Out of the Humidor
Dear Marvin,
I specialize in boutique brands that don’t necessarily have the money to in Cigar Aficionado and are never rated, let alone mentioned. As a business man, I understand you must cater to those that feed you, hence the rs in Cigar Aficionado get their cigars rated. Only after the web-a-sphere blows up with well-deserved clamoring for an amazing “boutique” cigar do I see it mentioned. But they are almost never reviewed.
Rev Davenport
Roseville, California
Editor’s Reply: Rev, you may have your preconceived ideas about the ratings process, but you are wrong. We only rate cigars that are distributed in at least 100 retail shops around the country. Once that happens, we rate the cigars, regardless of whether they or not.
Dear Marvin,
I’ve read in one of your editor’s blogs that reviews are based on appearance, smoking performance, flavor and overall impression on a scale of 100. My question is this: does each of these four factors receive a possible score of 25 or are the values weighted?
Steve Thompson
Wahiawa, Hawaii
Editor’s Reply: The four categories are weighted. Appearance is 15 percent, performance and flavor get 25 percent each and the overall impression is 35 percent of the total.
Dear Marvin,
Since a portion of the [IPR trade show] event was at the Venetian, I am hearing that their mom-and-pop
attitude about smoking in certain areas went completely out the window. Could you shed some light on this?
Ed Harvey
Auburn, Washington
Editor’s Reply: We didn’t note any difference in the hotel’s smoking policy compared to previous years, or for our Big Smoke event. You can smoke inside the venue, and on the gaming floors. That’s Nevada law.
