Cigar Aficionado

I mean, ratings, they are very useful.

Publications like the Cigar Aficionado and the Cigar Journal, they conduct the blind tastings and those reviews can really help identify well-performing cigars.

But a rating is really a guide.

It's not a replacement for your palate.

[theme music] Welcome to the Cigar Aficionado Lounge here in New York City for a special episode of the Cigar Aficionado podcast.

My name is David Savona.

I'm the executive editor of Cigar Aficionado, and the man joining me, the table today here in the smoking lounge, my former boss, the former executive editor of Cigar Aficionado, the longtime and the founding editor who was there from the very beginning with Marvin R. Shanken, the early days of Cigar Aficionado, I'm joined by Gordon Mott.

Gordon, thanks for being here.

Oh, David, this is such a pleasure, I can't tell you.

So i- it's a real statement of how this industry works, the cigar industry, uh, that people really do establish relationships.

It, it's not, and it's not just a business relationship, you know? Uh, they are, they are friends, uh, and I know they're friends among the three of them, but they're friends with us, too, which is really special.

Has it always been that way? I mean, you know, the, the Cigar Aficionado story goes back long before me.

That is interesting that here's somebody that's going to spend a lot of time and energy on getting the, if they put that energy into selling the cigar, it would be better.

But I, I know from like cigar aficionado, if you have number one in cigar aficionado, you're going to sell a shitload

for two weeks.

I don't know about that, but, um, They say it can't be done.

But those.

So those

are two things I'll tell you is when it comes to cigar aficionado, they love Churchill's and Torpedo's.

Not the case for everybody else.

We want cigars.

The Cigar Aficionado magazine is introduced.

The big smokes gave us an opportunity to have whiskey at these big conventions for cigar smokers.

What decade was this? Is this more starting into the 80s?

And there was this Cuban band that played after I went up and did my set and, you know, it was like outside at night, you know, next to the clubhouse on like a golf course, you know? [laughs] And there was like all of these cigars and everybody's smoking.

There was, you know, s- a couple of the heads that actually I've seen in Cigar Aficionado magazine and they were dressed, you know, white on white with the, with the, you know, the pork pie hat or whatever, the traditional Panama hat or whatever.

I mean, it was fucking amazing, dude.

It was fucking amazing.