For wine, the price, the year, and the label (assuming that it is controlled by the government) is a fairly decent indicator of crap vs. not crap. However, there is a lot of error as well, so, while technically a good indicator, it isn't very useful for buying.
For cigars, the controlled labels are for cigars that aren't available, or aren't sold, in the US.
For the OP, buying cigars based on pictures is a sucker's game - actually, buying most anything consumable based on a picture isn't informative. Does a picture of a restaurant entrée tell you what it will taste like?
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