My Favorite Cigar

Cigar aficionados describe their smoke of choice

- BY GREGORY MOTTOLA AND DAVID SAVONA

Xander Schauffele PRO GOLFER Montecristo No. 2

Xander Schauffele had quite a 2024 season. He won half of the year’s major tournaments, didn’t miss a single cut and ended up ranked second in the world, earning a cool $29.3 million in the process. It was quite the transformative year. Before winning the first of those majors—the PGA Championship, last May—he was in the conversation as one of the best to never win one. He had come close, with 12 top 10s and two second-place-finishes in previous majors. When he finally got his trophy, he celebrated with cigars.

“A member at Valhalla gave me a cigar,” he says, and in the craziness of the day, he’s not even certain what it was. “It was nice though.” He lit it in celebration that night, while sipping drinks, some of them straight from the 27-pound Wanamaker Trophy.

While that PGA Championship was Schauffele’s first major, it was hardly Schauffele’s first cigar. He avoids smoking on the golf course (his office of sorts) and lights up with friends when he’s relaxing. Schauffele enjoys Montecristo No. 2s, and also counts Olivas among his favorites.

J.J. Dudum EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT DISCOVERY LAND CO.

Romeo y Julieta Línea de Oro Hidalgo

If you're gonna smoke,” says J.J. Dudum, “you may as well do it right.” He’s a fan of the exotic, smoking Cohiba Talismáns, Sancho Panza Gran Quixotes and the Diplomaticos Regional Edition made just for the Caribbean, but for an everyday smoker, he reaches for the Romeo y Julieta Línea de Oro Hidalgo.