Effective July 1st, Cigar Coop will now be scoring cigars that are pre-release cigars. We will be officially closing down the concept of “Pre-review” – a pre-release review that wasn’t scored.

Cigar Coop does not want to be in the habit of scoring pre-release or pre-production cigars, so these reviews will be more limited in number. Any cigar we consider for pre-release review must be banded and in good faith have the final packaging. Any cigar falling under this category must come from an authorized person – either a brand owner or senior marketing person. We also require the blessing of the company to review.

Pre-release reviews of single store exclusive releases or event cigars will not be considered. This is another area we are moving our focus away from and will discuss that in upcoming weeks.

The reason for incorporating the scoring of pre-release reviews is that it is something we have seen a demand from our audience. While it’s not an area we want to play in, we do understand it is something our readers are interested in.

Pre-release reviews will be noted as such and the cigars will not be eligible for the Cigar Coop Countdown until a post-production release is scored.