Cigar Aficionado magazine

[hevyboy]

What do you guys think about this magazine?
I've never had one so I thought I'd ask.

Are there any other good magazines that are good?

[pierce652]

I think its a matter of personal opinion as to which is the best. Other magazines are Smoke and Cigar Magazine.

Cigar Magazine is owned by J&R who is owned by Altadis so there is some bias there. An example is the recent article making Te Amo cigars to be a top notch smoke.

I find that Cigar Aficionado has little to do with cigars and is more of a GQ type rag. They cater to upper crust people who like very expensive toys. Also, look at the reviews and then look at the ads. The cigars reviewed, and given favorable ratings are those with the ads...the bigger the add the higher the rating.

I guess you just have to remember to take whats written in the magazines with a grain of salt. Are they informational? Yes. Are they always accurate? No. Everyone has an agenda and everyone has something to sell.

Just my opinion.

[cigar no baka]

I like reading both Smoke magazine and Cigar Aficianado, but as others say, read them with a grain of salt - they have their biases. I mostly love reading the interviews and stories. The reviews, well if I see something in there that sounds good I will try it but I am wary of those who advertise heavily who get high ratings.

[Hugh Jorgan]

I have been a CA subscriber for a few years. Yes, it has become more of a lifestyle mag than a mag about the cigar lifestyle, but I enjoy it and it is inexpensive.

Cigar Magazine is just a glossy JR catalog IMHO, and I simply haven't enjoyed it

Providing you have something other than a hotmail / yahoo type email account, you can check out CA for free for six months:

http://www.freebizmag.com/emailcigaraficio01welcome.htm

[cigarsarge]

I reviewed cigars for Smoke Mag. They skewed my reviews to support whoever placed ads in that issue. Whoever pays the bills gets good reviews. I slammed a few cigars and guess what..They changed my words to sound favorable.

Believe nothing you read about cigar ratings in a for profit mag. Let your taste buds make your decsion.

[SuperChuck]

To echo the sentiments of most, Cigar Aficionado is like a watered-down version of the Robb Report with a small cigars section shoved in the back.

I just subscribed to a year of Smoke, is it any better?

[Jonsey5484]

I am not big into reading, so the only cigar magazines that I get are the catalogs from CI, and JRCigars. That is enough reading material for me.

[CoventryCat86]

I have every issue of cA since 1992 which is only because they offered a free Volume 1, Number 1 to everyone who had a subscription to Wine Spectator, another Shaken publication. I subscribed and have renewed every year since. I actually don't even really enjoy the magazine that much.

European Cigar Cult Journal is far better than any other cigar magazine out there.

[hevyboy]

The older issues of CA go for some $$ on ebay.

[TheSilentChamber]

Guess I'm kinda alone here, I enjoy the articals in Cigar Magazine. As for ratings showing favortism... well you have to pay the bills somehow you know.

[JakeKnight]

I love Cigar Aficianado mag!

Are the reviews spot on? Well, they claim that they're double-blind taste tests, with neither the reviewers or the note-takers knowing what's being smoked or reviewed.

Are they lying? Well ... I dunno. I've never seen a bad cigar ranked highly, and I've never seen a good cigar ranked badly. That's good enough for me.

But the rest of the magazine is awesome ... great articles, great interviews. However, it really IS a lifestyle mag. Lots of Viper and Jaguar ads, lots of talk of expensive wine and liquor and women. (And this would be a bad thing?)

It's basically Playboy ... except the women have morphed into cigars.

[TheSilentChamber]

If it was playboy the bands would be removed, and you would only get a good look at the top half of the cigar.

[Roham]

Great mag I have a subscription and am giddy when ever I get it Just started collecting them about 4 or 5 issues ago

[CoventryCat86]

Just in case y'all missed it:

European Cigar Cult Journal

[QuietC]

Just in case y'all missed it:

European Cigar Cult Journal

They have a site?

[King of Vagabonds]

To echo the sentiments of most, Cigar Aficionado is like a watered-down version of the Robb Report with a small cigars section shoved in the back.

I just subscribed to a year of Smoke, is it any better?

You nailed it there, superchuck...and yes, I find Smoke a lot more practical and down-to-earth. Smoke's online reviews offer different opinions for a single cigar, rather than a short blanket statement from Cigar Aficionado.

[Island Epicurean]

I am absolutely addicted to CA magazine! The Euro Cigar Journal is also good. But I would steer clear of Smoke.... It is not as "meaty" as the other two. But this is just a matter of personal opinion.

[Baron Porthos]

My B&M gave me a Cigar magazine last time I was there and I like it better than CA.

[godfather]

I just received my free 6 month subscription to Cigar Aficionado today...

Glad to see this deal was legit, sometimes these free subscriptions never show up.

[hevyboy]

How did you get it for free?