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Thanks CP for a great year ...

How about me :whistling:

In all seriousness even if I don't get any sticks out of this I am very curious to see what the answers are :thumbs:
 
Sorry for the delay guys. LilBastage came through as the big winner. Congratulations! I should get the prize out in the mail on Monday, and I'll try to get the answers posted later tonight.

Thanks again CP for a great year!
 
Damn! 2 contest in one week. That lilbastage is working overtime. Congrats!
 
Woo Hoo!!

I guess I can't say I never win anything any more! What a week! I think I better go buy a couple of lottery tickets or at least head down to the casino this weekend!

Thanks for the contest. I learned a lot in my research of the questions. I guess insomnia sometimes does have it's advantages.

:thumbs:
 
Here are what I found as the answers and then some of the answers I liked best. Thanks everyone who participated!

Answers to Question #1:
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Ar...22,1338,00.html
http://www.cigarpass.com/forumsipb/index.php?showtopic=14131
http://www.cigarcyclopedia.com/cyclopediah...ctsprograms.php

Also a couple people answered this correctly:
2007
The 7th series of Edición Limitada will be released and will include:
Hoyo de Monterrey
Romeo y Julieta
Trinidad
(To date, no sizes have been announced)

And as far as drawbacks, because these are not a regular production cigar, there is limited availability and visibility for these cigars. Because of this, they tend to be faked a lot. Also, their limited availability tends to make the cigars cost more. And if you found a favorite cigar in the LE series, it will be difficult to keep around or find later in your smoking career.

**Side Note: What I want to know is what happened to the 2002 LE series?


Answers to Question #2:
http://www.cigarpass.com/forumsipb/index.php?showtopic=19762
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Da...342,843,00.html

Leaf and Ale: exclusive retailer for the Tatuaje La Maravilla
Tower Cigars: exclusive retailer for the Tatuaje El Cohote
FUMARE Cigars: exclusive retailer for the Tatuaje Bombazos

**Side Note: I'm lazy and the answers are listed in MMM's thread linked above.

Answers to Question #3: (an amalgamation from people’s answers)
Maestro Rodolfo Taboada, 9th category Cigar Master is 65 years old and lives in Havana, Cuba. He has rolled cigars for about 48 years, and is a 9th category master cigar roller from the Partagas factory. He is considered by many to be one of the most talented cigar rollers currently living in Cuba. His recent retirement from the Partagas factory did not mark his retirement from cigar rolling as he still travels to different areas to roll custom cigars (as do Master Rollers Hamlet Jaime Paredes and Arnaldo Ovalles. His specialties are Robustos, Salomones, Diademas and Lanceros. This year Taboada found 3 exceptional tobaccos: Qunceañera Ligero, Volado, & Seco. He is also using a Corojo wrapper on these cigars. Tobacco of this quality has not been seen by Master Taboada in over 10 years. It is rumored that Taboada will retire in August of this year.

**Side Note: The other roller I was looking for is La China. I have ran across different blurbs on cigars rolled by Hamlet, La China, and Ovalles, but that’s about it. Unfortunately they are still ghosts and I would appreciate any info. :cool:



Answers to Question #4:
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Ar...22,1711,00.html
http://www.padron.com/award.php
http://point2interactive.com/padron/padron.html
http://www.cigarnexus.com/interview/padron/index.html
http://www.padron.com/ratings_padron.php
http://www.padron.com/ratings_anniversary.php
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Ci...1,2620,,00.html

LilBastage’s answer:
Jose Orlando Padrón founded the Padrón line of cigars. He left Cuba in 1961 while facing jail time for being involved in the revolution. Shortly after Padrón left cuba, Castro “nationalized” the Padrón family’s land. Padrón first ended up in Spain eventually making it to New York. While in New York he worked ironing shirts at a cleaner’s. Padrón moved to Miami in 1964 where he did carpentry and mowed lawns to earn a living before going into the cigar business. In Cuba, Padrón did not produce cigars. [The Padron family has been involved in the tobacco industry since the late 1800s, when Jose Orlando’s grandfather, Damaso Padron, emigrated from the Canary Islands to Cuba and began growing tobacco in Pinar del Rio.*] His family grew and prepared the tobacco for cigar factories [selling around 300,000 lbs of tobacco a year**]. By opening shop in Miami in 1964, Padrón wanted to create a cigar that reminded the Cuban refugees in Miami of home. He first created El Cazador. After that line did not sell, Padrón produced La Fuma and the rest is, as they say, history. Padrón Cigars is headquartered in Little Havana in Miami with production being done in Nicaragua. There have been 20 Padrón cigars rated 90 or better since 1990.
*info added by CgarDan
**info added by Blue Dragon

**Side Note: I couldn’t have compiled it better, so I quoted it. The only part I couldn’t find info on was what Padron did in New York. Where did you find that info? Also, depending on where you look, you will find a rating of 90 or better around 22 to 28 cigars from CA.


Answers to Question #5:

A. There are four components used in the system developed by Cigar Aficionado for assigning a rating number to a cigar. The system is described as follows.

APPEARANCE AND CONSTRUCTION
(15 of the possible 100 points)

Visually, a premium cigar should have a smooth, flawless wrapper and be consistent in color and shape. When held, it should feel firm and give off a slightly oily moistness. Points are deducted if the wrapper has areas of large veins or if the cigar feels dry or firmer in some parts than others.

FLAVOR
(25 of the possible 100 points)

Although each premium cigar has a distinctive taste, all premium cigars should taste smooth and rich. If a cigar leaves a bitter or harsh taste on your lips, tongue or mouth, points are deducted.

SMOKING CHARACTERISTICS
(25 of the possible 100 points)

A perfectly made and stored premium cigar should light and burn easily and evenly. The draw should be comfortable and the same throughout the cigar. The smoke should be cool in your mouth. Points are deducted if the cigar burns too quickly, if it burns faster on one side, and if you have to pull hard to get a mouthful of smoke or if that smoke is unpleasantly hot.

OVERALL IMPRESSION
(35 of the possible 100 points)

This is the most heavily weighted category because it is the most important.

Cigar Aficionado uses a panel of 4 tasters and averages the scores.

B. The review method used by Cigar Weekly is as follows:
For each cigar reviewed in their archive, seven people were chosen at random from the CW Community.
The reviewers received two samples of the cigar to be reviewed and rated the cigar in seven different categories. Here are the maximum scores:
PRE-SMOKE (20 total)
Appearance and Construction 5
Burn 5
Draw 5
Aroma 5
SMOKE (20 total)
Flavor 10
Taste/Aftertaste 10
SUMMARY(10 total)
Overall Quality 10
TOTAL 50
To arrive at the Cigarweekly.com Rated™ Score, we throw out the high and low totals and average the remaining scores. The chart below gives a description for each rating.
Cigarweekly.com Rated™ 5 Star Scoring System
Score Stars Description
0 - 9 1 star Not Recommended
10 - 19 2 stars Below Average
20 - 29 3 stars Average
30 - 34 3 1/2 stars Above Average
35 - 39 4 stars Excellent
40 - 44 4 1/2 stars Outstanding
45 - 50 5 stars Superior

C. Smoke Magazine rates their cigars with a 1-5 point system, 1 is poor and 5 is outstanding. A panel of four reviewers gives a few sentences of how the smoke was. The panelists base their opinions upon taste, consistency, maturity, construction and appearance, ex. The greatest strength this method offers is the number of opinions that four panelist can give. The great weakness of this method is that it limits what the panelists have to say to only a handful of sparse sentences that lack detail, and all too often the passion that goes along with a smoke.

D. Watcha been smoking lately? Yes, yes, party loyalty runs deep here. This review process offers no point system at all. It offers actual smoking reviews instead. There is no score here so to speak in comparison with SM or CA, nope, you actually get reviews here. Honest to God people sharing an experience, not some arbitrary set of numbers. Reviews are honest in their intent to help expand the learning process of smoking a cigar. They range from the simple all the way to the complex and in-depth review that takes you along each and every stage of the smoke. I prefer this method of rating a cigar because I know who these reviewers are and the detail is second to none. [added by Mark Twain]

E. The rating system used by [LilBastage] is as follows:

Appearance (1 point)
Pre-cut flavor (1 point)
Pre-light draw (1 point)
Burn (1 point)
Smoke volume (1 point)
Construction Total (5 points)

Flavor (95 points)

I am the sole reviewer and scorer for this 100 point scale.

I find the strengths of systems A and B to be that they have a wider availability of cigars to review than system E. Also, system A has a panel that is much more experienced than system E and possibly system B since it is a random sampling from an online cigar forum. I find the strength of system E is its simplicity and the fact that I know what the taster’s preferences are. [* I thought this answer was great!! No matter what someone else says about a cigar, it comes down to personal preference.]

As of the August 2006 issue Cigar Aficionado has rated 23 cigars 94 or better including 19 Cuban cigars.

**Side Note: I found it interesting that the majority of the cigars considered to be classics by CA have been Cuban.
 
Blue Dragon said:
The only part I couldn’t find info on was what Padron did in New York. Where did you find that info?
Click to expand...


I found it here.

You have to go down the page a little bit. It's about the 20th answer or so.

Thanks for this contest, I learned a lot that I probably wouldn't have taken the time to find out on my own.
 
I'll look for it and am looking forward to it!

Thanks again!
 
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