Che' is right on. If you look closely you will also find cigars that buy full page, double page spreads get fairly nice reviews the next month, or even the same month.
If you want to wonder something, wonder why a NC cigar never appears in Connoisseurs Corner. Funny ain't it? You'd figure with all those highly rated sticks from years past that SOME sort of NC product would have made there.

He's also right about the Cubans opening a window for NC makers to point fingers by trying to meet demand during the boom, and seeding fields with tobacco that were unsuited to grow it. Many vegas were turning out tobacco that would not have been accepted in past years, and it showed in some of their product.