Ashton Cigars: A Philadelphia House Rolled by the Fuente Family

Ashton is unusual in one specific way: it was created by a retailer. Robert Levin founded it in Philadelphia in 1985 after years selling other people's cigars, and the family's trade heritage in the city runs back to 1898. Almost immediately he partnered with the Fuente family, and every Ashton since has been rolled at Tabacalera A. Fuente in the Dominican Republic. Our Ashton collection covers the Cabinet Selection, Aged Maduro, VSG and Symmetry lines plus the small cigars.

This profile covers the company, the Fuente relationship, every line with its wrapper and its published sizes, and the ratings the brand has actually earned.

Who Ashton is

Ashton Distributors is based in Philadelphia and run as a father and son business by Robert Levin and Sathya Levin, who has been president and chief executive since 2021. Beyond Ashton itself, the company owns La Aroma de Cuba and San Cristobal, both made in Nicaragua, plus the Savoy humidor and accessory range.

That three brand structure is worth understanding, because it is deliberate. Ashton is the Dominican house style. La Aroma de Cuba and San Cristobal are the Nicaraguan counterweights, made by the García family. One company, two countries, two completely different flavour languages.

The Fuente relationship

Ashton's cigars are made at Tabacalera A. Fuente, the same Dominican factory that produces Arturo Fuente. Ashton states that Carlito Fuente guides the ageing of its tobaccos, that the cigars are rolled entubado, and that leaf goes through multiyear fermentation with some tobaccos aged up to eighteen years before rolling.

Entubado is worth explaining, because it is the construction detail that separates Ashton from most cigars at the price. In entubado rolling each filler leaf is rolled into its own small tube before the bunch is assembled, rather than folded book style. It takes longer, and it produces a more open, more even draw. If you have ever wondered why an Ashton lights easily and stays lit, that is why.

Every line, wrapper by wrapper

Ashton Classic, 1985

The original: finest aged Dominican tobaccos, and the mild benchmark the whole brand is measured against. The 1985 debut sizes were the 8-9-8, Churchill, Corona, Panatela, Prime Minister and Sovereign.

Cabinet Selection, 1988

A Connecticut Shade wrapper over Dominican leaf aged five to seven years. This is the line most Ashton drinkers mean when they say Ashton. It runs from the Trés Petite at 4.375 by 42 up to the No. 1 at 9 by 52.

Aged Maduro, 1988

Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over vintage Dominican binder and filler. Broadleaf is the darker, sweeter American maduro leaf, and it turns the Ashton profile from cream toward cocoa without adding much strength. Compare it against the rest of our maduro cigars.

VSG, Virgin Sun Grown, 1999

An Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper from a private estate over four to five year aged Dominican binder and filler. VSG is the full bodied Ashton, and the size names are its own vocabulary: Trés Mystique, Enchantment, Pegasus, Belicoso No. 1, Robusto, Corona Gorda, Eclipse, Wizard, Illusion, Torpedo, Sorcerer, Spellbound.

ESG, Estate Sun Grown, 2005

The twentieth anniversary blend, using a Dominican sun grown wrapper from Chateau de la Fuente over an all Dominican interior. The sizes are named for the years: 20 Year Salute, 21 Year, 22 Year, 23 Year, 24 Year.

Symmetry, 2014

An Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper over Dominican and Nicaraguan binder and filler, and the first time Nicaraguan leaf entered the Ashton portfolio. Robusto, Belicoso, Prism, Sublime and Prestige.

Heritage Puro Sol

An Ecuadorian Habano Cuban seed wrapper over Dominican binder and filler, in Belicoso No. 2, Robusto, Corona Gorda, Churchill and Double Corona.

Esquire and the small cigars

Esquire uses Connecticut Shade and Connecticut Broadleaf in a small format. The small cigar range runs Cameroon and Connecticut in Senoritas, Cigarillos and mini formats. Set them beside our mini cigars if a short smoke is what you actually want.

One from each of the four core lines

Cabinet Selection for the classic, Aged Maduro for the broadleaf, VSG for the full bodied, Symmetry for the Nicaraguan hybrid.

The sizes, in full

For anyone who shops by shape rather than by brand, our Robusto, Toro and Torpedo and Pyramid collections cut across every brand we carry.

The ratings

Ashton publishes its Cigar Aficionado scores, and the record is unusually consistent for a brand this size. Heritage Puro Sol has scored 95. Symmetry, VSG, Cabinet Selection and ESG have each scored 94, with Symmetry rated 94 in January 2018 and named to Cigar Aficionado's Top 10 in both 2017 and 2015, Cabinet Selection rated 94 in November 2023, and ESG scoring 94 in September 2014 alongside multiple Top 10 designations. Aged Maduro has scored 92 in 2023 and 2018 and 91 in March 2025.

Those are third party ratings of the cigars, published by Cigar Aficionado. We report them because they are verifiable, not because a score should decide what you smoke.

Four more, including the VSG sampler

The sampler is the honest way to meet VSG without committing to a box of one size.

What we notice first-hand

Ashton is the brand we hand to someone who has been smoking for a year and is ready to stop guessing. The construction is the reason. Entubado rolling and long ageing produce a cigar that behaves, and a cigar that behaves teaches you what a blend actually tastes like, because you are not fighting a plugged draw or a runaway burn.

The line that surprises people is Aged Maduro. Broadleaf usually means strength, and this one does not. It reads dark and sweet without weight, which makes it the rare maduro that works before dinner rather than after.

The practical note is on VSG. It is genuinely full bodied and it is a poor first Ashton. Start on Cabinet Selection or Symmetry, and come to VSG when you already know you like a Sumatra wrapper. The five stick sampler exists for exactly this reason.

Ashton at Cigar Inc., live

Browse all Ashton

The bottom line

Ashton is a house that has changed very little in forty years, and that is the appeal. Cabinet Selection is the reference point, Aged Maduro is the underrated one, Symmetry is where the modern Nicaraguan influence enters, and VSG is the one to grow into.

If you want to compare the Ashton family's Dominican and Nicaraguan sides in one sitting, put a Cabinet Selection next to a La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor. Same company, two different worlds. Or start with our Cigar Finder.

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