Review: Corona Nicaraguan Selection

[matthewjmichael]

I've been smoking my own cigars for the last 10 or 15 years; when my buddy and I started a cigar review blog a couple months ago we started requesting some House Blends to review b/c we are interested in finding cheaper alternatives to the $5-8 smokes we enjoy. We also like bringing attention to smaller companies and blends. We've only approached companies with House Blends and several have been kind enough to send some stuff. We've been working through cigar.com's house blends that are also very good and now we're doing the same with Corona.

You can view the reviews on cigar.com's blends on our blog: http://cigarreviews.wordpress.com/

[matthewjmichael]

And we still spend money at our local shops so that we can give variety to the blog and still keep smoking our go-tos or try new blends from our favorite blenders. We just love to smoke, whatever it is.

[ashauler]

I've been smoking my own cigars for the last 10 or 15 years; when my buddy and I started a cigar review blog a couple months ago we started requesting some House Blends to review b/c we are interested in finding cheaper alternatives to the $5-8 smokes we enjoy. We also like bringing attention to smaller companies and blends. We've only approached companies with House Blends and several have been kind enough to send some stuff. We've been working through cigar.com's house blends that are also very good and now we're doing the same with Corona.

You can view the reviews on cigar.com's blends on our blog: http://cigarreviews.wordpress.com/

O.K., so what is the answer to my question? Either it's : "Yes we get most of our cigars free", or "No we buy most of them, but are given some also?"

Just looking for some clarity here.

[matthewjmichael]

"No we buy most of them, but are given some also?"

Of the 21 cigars we've reviewed so far on our blog, 7 have been gifted. We are working through a batch of stuff we recently received so most of our posts will be gifts over the next couple months. But my humi is 95% full of stuff I've bought.

[ashauler]

"No we buy most of them, but are given some also?"

Of the 21 cigars we've reviewed so far on our blog, 7 have been gifted. We are working through a batch of stuff we recently received so most of our posts will be gifts over the next couple months. But my humi is 95% full of stuff I've bought.

Cool, thanks for the clarification. I see that you also list in some of your reviews whether the cigars are gifted....is this your standard practice?

[matthewjmichael]

Cool, thanks for the clarification. I see that you also list in some of your reviews whether the cigars are gifted....is this your standard practice?

I try and do that in the header info but sometimes forget (like w/ this recent one). It's mostly just so that I'm open about things. Also, it's because I make it clear through my posts that I am a value hunter and I am on a tight budget these days w/ a 1 year old--so, if I review a $21 Davidoff I'd like for people to realize I didn't spend this, for consistency reasons.

Do you particular thoughts on reviewing gifted smokes?

[ashauler]

I try and do that in the header info but sometimes forget (like w/ this recent one). It's mostly just so that I'm open about things. Also, it's because I make it clear through my posts that I am a value hunter and I am on a tight budget these days w/ a 1 year old--so, if I review a $21 Davidoff I'd like for people to realize I didn't spend this, for consistency reasons.

Do you particular thoughts on reviewing gifted smokes?

I have thoughts on transparency, which I think you have addressed.

[matthewjmichael]

Cool, thanks for prompting the conversation around this - the biggest thing for us is making sure we don't up a score to be on good terms with the provider...