A glass of bourbon and a fine cigar is a timeless pairing. Using a barrel to age tobacco is also a longstanding practice—Cuban Cohibas, for example, famously undergo a “third fermentation” in wooden barrels. But the idea of aging tobacco leaves or whole cigars in used bourbon barrels has seen a more recent surge. “It goes hand-in-hand with the popularity of bourbon,” says Jeff Schwab, the second-generation owner of Schwab’s Pipes n’ Stuff, a nearly fifty-year-old tobacco shop in Lexington, Kentucky.
Schwab has noticed more customers asking for bourbon-barrel-aged cigars, and more makers offering them. A big reason, he says, is the ready availability of freshly dumped barrels—which can only be used once for aging bourbon. Many get shipped to cigar makers across the States or even to tobacco farms in South America and beyond.
As with bourbon, crafting a quality cigar takes time. Harvested leaves are cured to draw out natural sugars, then stacked and naturally fermented as heat and moisture transform and mellow those sugars, oils, and resins. Aging in used bourbon barrels adds another layer as the tobacco absorbs notes of vanilla, caramel, oak, and spice over weeks or months. “Rushing doesn’t work,” Schwab says. “If you only put it in the barrel for a week or two, did it do any good?”
Nick Battaglia and Matt Schnell, founders of Single Barrel Cigar Co. in Ybor City, Florida, age their bourbon-barrel cigars for eight to ten weeks. “We’re letting that barrel do its work,” Battaglia says. Especially in the Florida heat, “it’s sweating everything out of it, and that tobacco is acting like a sponge and absorbing everything in there.” The company also seals its cigars in individual glass tubes with a pinch of barrel char in the bottom “so it continues to age and humidify,” he says.
Bourbon-barrel-aged cigars differ from those merely dipped in or infused with spirits. The aim is subtlety, complementing the cigar’s natural flavors. These five, all of which I enjoyed, showcase different approaches—from barrel-aging various components of the cigar to aging the whole cigar to even secondary fermentation in the barrel using water and pressure. Each takes the spirit’s character in a different direction while integrating it in cohesive ways.
Perdomo Habano Bourbon Barrel-Aged
This family-owned company oversees the entire process, growing the tobacco from Cuban seeds on its farms in Nicaragua and aging leaves for at least six years before they’re hand-rolled. While wrappers for all of Perdomo’s cigars spend time in a bourbon barrel, the sweet spot for its bourbon-barrel-aged series—available in Connecticut, Sun Grown, and Maduro styles—is eight to fourteen months for peak flavor. I tried the lighter Connecticut-wrapped version. It was a consistent, creamy smoke with an easy draw and a bouquet of nutty, spicy flavors, finishing with a touch of sweetness. This was one of my favorites.
Single Barrel Cigar Co. Robusto
Single Barrel’s approach treats each batch of cigars like a single-barrel bourbon—different barrels produce different results, and no two batches are exactly the same. The company sources long-leaf tobacco from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, with Ecuadorian-grown binders, and ages its hand-rolled cigars in barrels from a variety of distillers. The Maduro I tried spent time in a former Weller Antique 107 barrel, and the bourbon’s aroma wafted out from the tube the moment I unsealed it. The smoke is medium-bodied and spicy, with dark chocolate and black-pepper notes tempered by sweeter undertones from the bourbon and the barrel.
Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Fermented Cigars
These cigars, a collaboration between Drew Estate and Louisville’s Pappy & Co., incorporate fire-cured, Kentucky-grown tobacco. Small bundles are packed into used Pappy Van Winkle barrels, a little water is added, and the leaves age and ferment under pressure for a year or longer. They’re then blended with traditionally aged tobacco from South America and rolled using a double wrapper. The result is a medium- to full-flavored cigar with a distinct rich, earthy sweetness and vanilla-laced top notes for an overall balanced and enjoyable smoke.
Diesel “Whiskey Row”
This Diesel Cigars collaboration with Louisville’s Rabbit Hole Distillery uses ex-bourbon barrels to age tobacco from Mexico’s San Andrés Valley, which serves as the binder beneath an Ecuadorian-grown Habano wrapper. This cigar opened with a spicier flavor and a firm yet consistent draw, which gave way to lighter vanilla notes and a lingering, pleasant sweetness on the lips.
Weller by Cohiba
Two of the best-known names in bourbon and in cigars combine in this collaboration. Released annually since 2021, the series features American-grown broadleaf tobacco aged in used Weller barrels for the binder, along with tobacco of various international provenance for the rest. The 2025 version is aged in Weller Antique 107 barrels, with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and filler blended from Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Dominican tobaccos. The dark, oily wrapper delivers earthy, floral flavors and some spice, which pair well with the mildly sweet, oaky bourbon notes.
