Quick answer: Michael Jordan's favorite cigar is the Cuban Partagas Lusitania, a 7.6 x 49 double corona. He told Cigar Aficionado in 2017, Partagas Lusitanias are my favorite,
and put his habit at six cigars a day. His other documented smokes: Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona, Montecristo No. 2, and Cohiba. All Cuban, so US buyers need legal stand-ins.
Michael Jordan won six championships with a cigar close at hand. Not on the court, but in the locker-room celebrations, the 1998 title footage, and the sit-down interviews in The Last Dance, where a lit cigar rests in the ashtray beside him through most of his answers. The brand is not what casual fans guess. Two Cigar Aficionado cover interviews, twelve years apart, put the same name on the record: the Partagas Lusitania, a double corona built for two-hour smokes.
This is the best-documented celebrity cigar habit in sports. Marvin R. Shanken interviewed Jordan for Cigar Aficionado in 2005 and again in 2017, viewed the humidor at his Chicago-area home, and got specific answers about what the GOAT smokes, how often, and why. That record is what this guide runs on. What it will not do is tell you how to get Cuban cigars into the US; there is no legal way. It will show you every cigar Jordan has put on the record, with dates, and the US-legal picks that get closest.
What Cigars Does Michael Jordan Smoke?
Michael Jordan smokes Cuban cigars, and his favorite is the Partagas Lusitania, a 7.6 x 49 double corona that takes better than two hours to finish. Asked what he likes to smoke in Cigar Aficionado's November/December 2017 cover interview, Jordan answered, Partagas Lusitanias are my favorite.
The rest of his documented rotation comes from his July/August 2005 sit-down with the same magazine: the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona he smoked before Bulls home games starting in 1993, the Montecristo No. 2 he lit during the interview itself, plus the Cohiba Siglo II, Cohiba Esplendido, Partagas Serie D, and Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2. Every one is Cuban, which means none of them can be legally bought in the United States. That legal wall, not taste, is why US fans chase stand-ins for the Jordan rotation.
How Did Jordan's Cigar Habit Start?
The habit started with a gift. After the Bulls won their first title in 1991, team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf handed Jordan a celebratory cigar. Jordan told the story himself in the July/August 2005 cover interview, crediting broadcaster Ahmad Rashad for then keeping him supplied with rum-dipped Churchills from Las Vegas, which he chewed more than he smoked.
The ritual arrived in 1993. Game-day traffic could stretch the drive to Chicago Stadium past an hour, so Jordan started lighting a Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona for the ride. It became a ritual for every home game,
he told Shanken. Six titles later, the pre-game cigar is part of Bulls lore.
The late-career version is on film. Through his interviews in The Last Dance, the 2020 ESPN documentary on the 1997-98 Bulls, a cigar burns at Jordan's elbow while he talks. And in late 2017, Cigar Aficionado put him back on the cover for its 25th anniversary issue, filmed at The Bear's Club in Jupiter, Florida, where the conversation opened with Shanken and Jordan lighting Hoyo de Monterrey Double Coronas.
Jordan's Documented Favorites
Every entry below traces to a named, dated source.
Partagas Lusitania (7.6 x 49 Double Corona)
- Documented in: Cigar Aficionado, November/December 2017:
Partagas Lusitanias are my favorite.
He also named the Lusitania among his regular smokes in the 2005 interview.
The Lusitania is the flagship of Cuba's Partagas brand, a double corona that runs past two hours if you let it. Reviewers consistently describe cedar, dark cocoa, and leather with black pepper on the finish. Boxes hold 25. After the 2022 Habanos price increases, UK retailers list singles around 68 to 90 pounds, roughly $85 to $115, and full boxes near 1,000 pounds.
Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona (7.6 x 49)
- Documented in: the 2005 interview, as the cigar he lit on the drive to Bulls home games from 1993 on. The 2017 interview began with Jordan and Shanken smoking them.
Cuban factories call this size prominente, the same vitola as the Lusitania with a milder blend. If the Lusitania is his taste, the Hoyo is his history: this is the cigar attached to the pre-game story every cigar writer quotes.
Montecristo No. 2 (6.1 x 52)
- Documented in: the 2005 interview; Jordan smoked a Cuban Montecristo No. 2 during the conversation itself.
The benchmark Cuban piramide, and the one entry in his rotation under seven inches. The US-market namesake, the Dominican Montecristo No. 2 Torpedo, is the legal cousin at 6 x 50.
The Shorter Havanas on His 2005 List
The same interview names the Cohiba Siglo II, a petit corona, the Cohiba Esplendido, Cuba's marquee churchill, the Partagas Serie D, and the Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2. For what the Cohiba name means on both sides of the embargo, the Cohiba brand guide covers the split identity.
Does Michael Jordan Smoke Six Cigars a Day?
That is his own number. I smoke six cigars a day maybe,
Jordan said in the 2017 interview. In 2005 he had waved the same question off without answering. Twelve years and two retirements later, he gave Shanken a count.
Golf carries most of it. By 2017 Jordan was playing 36 holes nearly every day at his Florida club, off a four handicap, with a cigar going for most of the round. His format choice fits the schedule: a 7.6 x 49 double corona burns for two hours or more, longer than any standard vitola, though even that will not cover a full 18 holes on its own. The best cigars for golf guide ranks picks that hold up outdoors. One step down in commitment sits the 90-to-120-minute tier, and the Churchill format guide covers when that size makes sense.
Are Michael Jordan's Cigars Legal in the US?
No. Every cigar in Jordan's documented rotation is Cuban, and Cuban cigars cannot be legally sold in or imported into the United States. The embargo has blocked them since 1962. A policy change in 2014 briefly allowed travelers to bring some home for personal use; that allowance ended on September 24, 2020, and nothing has replaced it. Jordan smokes his Havanas where they are legal, and he told Shanken in 2017 that he would like to tour Cuba's cigar factories someday.
The Cuban cigars guide covers the full legal picture and the history behind it. The short version: enjoying Havanas legally means smoking them abroad. For the Cuban category ranked top to bottom, with a US-legal substitute for every pick, see the best Cuban cigars top 10.
Legal Alternatives to Jordan's Cuban Favorites
You cannot buy his exact cigars here. You can match the format, the band, and the pace. Every stand-in below is in current production and stocked in our live retailer feed.
