As a part of the new U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations over premium cigars is the requirement of Warning Labels on cigar packages and cigar advertisements. The requirement for Warning Labels goes into effect two years after the issuing of the regulations (August 3, 2018). While this may seem like a simple requirement, […]
Feature Story: 2015 TAA Exclusive Series
William Cooper Feature Story 2015 TAA Exclusive Series, Feature Story, TAA
For the second year in a row, we at Cigar Coop have delivered complete coverage of the annual Tobacconists Association of America (TAA) Exclusive Series. Each year numerous manufacturers are given an opportunity to make exclusive cigars for the TAA. While some cigars are made available on a recurring basis, others have been made available as a […]
2015 Year in Review: 2015 Cigar Year Postseason Wrap-Up
William Cooper Feature Story No Comments 2015 Year in Review, Feature Story
The 2015 Post Season Awards are complete on Cigar Coop. We recap the winners as well as summarize the previous year’s winners. Cigar of the Year Best Aged Cigar Person of the Year Factory of the Year (Large or Multi-Faceted) Factory of the Year (Small / Single) We also recapped our Performance Ratings based on […]
2015 Year in Review: Best Vitola Performance (Size Matters)
William Cooper Feature Story 1 Comment 2015 Year in Review, Feature Story
Our final performance category for 2015 is a new one. This one incorporates the viola-specific theme we adopted on Cigar Coop and Stogie Geeks (i.e. “Size Matters”). The Performance Rankings were introduced in 2012 as a statistical analysis based on the average numerical score of all cigars assessed on Cigar Coop. This has been broken down […]
2015 Year in Review: Country of Origin Performance for 2015
William Cooper Feature Story No Comments 2015 Year in Review, Feature Story
This year we introduce a new performance category – Country of Origin. The Performance Rankings were introduced in 2012 as a statistical analysis based on the average numerical score of all cigars assessed on Cigar Coop. This has been broken down by brand for the past four years. Today we slice this data by Country of […]
2015 Year in Review: Best Brand Performance for 2015
William Cooper Feature Story No Comments 2015 Year in Review, Feature Story
Our 2015 Year in Review coverage continues with a look at how the various cigar brands did on Cigar Coop for 2014. This is a statistical analysis based on the average numerical score of all cigars assessed on Cigar Coop. For 2015, a total of 247 (down from 257 in 2014) cigars were considered for this ranking. […]
2015 Year in Review: Cigar Industry Person of the Year, Abdel J. (A.J.) Fernandez
William Cooper Feature Story No Comments 2015 Year in Review, Feature Story, People
Our Person of the Year Award is awarded to a person(s) in the cigar industry that has made a significant impact, for better or for worse. This could be over the course of a year, but we also reserve the right to look at this from a lifetime achievement perspective. For 2015, the recipient is […]
2015 Year in Review: Factory of the Year (Large / Multi-Faceted): Davidoff
William Cooper Feature Story No Comments 2015 Year in Review, AVO, Camacho, Davidoff, Feature Story, Room 101
The 2015 Cigar Coop Factory of the Year Award for a Large/ Multi-Faceted Operation goes to Davidoff. When we setup the Factory of the Year Awards we realized it was not apples to apples when it comes to all premium hand-made factory operations. Therefore, we decided to split the award between a small / single operation and […]
2015 Year in Review: Best Aged Cigars for 2015
William Cooper Cigar of the Year, Feature Story No Comments 2015 Cigar of the Year, 2015 Year in Review, Feature Story
For the fifth consecutive year, we provide the Cigar Coop selections for Best Aged Cigar. The purpose of this category is to look at some cigar lines that were released the previous year, and see the impacts of age on them. This is a unique category not often seen, but one we feel as important as […]
2015 Year in Review: Factory of the Year (Small / Single): La Zona
William Cooper Feature Story 1 Comment 2015 Year in Review, Espinosa, Feature Story, La Zona
The 2015 Cigar Coop Factory of the Year Award for a Small / Single Operation goes to La Zona. When Erik Espinosa launched Espinosa Premium Cigars in 2012, he would also purchase a two story inn located in Esteli, Nicaragua that would become his very own factory – La Zona, It didn’t take long for La […]