We have employed Bloch-wave engineering to realize submicron diameter high quality factor GaAs/AlAs micropillars (MPs). The design features a tapered cavity in which the fundamental Bloch mode is subject to an adiabatic transition to match the Bragg mirror Bloch mode. The resulting reduced scattering loss leads to record-high vacuum Rabi splitting of the strong coupling in MPs with modest oscillator strength quantum dots. A quality factor of 13, 600 and a splitting of 85 μeV with an estimated visibility v of 0.41 are observed for a small mode volume MP with a diameter d{c} of 850 nm.