It’s summertime, and the living is easy.  As the warm weather descends upon us, it’s time to get outside and enjoy the beautiful splendor offered to us for the next few months.

This is the time of year for BBQs, golf, family hangouts, all the things the cold winter months prohibit us from doing.  Of course, the weather also gives you the chance to enjoy some fantastic cigars!

While many of our posts here generally dedicated towards boutique offerings or high-end products, such as in one of our most recent articles, it is also important to know that price doesn’t necessarily mean quality.

Some of our most popular offerings are less than $8 a cigar, which we call budget cigars.  These are still fantastic smokes that would be perfect for enhancing your time outside.  Let’s look at some of our most popular budget cigars for the summer of 2020.

Camacho is one of the most highly regarded Honduran manufacturers in the market.  The brand is known for its incredibly bold and flavorful smokes.  Last year, the makers of Camacho introduced a top-notch budget cigar known as Valencia.

This is a remake of a popular smoke from the 1970s that has now been reborn.  While the original re-release of Valencia used a Connecticut wrapper, this newest version takes it up a notch.

The Valencia Sun Grown is hand-rolled using aged Honduran Criollo tobacco for the filler, along with a rich and flavorful Honduran binder.  On its release, the smooth and creamy Connecticut wrapper combines for a zesty Habano sun-grown leaf.

The result is a spicy and intense flavor, while still maintaining the smooth characteristics the brand is known for.  For under $6 a cigar, the Valencia Sun Grown is a top-notch budget smoke.

This is not only one of my favorite private labels, but it is also one of my favorite Romeo cigars in general.  The cigar takes its name from the Shakespearean play, where the main characters were described as “star crossed lovers”.

It is an incredible smoke, and one of the first Connecticut wrapped cigars that really showed me the flavor potential of the wrapper.  While we have two different varieties now, my heart will always be with the original.

What makes the Star Crossed stand out is its multi-nation blend, which lends itself to a quite complex flavor profile.  The Nicaraguan and Dominican filler and binder tobaccos offer up a nutty, smooth center with just a bit of spice and sweetness.

This is rounded out by the Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper that adds in touches of cream, hay, and light coffee.  This is an exceptional smoke at any price, but at this price it is unbelievable.

Joya de Nicaragua is one of the oldest Nicaraguan manufacturers in the industry.  In fact, I believe it is the oldest, dating back to the 1960s.  In that time, the company has created some of the most popular Nicaraguan cigars in the world and set the benchmark for what is now considered a good Nicaraguan smoke.

While the brand has a wide variety of upper echelon smokes, such as the Antano, Numero Uno, and Cinco Decadas, the company has recently produced a popular and delicious budget-minded line.

I don’t know what the actual name for the series of cigars is, but I’ve taken to call it the Joya colors line.  They have several different varieties, including the Joya Silver, Joya Red, and my personal favorite — the Joya Black.

This cigar is a masterpiece, using aged Nicaraguan filler and binder tobaccos.  The wrapper is a jet black Mexican San Andres wrapper, which gives the Joya Black its name.  This rich and robust smoke comes in right around $8 a cigar, which is a ridiculous price for such an incredible cigar.

The name of this cigar says it all.  If you are looking for an incredibly powerful and flavorful cigar that will shake you to your very core, look no further

The Boneshaker is one of our best-selling private labels and has become a favorite among those who are looking for un-mitigated power.  We now have several different variations, but the original is what started it all.

The Boneshaker is hand-rolled in the heart of Esteli, Nicaragua.  It uses vintage Nicaraguan tobacco for the filler and binder, giving it a zesty and intense center.

The wrapper, a dark and oily Connecticut Broadleaf, is rich and incredibly flavorful.  Notes of dark chocolate and coffee blend with a pretty intense spice for a complex and unbridled smoke, all for under $7 a cigar.

There was a time in my career where I didn’t go one day without smoking an Arturo Fuente Sun Grown.  At the time, they were the most expensive cigar I could afford, and I bought them by the box.

Even today, where I have been exposed to thousands of cigars and brands, I occasionally find myself returning to the flavorful and consistent Sun grown line, sometimes over a more expensive Fuente option.

These beauties are hand-rolled at the legendary Chateau Fuente in the heart of the Dominican Republic.  They start out with top of the line, vintage Dominican long-filler tobaccos followed by a rich and flavorful Dominican binder.

The finishing touch, which is also the namesake, is an exquisite Ecuadorian Sun grown wrapper.  Along with its smooth and nutty center, the wrapper adds in touches of leather, spice, and coffee, giving you a complex and smooth smoke for around $8 each.