Cigar Aficionado

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Cigar Aficionado
Cigar Aficionado Magazine Cover - CA-Sep-Oct06 inside.jpg
Cigar Aficionado has regularly used cigar-smoking celebrities on its covers, such as this issue featuring actor William Shatner.
EditorDavid Savona
Total circulation
(December 2014)		256,355[1]
First issueFall 1992
CompanyM. Shanken Communications
CountryUnited States
Based inNew York City
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.cigaraficionado.com
ISSN1063-7885

Cigar Aficionado is an American magazine that is dedicated to enjoying the good life and the world of cigars. Published since September 1992, the magazine is known for its profiles on celebrities including Michael Jordan, Jack Nicholson, The Rock, Demi Moore, Robert De Niro, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Usher, Nick Jonas, Tom Selleck, Hugh Jackman, Wayne Gretzky, Charles Barkley, and for its articles and blind tastings about handrolled, premium cigars, along with stories about golf, travel and luxury goods and experiences. The magazine was launched by Marvin R. Shanken's M. Shanken Communications, the publisher of Wine Spectator magazine since 1976. The current executive editor is David Savona.

Publication history

Origins

Cigar Aficionado magazine debuted in the fall of 1992, launched in New York City by Marvin R. Shanken, longtime publisher of Wine Spectator magazine. Prior to launching the publication, Shanken engaged in extensive market research, collecting more than 1,300 four-page surveys of cigar smokers which detailed their occupation, income, net worth, travel tendencies, as well as their drinking and smoking habits.[2] Survey results revealed a well-heeled and dedicated male demographic, with survey respondents professing an average household income of $194,000 and a net worth of $1.54 million and claiming to smoke on average ten cigars per week.[2] Shanken launched a large-format glossy magazine aimed at corralling these readers and advertisers of products targeted to this audience.

Cigar Aficionado began as a lifestyle magazine, including coverage of wine, spirits, travel, gambling, and antiques, in addition to interviews with leading personalities in the cigar industry and feature articles relating to the cigarmaking industry. From the beginning the magazine emphasized interviews with celebrity cigar smokers, including cover stories on Rush Limbaugh,[3] Jack Nicholson,[4] and Arnold Schwarzenegger.[5] The new magazine's successful blending of lifestyle reports and celebrity glitz has been credited with contributing to the 1990s cigar boom.Template:Fix/category[citation needed]

The publication scored its first great journalistic coup on February 4, 1994, when editor and publisher Shanken met Fidel Castro in Havana for a two-hour interview.[6] During this interview Castro recounted the story behind the establishment of the Cohiba brand, told stories of the importance of cigars to his life as a revolutionary in the mountains of Cuba, and explained his decision to give up cigar smoking in August 1986 as part of a national campaign against tobacco use.[6] In addition to these topics of special interest to cigar smokers, the interview touched upon bilateral relations between the United States and Cuba, during the course of which Castro accused the United States of repeatedly "moving the goalposts back" for ending the Cuban economic embargo and said that "no other country has as unblemished behavior about human rights" as Cuba.[6]

Ratings

From its inception, Cigar Aficionado has made use of blind taste testing of cigars, comparing the merits of one brand to another, expressed on the basis of a 100-point scale similar to the one successfully used in sister publication Wine Spectator.[7]

Cigar of the Year

Year Cigar Rating Factory Location Ref.
2021 Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series Torpedo 97 Nicaragua [8]
2020 E.P. Carrillo Pledge Prequel 98 Dominican Republic [9]
2019 Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro 96 Nicaragua [10]
2018 E.P. Carrillo Encore Majestic 96 Dominican Republic [11]
2017 Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Eye of the Shark 97 Dominican Republic [12]
2016 La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull 96 Dominican Republic [13]
2015 My Father Le Bijou 1922 Torpedo Box Pressed 97 Nicaragua [14]
2014 Oliva Serie V Melanio Figurado 96 Nicaragua [15]
2013 Montecristo No. 2 96 Cuba [16]
2012 Flor de las Antillas Toro 96 Nicaragua [17]
2011 Alec Bradley Prensado Churchill 96 Honduras [18]
2010 Cohiba Behike BHK 52 97 Cuba [19]
2009 Padrón Family Reserve No. 45 Maduro 95 Nicaragua [20]
2008 Casa Magna Colorado Robusto 93 Nicaragua [21]
2007 Padrón Serie 1926 No. 9 97 Nicaragua [22]
2006 Bolivar Royal Corona 94 Cuba [23]
2005 Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona 95 Dominican Republic [24]
2004 Padrón Serie 1926 40th Anniversary 93 Nicaragua [25]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "eCirc for Consumer Magazines". Alliance for Audited Media. June 30, 2012. Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Welcome to the Cigar Aficionado Club," Cigar Aficionado, vol. 1, no. 1 (Autumn 1992), pg. 11.
  3. ↑ Cigar Aficionado, Spring 1994.
  4. ↑ Cigar Aficionado, Summer 1995.
  5. ↑ Cigar Aficionado, Summer 1996.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Marvin R Shanken, "A Conversation with Fidel," Cigar Aficionado, vol. 2, no. 4 (Summer 1994), pp. 46-59.
  7. ↑ See, for example, "Robusto Blind Tasting," Cigar Aficionado, vol. 1, no. 1 (Autumn 1992), pp. 30-35.
  8. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2020". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  9. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2020". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  10. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2019". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  11. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2018". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  12. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2017". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  13. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2016". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  14. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2015". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  15. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2014". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  16. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2013". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  17. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2012". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  18. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2011". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  19. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2010". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  20. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2009". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  21. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2008". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  22. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2007". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  23. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2006". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  24. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2005". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.
  25. ↑ "Top 25 Cigars of 2004". Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Aficionado.

External links

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