Cigar News
Cigar Aficionado releases their Top 25 cigars of 2010
Every year, a lot of cigar smokers wait for Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 cigars of the year. Some of them swear by this list and make their purchasing decisions solely based on the ranking. At the same time, many aficionados I know and the majority (am I right?) of cigar bloggers are rather sceptical about it, thinking that it might be based on advertising revenue more than on anything else. I stand somewhere in the middle. I simply think that one shouldn’t give any extra weight to the CA’s list over any other list out there.
As for the list itself, I thought it was very likely for Cohiba Behike to become #1; I must admit that this cigar was rather well-marketed and the quality is there, although the reviews were somewhat mixed. However, I do not really approve crowning an incredibly expensive and hyped cigar for the second time in a row. This being said, there are some quality sticks in the list, it definitely deserves a look. But not a 25-boxes buying spree.
7 thoughts on “Cigar Aficionado releases their Top 25 cigars of 2010”
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I’m sorry but I just can’t see how CA’s
top 25 cigars of the year can be taken
as something serious or worldly important
unless you’re a NC brand or involved in the
NC marketing in the USA, other then that, it
is by no means a reference on what smoking a
great complexe cigar is all about, well,
unless you enjoy smoking a pepper cigar with
a pizza and a coke. Then again, maybe it’s
simply my ignorance on what it means to be an
Epicurean who reads a lifestyle magazine.
Guy
France
Now that James Suckling has left Cigar Aficionado for his own endeavors, I’m less inclined to be swayed by their ratings. I feel James had/has a sophisticated palate and articulates his experience well with tastings.
To set the tone I am partial to Habanos profiles. So, am I imagining the Top 10 winners every year seem to often advertise in CA, especially Padron. CA has said more then once their tests are blind. Maybe they should share how the process comes about to relieve skeptics. Don’t know about others, but I can surely tell a DR/CR profile from Habanos, even if I’ve been sipping a bit too much Springbank or Ron Zacapa.
Bageland2000. Oh, I’m far from wrong. It’s true, and it bothers the hell out of me. You can find this info by going on the CA site, enter Gordon Mott’s Blogs, Go to the one from July 22, 2009 titled “Cigar Tasting” Then go into the comments of that blog. Gordon answers a question from a reader. He states they smoke 1″ of the cigar. And then he actually defends his reasoning. It’s amazing. at the time I E-mailed him a question on it. Asking about a cigar going bad half way, or bad burns, flavor changes. The pompous ass never responded.
JB Where is this information? I’d like to see it because pending some sort of citation I’m going to tell you that you are wrong. Everything I’ve read about their testing says that they blind test and smoke the whole cigar. The traviata and serie V are in my top 5 favorite, and a lot of these bad boys I’ve never heard of.
What people forget to mention is that CA only smokes 1″ of a cigar to do a tasting. 1″?? can you believe it? This makes their list and ratings pretty much useless. I subscribe to the mag, but take it all with a grain of salt. And, any top 25 list that does not have the Padron 46 Yr somewhere on it, is no list at all.
Well, hmmm… They’re list is a little odd. I was frankly surprised the flying pig didn’t make it on there, then they put the my father over the le bijou, plus the cohiba behike at no 1 (which I had a couple visiting relatives in canada, it was good, verging on great, but not amazing). Oh and the traviata over the traviata maduro… and no aurora 107…
I don’t know, I guess cigars are like apples and oranges, what one person loves another looks at with disdain. I have my top 10, and that’s what counts.