Alec Bradley

Alec Bradley was named for two boys before it ever made a great cigar. Alan Rubin founded the company in 1996, naming it after his sons Alec and Bradley, and spent more than a decade scuffling. Early bets on golf-course and flavored cigars went nowhere, and it took years of work before the brand cracked the top tier. The turn came with the full-bodied Tempus in 2007, and then the Prensado, which was crowned Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year in 2011 and made Alec Bradley a household name. Most of the line is made at the Raíces Cubanas factory in Danlí, Honduras, with some blends produced by the Plasencias in Nicaragua. Now a father-and-sons operation, Alec Bradley cigars are a study in persistence paying off, one well-built blend at a time.