These are the same guys that gave the Camacho Triple Maduro and the Liga Privada Feral Flying Pig ratings in the mid-80's...which leads me to believe I have the palate of a Neanderthal, because both of those are near the top of my list of favorites.
Feel free to call me a knuckle-dragger, I'll wear that badge proudly.
These are the same guys that gave the Camacho Triple Maduro and the Liga Privada Feral Flying Pig ratings in the mid-80's...which leads me to believe I have the palate of a Neanderthal, because both of those are near the top of my list of favorites.
Feel free to call me a knuckle-dragger, I'll wear that badge proudly.
Dude...Swag>>>>>>FFP 3XM... Your palette sucks lol
well...swag keeps getting 90's dude, you should buy into the hype lol. Those two brands are great examples of the politics. You never see high rates davidoff or camacho, but you see ridiculous ratings on dog crap. I'm with ya 100%. Every month the B&M owner and I laugh at the ratings and then check advertising. Funny how that works.
well...swag keeps getting 90's dude, you should buy into the hype lol. Those two brands are great examples of the politics. You never see high rates davidoff or camacho, but you see ridiculous ratings on dog crap. I'm with ya 100%. Every month the B&M owner and I laugh at the ratings and then check advertising. Funny how that works.
I agree 100%. the only Swag I tried reminded me a LOT of a Victor Sinclair. Yay.
Ha! I remember reading that review on the Camacho 3M, scratching my head the whole time. There is no accounting for taste, I guess. It's their list, take it for...well, whatever you want to take it for. I find it interesting but don't put any stock into their recommendations and certainly don't try cigars based on their opinion. It's a little irksome that the magazine pulls such weight in the community at large and these are their ratings but eventually everyone will either live and learn or find this place, lol.
Sad but true. When I'm home in Las Vegas and in a casino, I hear "this is rated such-and-such in CA" or "this is the #1 rated smoke in the country" all the time...I just shake my head.
I respect Pepin Garcia and his contribution to the cigar industry though he is not a member of the so-called CA Hall of Fame. However, I sincerely disagree with CAs number one cigar. Even the testing video couldnt elaborate more than notes of nutmeg and white peppery, very complex (how complex and why?) and delicious. Then they said they are dynamite to smoke at the same time said they are lighter than as usual Pepins cigar. Number one cigar deserves more elaborated description. After that they talked about Pepin Garcia and his business background. This is where CA failed to convinced me about their analysis.
Please notice about number two cigar, they talked about- all kind of complex flavors with raisin sweet, leather zing, coffee flavor, earth, little bit of saltiness, rich Cuban aromatic aroma, full flavored and absolutely delicious. They described the cigar even better than number 1 but scored one point low. In both cases they could not describe it constructively.
You can see their description does not match their scoring. I understand no rater or reviewers can convince 100% smokers with number one cigar but the reality is its need to be objective. CA failed to do it. Again, this is my personal opinion and I respect others. I have no comment about no. 3 cigar rather than laugh.
A good cigar is not about strength, it is all about balanced flavors with complexity. This is where Pepins cigar fails to deliver the top notch quality. First thing about his cigar is overpowering spice with harshness and metallic finish. Pepin cigars are very enjoyable when they get 3-5 years of aging like many other cigars. I respect Pepins hard work and background but that does not change the fact that his cigars are overpowering in strength and spice and lacks balanced complexity. Some of the cigars are excellent (such as my father LE 2010 but after years of age). What is a good cigar? There are five elements makes an almost perfect cigar- flavor, aroma, strength, balanced complexity with long finish. Cohiba 1966 can easily challenge Flor de las Anitllas in all the above five elements. However, it is practically impossible to choose a number 1 cigar when test is so subjective but it is difficult to justify AB Prensado or FDLA as a number 1 cigar. In 2010 it wasnt this controversial when Cohiba Behike was no. 1 cigar because Behike is truly a great smoke. In my opinion, within couple years of age 1966 will be a better cigar than even Behike. 1966 is an extraordinary cigar.
Without further commenting on the Top 25 itself (since I've only tried #1 and #25 and thus have commented thus upon them already), has anyone noticed that a number of brands that both C.com and its "other main online competitor" flog so heavily in their catalogues and sites have no reviews at all on either CA or CJ? There's not one review of 5 Vegas, Man O' War, Diesel, La Herencia Cubana, Ave Marie, or Ramon Bueso. Not the I particuarly care about any of these brands, but one wonders whether there's some kind of bias against these brands on the part of the magazines. It can't be a "too many cigars not enough time" issue because reviewing cigars is their job.
Without further commenting on the Top 25 itself (since I've only tried #1 and #25 and thus have commented thus upon them already), has anyone noticed that a number of brands that both C.com and its "other main online competitor" flog so heavily in their catalogues and sites have no reviews at all on either CA or CJ? There's not one review of 5 Vegas, Man O' War, Diesel, La Herencia Cubana, Ave Marie, or Ramon Bueso. Not the I particuarly care about any of these brands, but one wonders whether there's some kind of bias against these brands on the part of the magazines. It can't be a "too many cigars not enough time" issue because reviewing cigars is their job.
There are proprietary brands to those sites. Ccom, CI, and Cbid are all based around one distributor, although they are separate businesses. They bring their own brands to the table so they are not necessarily brands you will find in stores. That distributor will sell to stores, but not many carry these brands so they are not readily available to the market in that regard. That's why you do not see them in these reviews. As a business owner, would you put Diesel on your shelf for $8 a stick when online they are $2-3? That would cost you more customers then bring them in.
I have no comment about no. 3 cigar rather than laugh.
agreed.
+1
+full pages of advertising in every major cigar publication. That's my comment... I actually know a few guys that like these and they sell really well at the shop though.
Private label brands that are only sold via one outlet aren't rated by Cigar Aficionado. So if a brand is only available via one catalog or Internet source, or is a special brand made only for one retail shop, we won't rate it. The focus is on brands that you can typically find at a wide variety of brick and mortar shops throughout the U.S. and the world. Hope this helps.
Private label brands that are only sold via one outlet aren't rated by Cigar Aficionado. So if a brand is only available via one catalog or Internet source, or is a special brand made only for one retail shop, we won't rate it. The focus is on brands that you can typically find at a wide variety of brick and mortar shops throughout the U.S. and the world. Hope this helps.
David Savona
Cigar Aficionado
now this here is right from the source.
please post more about your review process. im sure this would help a few of the guys around here understand how you get the lists and the numbers. i may not agree with all of CAs numbers/lists but i do respect what they are doing. it sure has opened my eyes to a few smokes that i would have otherwise never tried.
Hi David, agree with Kuzi. We would like to know about CAs review process if you don't mind to share. I do know that personally I am very curious.
On a side note, thanks for the wonderful Cigar Aficionado edition on Cuba. That issue really helped me to visit couple places during my trip in Cuba. Thank you!
Happy to discuss the review process: we take a list of the highest ratings of the year from Cigar Aficionado and Cigar Insider, eliminiate duplicates (as an example, there were four Flor de las Antillas cigars that scored in the 90s, but we took the highest scoring one, the Toro, and considered it for Top 25), and have our tasting coordinator buy the cigars at retail. He takes the bands off and puts them in the taster's humidors (the coordinator, knowing the code, is not among the tasters) and the cigars are smoked and scored. The highest scoring ones are smoked again. It's a long process that really rewards a consistent product for Top 25--a cigar has to score well again and again to be cigar of the year.
Rzaman, thanks for the kind words about the Havana issue. We're very proud of that one.
I have a question regarding objectivity of the tasters. For example, the Cameroon Chisel and SL Oval. Given their odd shapes, band or not, how could a taster not know what they are given the unique shape; thus, affecting a possible preconceived notion? You could hand me an oval or chisel without a band, and I am going to know what they are. I might argue the same with the finish of a habanos release as opposed to say something Nicaraguan.
i do have to say it is nice to see a number of cigars with honduran tobacco. Punch, Camacho, and Alec Bradley all make an appearance. i hope this is a resurgence in Honduran tobacco.
+1 you're welcome to hang around here with us. If you do though, you may want to check out the trades, passes and bombs section to see what you might be getting yourself into! :-)
Private label brands that are only sold via one outlet aren't rated by Cigar Aficionado. So if a brand is only available via one catalog or Internet source, or is a special brand made only for one retail shop, we won't rate it. The focus is on brands that you can typically find at a wide variety of brick and mortar shops throughout the U.S. and the world. Hope this helps.
David Savona
Cigar Aficionado
The Cohiba 1966 isn't available to anyone other than a miniscule percentage of the cigar smoking population.
Wow!! This is good for all to have someone step up and help enthusiasts understand there process and not hide behind the pages. Welcome and hope you stick around. And for sake of argument maybe you guys need some testers with better palets lol RJ ROMEO over PADRON ANNIVERSARY really lol
Comments
Feel free to call me a knuckle-dragger, I'll wear that badge proudly.
I respect Pepin Garcia and his contribution to the cigar industry though he is not a member of the so-called CA Hall of Fame. However, I sincerely disagree with CAs number one cigar. Even the testing video couldnt elaborate more than notes of nutmeg and white peppery, very complex (how complex and why?) and delicious. Then they said they are dynamite to smoke at the same time said they are lighter than as usual Pepins cigar. Number one cigar deserves more elaborated description. After that they talked about Pepin Garcia and his business background. This is where CA failed to convinced me about their analysis.
Please notice about number two cigar, they talked about- all kind of complex flavors with raisin sweet, leather zing, coffee flavor, earth, little bit of saltiness, rich Cuban aromatic aroma, full flavored and absolutely delicious. They described the cigar even better than number 1 but scored one point low. In both cases they could not describe it constructively.
You can see their description does not match their scoring. I understand no rater or reviewers can convince 100% smokers with number one cigar but the reality is its need to be objective. CA failed to do it. Again, this is my personal opinion and I respect others. I have no comment about no. 3 cigar rather than laugh.
A good cigar is not about strength, it is all about balanced flavors with complexity. This is where Pepins cigar fails to deliver the top notch quality. First thing about his cigar is overpowering spice with harshness and metallic finish. Pepin cigars are very enjoyable when they get 3-5 years of aging like many other cigars. I respect Pepins hard work and background but that does not change the fact that his cigars are overpowering in strength and spice and lacks balanced complexity. Some of the cigars are excellent (such as my father LE 2010 but after years of age). What is a good cigar? There are five elements makes an almost perfect cigar- flavor, aroma, strength, balanced complexity with long finish. Cohiba 1966 can easily challenge Flor de las Anitllas in all the above five elements. However, it is practically impossible to choose a number 1 cigar when test is so subjective but it is difficult to justify AB Prensado or FDLA as a number 1 cigar. In 2010 it wasnt this controversial when Cohiba Behike was no. 1 cigar because Behike is truly a great smoke. In my opinion, within couple years of age 1966 will be a better cigar than even Behike. 1966 is an extraordinary cigar.
David Savona
Cigar Aficionado
please post more about your review process.
im sure this would help a few of the guys around here understand how you get the lists and the numbers.
i may not agree with all of CAs numbers/lists but i do respect what they are doing. it sure has opened my eyes to a few smokes that i would have otherwise never tried.
On a side note, thanks for the wonderful Cigar Aficionado edition on Cuba. That issue really helped me to visit couple places during my trip in Cuba. Thank you!
Rzaman, thanks for the kind words about the Havana issue. We're very proud of that one.
David Savona
Cigar Aficionado
#DE4L #StillPuffin