mexico (San Andrés maduro) | Medium to full | Dark chocolate, coffee, earth | $$ | 65 to 80 min | The box to keep stocked |
| Brick House Toro | 6 x 52 | Ecuador (Havana seed) | Medium | Cedar, nut, gentle pepper | $$ | 60 to 75 min | Everyday honesty |
| Perdomo 10th Anniversary Champagne Epicure | 6 x 54 | Ecuador (Connecticut, barrel aged) | Mild to medium | Cream, toasted nut, light cedar | $$ | 65 to 80 min | The morning toro |
| Oliva Serie G Toro | 6 x 50 | Cameroon | Mild to medium | Nut skin, hay, soft earth | $ | 55 to 70 min | Cameroon on a budget |
| Rocky Patel Decade Toro | 6.5 x 52, box-pressed | Ecuador (Sumatra) | Medium to full | Leather, cocoa, black pepper | $$ | 75 to 90 min | The long evening |
| Cohiba Siglo VI | Cañonazo, 52 x 150 mm | Cuba | Medium to full | Hay, honey, cedar, cream | $$$$ | 70 to 85 min | The Cuban argument |
| Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especial | Gordito, 50 x 141 mm | Cuba | Light to medium | Cedar, cocoa, light floral | $$$$ | 60 to 75 min | The gentle Havana |
| Davidoff Aniversario No. 3 | 6 x 50 | Ecuador (Connecticut) | Mild to medium | Almond, dry cedar, soft cream | $$$$ | 65 to 80 min | The formal toro |
| Dunbarton Sobremesa Brûlée Toro | 6 x 52 | Ecuador (Connecticut Shade) | Mild to medium | Vanilla, toasted bread, sweet cap | $$ | 65 to 80 min | The Connecticut for sceptics |
Why the Toro Became the Default
The robusto held the crown for a generation, and in the trade press it still reads as the critic’s vitola. The shops tell a different story. Cigar Aficionado’s survey of American retailers found that 69 percent named the toro their best-selling size, with the robusto a distant second, and the magazine’s own glossary now lists the six-by-50 toro, sometimes called a corona gorda in older nomenclature, as the size that overtook the corona in the modern catalogue. Blenders release in toro first because it is what sells, and it sells because the format flatters a blend.
The extra inch is the whole argument. Holt’s puts a classic five-by-50 robusto at around 45 to 50 minutes and a toro at closer to an hour, and my own logs run longer on both because I smoke slowly. What that inch buys is a proper second third. A robusto often goes from introduction to finale with a rushed middle; a toro has room for the blend to settle, show its shoulders, and then decide how to end. The slightly larger ring gauge, usually 50 to 54, also gives the roller more filler to work with, which is why so many toros burn cooler and straighter than their shorter siblings.
There is a limit, and the shops have been testing it. Past 54 the format starts drifting toward the gordo, the wrapper becomes a smaller share of every draw, and the character flattens. Our vitola dictionary walks the whole size ladder if you want the full map. For this list, I held the line at 6 to 6.5 inches and 50 to 54 ring, with the two Habanos measured the Cuban way in millimetres and admitted as toros in spirit.
The Benchmarks
Padrón 1964 Anniversary Imperial (6 x 54)
Padrón created the 1964 Anniversary Series in 1994 to mark the company’s thirtieth year, and it has been the reference for a Nicaraguan toro ever since: a puro of tobacco aged around four years, box-pressed, offered in natural and maduro. The Imperial at 6 by 54 is the toro of the line and, to my palate, its most complete expression. Cocoa, coffee and cedar arrive together, with an almond note in the natural that the maduro trades for something closer to dark chocolate. The draw is composed to the point of smugness. Expect to pay around twenty dollars a stick and to consider it fair before the band comes off. If a friend asks what a great toro tastes like, hand them this and stop talking.
Davidoff Nicaragua Toro (5.5 x 54)
Davidoff’s first Nicaraguan puro arrived in 2013 and surprised people who assumed the house only did polite. A Habano Rosado wrapper grown in Nicaragua sits over a Jalapa binder and filler drawn from Estelí, Condega, Jalapa and the volcanic island of Ometepe. What you get is Nicaraguan volume with Davidoff’s manners: white pepper through the nose, cedar underneath, and a dark sweetness that builds through the second third rather than shouting from the first draw. The Toro is a half-inch short of the textbook, and at 54 ring it smokes like a full one. Priced in the mid-twenties, which is the Davidoff tax, and worth paying once to learn what restraint sounds like at volume.
Flor de las Antillas Toro (6 x 52)
The García family’s My Father factory in Estelí rolled this box-pressed Nicaraguan puro under a sun-grown wrapper, and in 2012 Cigar Aficionado named this exact vitola its Cigar of the Year at 96 points. It has aged into the best value on this list. Toast, cedar and a sweet spice that never turns to pepper, delivered at a medium body that suits an afternoon as well as an evening. At under eight dollars a single from the large online retailers it is a clerical error in your favour, and a box of twenty is the kind of purchase you stop noticing and simply keep replacing. The Toro at 6 by 52 is the one that won, and it is the one to buy.
Oliva Serie V Melanio Toro (6 x 50)
The Melanio Figurado took Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year in 2014, and the Toro shares its blend without the tapered head: an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler, box-pressed, made in Estelí. Espresso and cedar lead, then a perfumed sweetness surfaces in the second third that the plainer Serie V never quite manages. Melanio is the dressier of the two lines, and the Toro is where the dress fits best. Singles land in the high teens. Smoke it after dinner but before the heavy pour; it is medium to full in body and wants to be heard.
Everyday Toros
Drew Estate Undercrown Maduro Gran Toro (6 x 52)
Undercrown began in 2011 as the cigar the Liga Privada rollers were smoking on the factory floor, and it has since become a fixture of shop humidors for good reason. A Mexican San Andrés wrapper wraps a Connecticut stalk-cut sun grown Habano binder over Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan filler. Dark chocolate, coffee and turned earth, with far more polish than nine dollars ought to buy. The Gran Toro at 6 by 52 is the reference vitola. This is the box I keep stocked by the dozen for the evenings that do not warrant a Padrón, and it appears in our maduro guide as well, because some cigars refuse to stay in one list.
Brick House Toro (6 x 52)
J.C. Newman revived Brick House as an everyday Nicaraguan, and Cigar Aficionado files it among the trade’s best bargains. The wrapper is Ecuadorian Havana-seed leaf over Nicaraguan binder and filler, rolled in Estelí. Cedar, roasted nut and a pepper that stays polite, at a body most merchants list as medium. Around ten dollars a single, less by the box. Nothing about the Toro will astonish you, and nothing about it will disappoint you either, which is the harder trick. It is the toro for the afternoon on the porch when you want the ritual more than the drama.
Perdomo 10th Anniversary Champagne Epicure (6 x 54)
Perdomo ages the Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper on this one in bourbon barrels, and the effect is a Connecticut with a little more furniture in the room. Cream, toasted nut and a light cedar, over Nicaraguan binder and filler, at a mild to medium body that suits the first cigar of the day. The Epicure at 6 by 54 is the toro of the line and the vitola I reach for. Singles sit just either side of ten dollars. If the morning toro sounds like a contradiction, this is the one that resolves it: a full hour and more of gentle, without ever going thin.
Oliva Serie G Toro (6 x 50)
Cameroon wrapper is the leaf that tastes like toasted nut skin and dry hay, and it is usually priced like the boutique commodity it is. Oliva’s Serie G puts it over Nicaraguan binder and filler at a little over six dollars a single, which is the most affordable education in the wrapper I know of. The Toro at 6 by 50 smokes mild to medium, soft earth underneath the nut, and burns like a ruler. Buy five, smoke one, and use the other four to teach friends what Cameroon means before they spend three times as much finding out elsewhere.
Rocky Patel Decade Toro (6.5 x 52)
Released in 2006 to mark the company’s tenth year and rated 95 by Cigar Aficionado on its way into the magazine’s Top 25, the Decade wears an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, box-pressed, over a blend Rocky Patel keeps closer to his chest than most. Leather, cocoa and black pepper in my logs, medium to full and building through the thirds the way a good toro should. At 6.5 by 52 it is the longest cigar on this list and a ninety-minute commitment at my pace, so give it the whole evening. Around thirteen dollars a stick, which for the length is honest arithmetic.
The Cuban Corner
Cohiba Siglo VI (Cañonazo, 52 x 150 mm)
Habanos introduced the Siglo VI in 2002 to mark ten years of the Siglo line, in a factory vitola called Cañonazo that measures 52 by 150 millimetres, which is to say a toro by any honest tape measure. Hay, honey and cedar with that creamy Cohiba finish, medium to full and more composed than anything else in the Cuban catalogue at this size. At UK legal retail a single now costs well over a hundred pounds, with duty and the marque’s own pricing doing the lifting, so this is the occasion toro rather than the Tuesday one. Our guide to Cuban cigar brands covers why the Cohiba name carries what it carries. Let it rest a fortnight after it arrives and cut it narrow.
Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especial (Gordito, 50 x 141 mm)
Habanos launched the Epicure Especial at its 2008 festival, a Gordito of 50 by 141 millimetres that sits between the Epicure No. 2 robusto and a true toro, and it belongs here as the gentle Havana. Cedar, cocoa and a light floral note, light to medium in body, the kind of cigar that persuades people who found the Partagás too brusque that Cuba does quiet as well. It prices as an occasion at legal retail outside the United States, like every Habano of its size in 2026. Smoke it mid-afternoon with a black coffee and nothing else on the calendar.
The Gentle End
Davidoff Aniversario No. 3 (6 x 50)
The Aniversario series traces to Zino Davidoff’s eightieth birthday in 1986, and the No. 3 is its textbook toro: an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper over Dominican binder and filler at exactly 6 by 50. Almond, dry cedar and a soft cream, mild to medium, with the longest quiet finish on this list. Nothing here raises its voice; that is the point. It is the toro to smoke in a jacket, and at around thirty-five dollars a single it is priced accordingly. Once a year, for the evening that deserves it, it remains one of the most precisely made cigars in the world.
Dunbarton Sobremesa Brûlée Toro (6 x 52)
Steve Saka spent years insisting he would never make a Connecticut, then made this one in 2019 at the Joya de Nicaragua factory in Estelí with an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper and a lightly sweetened cap. The result converted a good number of sceptics, me included. Vanilla, toasted bread and a faint sugar on the lips that never tips into candy, mild to medium and far more interesting through the second third than most Connecticuts bother to be. The Toro at 6 by 52 is the one to start with. Around fifteen dollars a single. Our best mild cigars guide makes the longer case that gentle is a choice rather than a stepping stone; this is the toro that proves it.
Toro or Robusto?
The honest answer is that you want both, for different hours. A robusto is the format the critics use to test a blend because it is short enough to finish before the palate tires and long enough to show three acts; our best 25 robustos list makes that argument at length. A toro is the format most of us actually buy because the extra inch gives the middle third room to breathe and the draw tends to run cooler. Where a robusto asks a blend to be efficient, a toro asks it to be patient. If you are choosing one box for the winter, the toro is the safer buy; if you are learning to taste, start with the robusto and move up. The full side-by-side, with the churchill included, lives in our churchill versus toro versus robusto comparison, so I will not repeat it here.
Pairing and Timing
A toro is an hour’s commitment at the least, and the pairing should be planned for that length rather than for the first ten minutes. The mild end of this list, the Aniversario, the Brûlée, the Champagne Epicure and the Serie G, belongs to the morning and early afternoon with coffee, and the shops’ own pairing pages say the same: match a gentle cigar to a gentle cup rather than drowning it in something dark. The medium centre, the Flor de las Antillas, the Brick House, the Davidoff Nicaragua and the two Habanos, is happiest mid-afternoon with a black coffee or, later, a lighter whisky that does not need to win the argument.
The fuller toros, the Padrón, the Melanio, the Undercrown and the Decade, are after-dinner cigars, and the education pages at the big US retailers give the counsel every old hand will: eat first, smoke slowly, and pour something with enough weight to be heard over a San Andrés wrapper. A bourbon’s vanilla meets the Undercrown halfway; an aged rum’s molasses answers the Decade; the Padrón wants a short, bitter espresso and nothing to compete with it. Whatever you pour, hurrying is the one mistake a toro will not forgive. The format was built for the long sit, and the reader who learns to taste a cigar slowly enough will find the third act is where every one of these thirteen keeps its best material.
How This List Was Chosen
Every cigar here was smoked and logged in thirds, and the toro is the format where the thirds matter most, because the middle third is the whole reason the format exists. Selection favoured cigars in steady production that a reader can actually buy, at least one in every price band, and the toro as the organising principle rather than wrapper, strength or country. Where a house makes a better robusto than toro, it was left off; where the toro is the vitola that won the award or holds the line together, it was named.
That framing matters for the overlaps. Padrón, Oliva, Davidoff, Cohiba and Hoyo all appear in our robusto guide in their own formats, and the Undercrown sits in the maduro guide; pretending otherwise to seem original would insult you. Flavour notes in the table are my own logs, not gospel. Body descriptions follow the maker or a large merchant where they differ from my palate, and I have said so. Price bands are single-stick prices observed at a large US online retailer in mid-September 2026, with the two Habanos quoted from legal retail outside the United States, where duty makes every Cuban an occasion. Prices move; the bands are meant to be read as neighbourhoods rather than addresses.
Two that just missed the cut, both worth an evening: the Undercrown Sun Grown Gran Toro, a lighter cousin that many prefer, and the Davidoff Nicaragua Toro Box-Pressed, which is the same blend with sharper edges and sits on the shelf beside its sibling.
One More Inch, One More Act
The toro won the shop floor by being generous. It gives a blend one more inch to make its case, gives the roller more leaf to build a cooler draw, and gives the smoker a proper second third, which is where every serious cigar either explains itself or does not. That is why this format rewards logging more than any other. The first third of a Siglo VI and its last are related but not identical, the Decade grows a full register between the light and the band, and a review that averages the whole cigar into a single score misses the story the extra inch was there to tell. Log whichever of the thirteen you try in Cigarro and let the arc draw itself across your own thirds. The size took over quietly. Your notes should be louder.
