You have probably noticed the latest from Cigar Aficionado which released their Top 25 Cigars Of The Year, 2020.
You will also notice the debates have begun all over social media from those who agree and those who don’t.
What is the deal with cigar ratings?
Most online cigar retailers like to point to the 90+ ratings of their cigars. This is supposed to tell us the quality of the cigar.
How do they come by that rating?
Cigar Aficionado, as a lifestyle magazine, was launched in 1992 by Mr. Shenken who already had a Wine Spectator magazine which had a similar rating system for wine.
He is credited with starting the cigar boom of the 90’s. Many factors played into this but one factor was that the middle class in the 90’s was beginning to have time on their hands.
It can be argued that CA doesn’t cater to the average Joe cigar smoker anymore but we buy the bulk of them. Anyway…..
Their rating system is a blind test where the cigars have no band but are numbered so the administrator knows which is which, obviously.
So these smokers smoke these mystery cigars and give their feedback on construction, burn, draw and flavors.
One has to ask some questions though.
Is it truly unbiased? Who are the smokers? And more importantly, can we trust their impression of the cigar?
Also, is it protected from those who will profit from that #1 spot? I will address that later.
Let’s examine some of the other questions first.
In life we find things we like and dislike. It is called subjective.
Some people love a good rare steak where some want it cooked to a crisp. (THE HORROR)
When I was young my dad always cooked steak well done. As far as I knew that was how you ate steak. I remember going out to eat at Outback Steakhouse with my grandparents and their friends who emigrated from England.
When ordering my steak (a Victoria’s Filet) I asked for it to be well done. Ray (in his English accent) blurted out, “What’re you bloody doing? You don’t eat a steak well done!” He ordered the waitress to make it medium and get me an ale.
Well I still remember that meal as the best steak drink combo I have ever had and it’s been almost 20 years. (I don’t like Outback anymore, they dropped quality on their steaks)
Which demonstrates something about palates and the education of one’s olfactory senses but we’ll get to that later.
On the subject of alcohol there is probably no other variance of preference than that. You have IPA lovers and haters. Domestic beer lovers (Miller Lite? gag) and imported beer lovers (love).
Don’t get me started on the different whiskeys, bourbons, brandys, cognacs, tequilas, rum and on and on, let alone wine.
The point is people have different palates. Their tongues work differently. Some can’t taste anything nuanced about anything and others can taste the most intricate flavors of everything they ingest.
The latter almost always have a perfectly working nose.
Our olfactory senses are interconnected with our mouths. Everything has a smell that works with your taste buds. That is where the saying, “it smells so good I can almost taste it”. When you have othrohale and retrohale working together you are getting the full experience.
Over time as we get older this changes and develops. When I was a kid I didn’t like the taste of onions but as I got older (my 30’s) I could eat it raw and enjoy it. I was the same way with spicy foods.
My daughter is 14 and she loves spicy food.
You get my point.
We can assume that CA makes sure they hire smokers who have shown they have proficiency in determining flavors of a cigar.
Yet, these blind smokers have their own different set of senses that they have developed over time.
They may like the spicy side of life or prefer the milder smoother life without surprises.
With that in mind I think the answer is, no. We can’t, as a whole, trust their impressions of any cigar.
They don’t always get it wrong but see, I can only say that for me. I really think they got it right with the Le Bijou 1922 in 2015 and the Encore Majestic in 2018 or my personal favorite, the Oliva V Melanio in 2014 and just about any Padron. (Which won their very first cigar of the year)
However I personally know fellow cigar lovers who dislike, even hate, all those cigars, save the Padron.
How can that be?
It’s because they have their own personal flavor profile.
Mr. Shenken really did his homework before he launched Cigar Aficionado. He surveyed hundreds of individuals to determine things like, what they earned to their buying habits.
He figured out what would sell his magazine by incorporating all those things into it.
So at the end of the day, he needed to make a profit which isn’t a bad thing. All the power to him. I’m a capitalist through and through.
The next question is, is it unbiased?
Many believe since they are in the business of making money how can we know the cigar manufacturers aren’t pitching a little extra to gain a good spot on the top 25?
When these manufacturers are advertising on their magazine or being interviewed does the magazine feel obligated to nudge them up a little?
There is also the matter of the boutique blends that are all the rage right now and operate on a smaller budget. They almost never get their due.
All fair points.
The person gathering these ratings knows what each cigar is. Money is a powerful motivator.
The answer here is we will probably never know. A healthy dose of suspicion should rule the day.
I do know that Steve Saka from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust has a beef with Cigar Aficionado and that has kept him off the magazine all together. I believe it goes all the way back to Saka’s Cigar Nexus blogging days.
Lastly, who are these smokers?
Do we know how long they have been smoking? Do we know if they used to be a cigarette smoker? Or worse, do they also smoke cigarettes? (unlikely as any educated person will know cigarettes will kill your palate)
Do we know if they like steak rare?
Most importantly do we know if they have a developed palate?
I mentioned this at the beginning so let’s explore this more.
With cigars they have literally thousands of different ways to blend it. With growing regions all over, their potential is endless. You then have the rare good years of tobacco that can never be reproduced like the original Opus X.
Then you will have the disastrous fires that destroy wrappers and binders that have never entered the market.
Cigars can take you on an amazing journey of discovery that with real passion and appreciation, can last a lifetime.
When i began smoking cigars in October 2014 I remember not liking the first one. Yet I knew I always loved the smell of pipe tobacco and cigars so I didn’t give up. I also have been blessed with a very sensitive nose, well it can be a curse at times.
As I continued researching and trying different makers I eventually began to make benchmarks in my mind of what I liked. I mostly smoked connecticuts as they are generally but not always milder.
Eventually I tried my first maduro. A La Gloria Cubana Serie R. What an enjoyable smoke. I made the mistake of not keeping them humidified and lost about 15 of the bundle of 20 I purchased.
I got into cigars without asking anyone about what to do. I really foraged into the world on my own, buying exclusively online.
Since then I have smoked hundreds of cigars of so many brands and I still haven’t even scratched the surface. I also got immersed in the culture of a cigar lounge.
I did get a humidor finally.
There is also another factor.
What did you eat last before lighting up your cigar?
I remember trying a Torano 50th gordo and really disliking it. Damn, I bought a 5 pack I thought.
After another week I thought I would give it another try and surprisingly it was really good.
As we journey through the cigar adventure we will learn these things.
We will learn that sometimes a cigar needs to rest a bit after purchasing it. Sometimes we learn that a cigar will be even better 2 years later. Sometimes we will learn that a cigar has lost its charm after 6 months.
Well those always make great gifts!
At the end of the day it all boils down to you. Hopefully with this article you can open your eyes a little more to the cigar world and see how awesome it is.
We can’t judge a book by it’s cover and this applies to cigar ratings. Trust your own experience, build connections with other cigar lovers and keep lighting them up.
At the end of the day cigar ratings are subjective and they are most likely or can be influenced. Keep an open mind and explore. It is an exciting venture.
Let the cigar journey continue.
