....and the Cigar Afficianado #1 for 2012 is...

[RobR1205]

CA's top 25 has always made me ask myself lots of questions, one being:

I wonder how the cigars are chosen for tasting, considering there are hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties out there to choose from....Do a bunch of cigar lovers sit in a room for a year and review cigars? (because if so, I'm putting in a job app!)

[T.G]

Originally Posted by RobR1205

CA's top 25 has always made me ask myself lots of questions, one being:

I wonder how the cigars are chosen for tasting, considering there are hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties out there to choose from....Do a bunch of cigar lovers sit in a room for a year and review cigars? (because if so, I'm putting in a job app!)

The list isn't formed from all the cigars out there, just all the cigars that they tested that year, typically new stuff, or new sizes in existing lines. Past that, it's just multi-round blind or double-blind (not sure which they use offhand) tasting & elimination.

Deciding which cigar is the definitive best of the year isn't always an easy task, especially in lieu of all the great cigars in the market. We start by looking back at all the cigars tested throughout the year in both Cigar Aficionado and Cigar Insider—more than 700. Then we focus on the top-scoring smokes, and from there begin the blind-tasting process all over again. Our tasting coordinator heads out to the retail shops, purchases the cigars, removes the bands and orchestrates an entirely new tasting. After multiple rounds, we arrive at a list of 25.
To name Cigar of the Year, however, we select the top three scores of this new test and do one final round of tasting. But it’s important to remember that Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 Cigars of the Year distinction is not a simple year-end awards ceremony. It’s a tournament of performance and elimination and, is completely process driven. The best cigars of the year were able to consistently reproduce high scores throughout each round. Quality and consistency were crucial. Those that could not perform consistently were out. What’s left are the cigars you see here. Not everyone’s perennial favorites appear on the list, but each cigar in this year’s Top 25 proved to be satisfying and excellent.

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/top25/show

[jluck]

I have only smoked one Flor de las Antillas (robusto) and it was one of the best cigars I had last year.I will get more to compare
YMMV.

[RobR1205]

Originally Posted by T.G

The list isn't formed from all the cigars out there, just all the cigars that they tested that year, typically new stuff, or new sizes in existing lines. Past that, it's just multi-round blind or double-blind (not sure which they use offhand) tasting & elimination.

Ah I see now. That makes sense...probably the reason why the top 25 don't keep coming back every year in more or less the same order.

[omowasu]

Originally Posted by T.G

The list isn't formed from all the cigars out there, just all the cigars that they tested that year, typically new stuff, or new sizes in existing lines. Past that, it's just multi-round blind or double-blind (not sure which they use offhand) tasting & elimination.

Agreed, I received a CA 20th Anniversary issue which had an article all about their blind tasting and rating process, and it all appears to be legitimate. For the past few years, it does not appear to be driven directly by ad revenue (Davidoff example is good).

That said, I often wonder why Habanos have relatively poor showings in the Top 25. Yes, there are a few here and there, but by and large they are a third rung. Thankfully there are two in this years top 10. I think this may be the effect of both the USA market of Cigar Aficionado as well as the smoking of relatively young Habanos.

Their Connoisseur's Corner cigar section has much, much more qualitative ratings for aged Habanos and other aged varieties.