Stogie Commentary: Cigars Should Embrace the Wine Model

With the economy putting a strain on disposable income, I suspect cigar makers are going to find it increasingly difficult to sell pricey sticks at the rates they’re used to. Sure, the truly magnificent cigars will always find a home. But as for the endless stream of “premium” and “ultra-premium” cigars, manufacturers are going to have to offer cigar enthusiasts more if we’re expected to dish out that much on a regular basis.

Fortunately, that model already exists. Perhaps not surprisingly (because many aspects of cigar culture are already borrowed from wine) that model is wine. The popular ratings systems we’re accustomed to were adapted from wine ratings, as was much of the terminology that we use to describe how cigars taste and smell.

Here are three ways the cigar industry, and particularly “premium” and “ultra-premium” cigar makers, would benefit from being more like the wine industry:

Embrace Vintages

When it comes to wines, particularly the best (with the exception of champagne), there is no escaping the fact that wines vary from year to year. While wineries strive to consistently make good products, changes in climate yield changes in grapes over time.

The same is true of tobacco. Yet most cigar makers pretend their creations made from tobacco from varied seasonal conditions will end up tasting identical. All this despite the fact that many consumers are sophisticated enough to realize that, like wine, the high quality tobacco that makes up premium cigars won’t be identical in taste from year to year.

Better Labeling

While far from universal, wine makers are much more forthcoming with information about their products. Vintages, origins, breakdowns of the blend—all are regularly found on bottles of wine, and making some some or all of that information available to consumers would greatly benefit the cigar industry, too.

Wine is as much identified by the varietals of grapes (such as pinot noir or shiraz) as by the region or vineyard. But the types of tobacco (and in what proportions) are rarely disclosed by cigar makers. Pulling back the curtain of cigar blending may seem like a risk, but I think the increased information will make more smokers into connoisseurs. And as they understand the complexity of today’s finest cigars, they will grow more likely to shell out money for the finest blends.

Embrace Aging

Some wines are made to drink soon after production and some need years or even decades before they are at their best. Aging cigars certainly isn’t unheard of. Many top collectors and connoisseurs patiently age their smokes despite an unspoken hostility by much of the cigar industry.

Like the difference between vintages, cigar makers often pretend that their cigars are at their best from day one. But we’ve all experienced cigars that need six months or more before they reach their peak and others that benefit from years of aging to fine-tune their subtleties and complexities. If cigars embrace the fact that not every cigar will be at its peak immediately upon release, I think they’ll find that many smokers will welcome their frankness and reward them by purchasing more of the best premium cigars for extended aging.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Flickr