Alec Bradley Thirty Years Perfecto

In the 1990s, after selling his family’s fasteners business, Alan Rubin started his own cigar company.

It was 1996, in the midst of what we now know as the “Cigar Boom,” a period of time in which cigars were unprecedentedly popular with mainstream America. While many of the upstart brands of the day have since disappeared, Rubin’s company, alongside others like Drew Estate and Rocky Patel are still here, now celebrating three decades in business.

Rubin named the company after his two sons: Alec and Bradley. His first line was called “Bogey’s Stogies,” a reference to the time-honored tradition of golf and cigars. Needless to say, that brand didn’t work. In 2000, Rubin brought on Ralph Montero to help with his fledgling cigar company. They quickly turned to a new supplier—Hendrik “Henke” Kelner in the Dominican Republic—and created a new line called Occidental Reserve.

Eventually, the pair found their stride in Honduras, working with a few factories, most notably Raíces Cubanas. Lines like Tempus, Maxx, and Black Market found sales success, while the Alec Bradley Prensado was named Cigar Aficionado’s #1 cigar of the year in 2011. By the time I entered the business, the dark days of Alec Bradley were a distant memory. Rubin had built out one of the larger national sales teams in the country, the brand had its own identity and some loyal fans, and Montero was not only keeping the cigars in stock but also finding ways to innovate, like with Fine & Rare, a cigar built with 10 different types of tobacco.

In early 2023, Scandinavian Tobacco Group—the owner of Cigars International, General Cigar Co., and more—announced that it was acquiring Alec Bradley in a deal valued at roughly $72.5 million. The elder Rubin, Montero and most of the company’s sales team wouldn’t stay long at STG, though both of Rubin’s children remained involved.

Earlier this year, STG announced a cigar to commemorate 30 years of the brand. As an interesting twist, Alan Rubin and his two sons selected the final blend. Like so many other Alec Bradley cigars, it is made at Raíces Cubanas. The blend uses both Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos, described as medium-plus.

There are four vitolas:

• Alec Bradley Thirty Years Robusto (5 x 52) — $9.99 (Box of 16, $159.84)
• Alec Bradley Thirty Years Toro (6 x 54) — $10.99 (Box of 16, $175.84)
• Alec Bradley Thirty Years Gordo (6 x 60) — $11.99 (Box of 16, $191.84)
• Alec Bradley Thirty Years Perfecto (6 3/4 x 54) — $12.99 (Box of 10, $129.90)

The first three are regular production sizes sold in 16-count boxes, while the Perfecto is limited to 2,026 boxes of 10 cigars and was only offered to STG’s brick-and-mortar accounts.

“This cigar represents everything we’ve learned over the last three decades,” said Alec Rubin, who serves as the brand ambassador, in a press release in April. “Thirty years isn’t ancient in the cigar world, but it’s long enough to understand what matters — great tobacco, great partners and cigars we’re proud to smoke ourselves.”

• Cigar Reviewed: Alec Bradley Thirty Years Perfecto
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fábrica de Tabacos Raíces Cubanas S. de R.L.
• Wrapper: Honduras (Trojes)
• Binder: Honduras (Jamastrán Valley) & Nicaragua (Jalapa)
• Filler: Honduras (Jamastrán Valley, Trojes) & Nicaragua (Estelí, Jalapa)
• Length: 6 3/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $12.99 (Box of 10, $129.90)
• Release Date: May 2026
• Number of Cigars Released: 2,026 Boxes of 10 Cigars (20,260 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

I think mostly because of the foot band placement, the shape seems a bit more unique than it is. I’m pretty sure this is the same vitola as the Alec Bradley Black Market Perfecto, but without that cigar’s more interesting torpedo cap. The wrapper is what I think of for a semi-dark or mostly-dark cigar wrapper: some red accenting the deep brown, with black specks here and there. The bands distract from the copious amounts of veins. The aroma from the first cigar is a bit lifeless, though the other two are medium-full, with the first one smelling like what I’d imagine a KFC-scented candle should smell like, along with some stone and sweetness. The other one is more common with wood, lemon and some red grapes. The feet are tiny and don’t provide much, just a touch of sweetness. The cold draws are very sweet, with the first two led by milk chocolate and orange, then some earth at the back end, both medium-full. The third cigar is slightly stronger and has a great peach sweetness over some wood.

The Alec Bradley Thirty Years Perfectos light up pretty quickly and each begins with a fairly generic cigar profile of semi-sweet earth, leather and some cedar, around medium-full. Secondary notes include barnyard, cinnamon, toastiness and white pepper, though at most, a single cigar only has two of those. For about 30 minutes, I keep waiting for the flavor profile to change, which, save for some mild creaminess on the second cigar, does not happen on the first two cigars. The third has much more woodiness than earth, with salted sunflower seed serving as a secondary note. The finish tends to be more bitter and less detailed, though the cigar pairs its creaminess with black pepper and some raisin sweetness. It’s still not as dynamic as I’d like. Retrohales of the first two cigars are somewhat dull with nuttiness and white pepper. While the third cigar is the driest of the trio, it has a more complex flavor thanks to a balanced mixture of nuttiness, saltiness and berries. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium. While the burn is mostly pretty, it is not moving quickly. One of the cigars takes nearly an hour to get through this section. Construction is good with no deductions.

After the halfway mark, the cigars start to change with the first two having a much spicier earth with some salty wood flavors and generic sweetness underneath. The third cigar continues to be a bit different; a profile of metallic earthiness with leather, white pepper and some lime. During the finish, there’s some added creaminess and toastiness, though looking over my flavor notes, they’re neither that long nor that different from what I’m tasting in the mouth. The leather and saltiness make their way to each retrohale, joined by some peanut and red pepper. Unfortunately, the nuttiness sometimes only lasts for a split second, which is unfortunate given that at this point, I’m looking for more new flavors. Flavor is medium-full to full, body is medium-plus or medium-full, while strength is consistently medium-plus. The first two cigars need a touch-up each, though one early in the second third and one much later. The third cigar doesn’t have any burn issues, but the draw has oddly gotten noticeably tighter, a strange development.

The earthiness continues to be both the strongest and most active flavor of the Alec Bradley Thirty Years Perfecto, but there are more flavors than before. Those include creaminess, white pepper, tart lemon, pretzel and lemongrass. The change is most noticeable on the third cigar, where the flavors seem both thicker and more dialed in. Unfortunately, the finish tends to be harsher with black pepper and a more bitter earth. Retrohales have white pepper, black pepper, peanuts, toastiness and saltiness. On the third cigar, the saltiness is combining with some other elements to create a soft pretzel flavor during the final third, though the other two cigars follow the general trend of being harsher as time passes between puffs. Flavor is full, body is medium-plus or medium-full, and strength is medium-full. The good news is that the burn issues don’t present themselves again; the bad news is that the draw of the third cigar is still tighter than I’d like. It’s not causing any serious issues like tar or relights, but about half the puffs are unable to produce the smoke volume that I’d like. A quick second puff mostly resolves the issue, but it’s not the ideal version of a cigar.

Final Notes

• While this was a pretty proficient cigar technically, this was not a flavor profile that spoke to me. It was the type of cigar where I feel like I could skip every dozen puffs and the flavor profile would barely budge. It would be one thing if there were lots of flavors, more detail from the flavors, or more separation between the different flavors, but that’s not what I experienced.
• For example, the earth flavor was pretty consistently either in the lead or close to it. However, never once did words like terroir, minerals, soil or barnyard make it into my notes.

• At the very top of the main band are the names of previous Alec Bradley releases. At the very end are the names of five people: Alan, Teri, David, Victoria, Josh. I find this to be incredibly cool.
• It feels like it’s been a lot longer than less than four years since the company was sold.
• The red band is not a ribbon; rather, it’s paper that has a bit of a ribbon texture.
• Scandinavian Tobacco Group advertises on halfwheel.

• STG lists these cigars as 6 3/4 x 54 perfectos, above are the dimensions I found for the three cigars I smoked for this review. While none of the cigars were 54-ring gauge, they were incredibly consistent.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was two and a half hours to two hours and 45 minutes.
• None of our site sponsors carry the Alec Bradley 30 Years Perfecto but Cigars Daily and JR Cigar carry the other vitolas.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. Previously, I started TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors blogs of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry since 2010, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. Beyond writing, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff from weighing cigars to coordinating the tech. Outside of work, I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.