100 Year Old Cigar
A 100 Year Old Cigar is 50ml of aged rum, 15ml of Bénédictine, 15ml of Cynar, 5ml of peated single malt whisky and a dash of Angostura bitters, stirred and strained into a chilled coupe rinsed with absinthe. About 3.2 UK units, counting the absinthe rinse in full. Maks Pazuniak created the original in 2015 or 2016 at the Counting Room in Brooklyn, according to Difford’s Guide, which prints an adapted version. It was first published in Carey Jones’s Brooklyn Bartender in 2016. It is dark, herbal and smoky, built to taste of a cigar without any tobacco. It is served without a garnish.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish:
Ingredients
2.5ml
Used to rinse the chilled glass. Swirl to coat, then discard the excess. Our units count the full measure, so the real figure is a little lower.
50ml
Difford’s specifies a Caribbean blended rum aged six to ten years. The original used Ron Zacapa No. 23.
15ml
A carciofo amaro at 16.5% ABV. Difford’s allows another carciofo amaro, though Cynar is what the original named.
5ml
The original used Laphroaig 10 Year Old, an Islay malt. Any peated Islay malt follows the same logic.
Instructions
Chill a coupe. Pour in the absinthe, swirl to coat the inside and discard the excess.
Add the aged rum, Bénédictine, Cynar, peated whisky and Angostura to a mixing glass.
Fill with ice and stir for 20 to 30 seconds, until the glass is cold to the touch.
Strain into the absinthe-rinsed coupe.
Serve without a garnish.
Source: Difford's Guide (recipe 5811, measures, method and glass as printed (2.5ml absinthe rinse, 50ml Caribbean blended rum aged 6 to 10 years, 15ml Bénédictine, 15ml Cynar or other carciofo amaro, 5ml peated single malt, 1 dash Angostura, stirred, coupe, no garnish); Difford’s says it is adapted from Maks Pazuniak’s original, which used Ron Zacapa No. 23, Laphroaig 10 and a Nick & Nora glass). Last checked 1 November 2026.
Expert Tip
Measure the whisky exactly. At 5ml it is a seasoning, and a heavier hand turns a rum drink into a smoke drink. Discard the rinse properly. Excess absinthe pools in the base of the glass and overpowers the fine balance of everything else. Try it on the rocks, over one big cube, in an old-fashioned glass. Difford’s says the drink has broader appeal on the rocks, and slow dilution softens the Bénédictine.
Behind the 100 Year Old Cigar
Flavour Profile
A Brooklyn drink from 2015
The recipe Difford’s Guide prints is adapted from one Maks Pazuniak created in 2015 or 2016 while working at the Counting Room in Brooklyn. When he opened Jupiter Disco Bar in Bushwick in 2016, the drink went with him. It was first published in Carey Jones’s Brooklyn Bartender: A Modern Guide to Cocktails and Spirits, in 2016.
Pazuniak’s original, as Difford’s prints it, used 1¾ oz of Ron Zacapa No. 23, half an ounce each of Cynar and Bénédictine, a quarter ounce of Laphroaig 10 Year Old, a dash of Angostura and an absinthe rinse, served in a Nick & Nora glass. The version here is Difford’s adaptation, which names the style of each spirit and not the bottle.
Where the cigar comes from
There is no tobacco. Difford’s calls the drink cigar-like and says it suits being accompanied by one. The impression comes from the peated whisky at just 5ml, the dark aged rum, and the bitter herbal Cynar and Bénédictine beside them.
Islay whisky is used as a seasoning here. Five millilitres is too little to read as whisky but enough to add smoke. The absinthe rinse puts a trace of anise on the nose before the first sip.
Choosing the rum
Difford’s specifies a Caribbean blended rum aged six to ten years. Aged rum of that age has oak, dried fruit and sweetness, which the herbal parts of the drink need as a base. A younger or lighter rum would be overrun by Bénédictine. The age and style of rum are set out in the complete guide to rum.
The 100 Year Old Cigar beside three stirred drinks
100 Year Old Cigar
- Base
- 50ml aged rum
- Modifiers
- 15ml Bénédictine, 15ml Cynar, 5ml peated whisky
- Finish
- Absinthe rinse, no garnish
Vieux Carré
- Base
- Rye and Cognac
- Modifiers
- Sweet vermouth, Bénédictine
- Finish
- Bitters
Bywater
- Base
- 52.5ml aged rum
- Modifiers
- Averna, green Chartreuse, falernum
- Finish
- Orange twist
Brooklyn
- Base
- Rye whiskey
- Modifiers
- Dry vermouth, maraschino, Averna
- Finish
- Orange bitters
| Drink | Base | Modifiers | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Year Old Cigar | 50ml aged rum | 15ml Bénédictine, 15ml Cynar, 5ml peated whisky | Absinthe rinse, no garnish |
| Vieux Carré | Rye and Cognac | Sweet vermouth, Bénédictine | Bitters |
| Bywater | 52.5ml aged rum | Averna, green Chartreuse, falernum | Orange twist |
| Brooklyn | Rye whiskey | Dry vermouth, maraschino, Averna | Orange bitters |
The Vieux Carré also uses Bénédictine, and the Bywater is another aged-rum drink with an amaro. Neither uses smoke.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Aged RumAged rum is rum that has spent years in oak casks, usually ex-bourbon barrels, and taken on vanilla, caramel and dried fruit; our recipes count it at 40% ABV. In our recipes it is the rum for drinks where you should taste the spirit: the Old Cuban, the Mai Tai, the Rum Sour and the punch bowl.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
Who created the 100 Year Old Cigar?
Does it contain tobacco?
How strong is a 100 Year Old Cigar?
What rum should I use?
Can I use another amaro?
Why rinse the glass with absinthe?
Coupe or rocks glass?
Can I make it in a batch?
Sources.
Correct as of 1 November 2026.
- Difford’s Guide, “100 Year Old Cigar” (recipe 5811: absinthe rinse, 50ml rum aged 6 to 10 years, 15ml Bénédictine, 15ml Cynar or other carciofo amaro, 5ml peated single malt, 1 dash Angostura, stirred, coupe, no garnish; history: adapted from a recipe created in 2015 or 2016 by Maks Pazuniak at the Counting Room, Brooklyn; first published in Carey Jones, Brooklyn Bartender (2016); 3.2 units).
- NHS, “Calculating alcohol units” (the 14-units-a-week guidance and the units calculation).
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Vieux Carré
A Vieux Carré is 30ml each of rye whiskey, cognac and sweet vermouth, with 5ml of Bénédictine and two dashes of Peychaud’s bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained over a large cube in a rocks glass, with lemon peel expressed over the top. About 3.1 UK units. Those are the IBA’s ingredients. The IBA serves it up, in a cocktail glass, finished with orange zest and a cherry; we keep the lemon peel of the recipe Stanley Clisby Arthur printed in Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ’Em, which Difford’s Guide dates to 1938, and serve it over ice. Difford’s Guide reproduces Arthur’s entry, in which Walter Bergeron, head bartender of the Hotel Monteleone cocktail lounge in New Orleans, says he originated the drink in honour of the Vieux Carré. Difford’s Guide dates it to 1938. Vieux carré means old square: the French Quarter, where the hotel stands.
Bywater
A Bywater is 52.5ml of aged rum, 22.5ml of Averna, 15ml of green Chartreuse and 7.5ml of falernum, with 2 dashes each of Peychaud’s and orange bitters, stirred for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a coupe or Nick & Nora. About 3.7 UK units, with the rum at 40% ABV. Chris Hannah devised it at Arnaud’s in New Orleans in 2007, according to Punch, and named it for a neighbourhood of that city. It is built as a rum answer to the Brooklyn. It is a stirred, spirit-heavy drink with no citrus and no juice. Bitter orange, herbs and spice sit underneath the rum.
Brooklyn
A Brooklyn is 60ml of rye whiskey and 22.5ml of dry vermouth, with 7.5ml each of maraschino liqueur and Averna and two dashes of orange bitters, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled Nick and Nora glass with a cherry. About 3.3 UK units. The Averna and orange bitters stand in for Amer Picon, the French bitter orange aperitif the old recipes call for. The Oxford Companion says Picon’s strength fell from about 40% ABV to 38% in the 1920s, 27% in the 1970s and 18% in 1989, and Punch says it is still largely unavailable in the United States; in our view any Brooklyn poured now is a reconstruction. Difford’s Guide says the Brooklyn as we know it first appears in print in Jacob Grohusko’s Jack’s Manual, 1908, as equal parts rye and Italian vermouth with a dash each of Picon and maraschino. In 1913 Jacques Straub’s manual, as Difford’s Guide reproduces it, made it with French, or dry, vermouth.
Manhattan
The IBA specifies 50ml of rye whiskey, 20ml of sweet vermouth and a dash of Angostura bitters, strained into a chilled glass with a cocktail cherry; we stir it over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and serve it in a coupe. That is five parts whiskey to two of vermouth. About 2.3 UK units. The Oxford Companion says the most commonly told story puts it at New York’s Manhattan Club on 29 December 1874, at a testimonial dinner for Samuel J. Tilden, later retold with Jennie Jerome, Lady Randolph Churchill, as host or inspiration, and calls that story simply not true: she had given birth to Winston Churchill in Oxfordshire less than a month earlier. The Companion names O. H. Byron’s Modern Bartenders’ Guide among the bar books that printed the drink in 1884, and we read Byron’s and Charlie Paul’s books of that year in the Internet Archive scans. With so little in the glass, the vermouth decides it. Twenty millilitres is over a quarter of the drink, and a bottle opened months ago tastes flat and sour against the rye. We keep it in the fridge and replace it within about four weeks.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 1 November 2026