One of the biggest questions I get every year is why store-exclusive cigars are excluded from the Cigar Coop Cigar of the Year Countdown. Today, I break down why.
We Made a Mistake in Our Coverage Model
About ten years ago, I made what I consider the biggest mistake in our cigar news coverage model ever. I decided to go all in and tackle store exclusives. At the time, it seemed like the cool thing to do. I thought there was whitespace to tap, and it would create excitement and energy around these store-exclusive releases. I could not have been more wrong.
As I dove headfirst into store-exclusive coverage, I encountered two things that soon made me realize I’d made a mistake.
First, it was actually harder to cover single-store releases than regular releases. I found that obtaining news about Shop Exclusives is often more challenging than gaining access to the crown jewels. On one hand, many manufacturers are reluctant to invest time in marketing a release that is typically a one-time offering or a small batch available only at a single store or small chain. On the other hand, getting information from retailers can be difficult since they usually do not engage in press release activities. Retailers don’t typically adhere to embargo dates or press windows; their primary focus is on selling the cigars without additional overhead.
As Cigar Coop gained recognition for delivering news, we received messages from retailers and manufacturers expressing frustration over our lack of coverage of their shop exclusives. My response was always, “Did you send us the information?”, adding another layer of frustration.
The second thing that made me realize I’d made a mistake was that there simply wasn’t much interest in these releases. Web traffic for single-store releases was considerably lower than national releases. Yet at the same time, I was spending twice as much time trying to cover these single store exclusives.
The Store Exclusive Market Got Flooded
Store exclusives are quite the enigma for me. If I go back 15 to 16 years, Tatuaje is the company that essentially put the single-store release on the map. At the time, Tatuaje worked with select purveyors, and Pete Johnson did a masterful job of creating the store releases. Even without a lot of “press”, these cigars made it cool to have store exclusives. At the same time, once it became cool, it opened the floodgates for store exclusives. Pretty soon, other companies would offer a store exclusive to anyone who would write a check. It’s led to a wave of very good store exclusives, mediocre ones, and some poor ones.
As the flood wave of exclusives took hold, there became many more options. What I started to see was that store exclusives had less national appeal and more local appeal. I think this explains why our readership was significantly lower for these releases. I also noticed that retailers who do promotion can get their cigars more attention than the competition. Look at Abe Dababneh of Smoke Inn and David Garofalo of Two Guys Cigars. You can also look at Steve Saka from the manufacturer end. All three create a lot of excitement with their store exclusives. I’m not saying they have the best store exclusives, but they can convince you they have a “must-have” store exclusive in stock.
The Decision to Exclude
You might still ask: if a store exclusive is still exceptional, doesn’t it belong on a list? I still say no. The problem is there are still way too many releases, and we simply cannot get them all. For every store exclusive we include, we probably miss twice as many. Plus, many of them are very local and not promoted, so most cigar enthusiasts may not be getting to them either. Because many of them aren’t promoted, there are store exclusives we simply don’t know about. If you follow the very early countdowns, Cigar Coop did include store exclusives. As the flood of store exclusive releases happened, we realized we had to change.
My message here: If you feel a store exclusive cigar is a diamond in the rough, maybe it shouldn’t be a diamond in the rough if you feel it’s a Cigar of the Year candidate. It should be sold through a distribution channel on a wider scale basis – plain and simple.
One additional note: Putting a cigar in two or three shops doesn’t skirt this rule (and yes, you need to have rules). Our minimum as of 2026 is 25 stores. As curator of the list, I also look at how regionally the cigar is distributed. I also want to make sure it doesn’t cover only a small number of cities or states.
I certainly do not discourage fans from trying or even seeking out these cigars. In fact, we have had some high-scoring ones. The Tatuaje Cabaiguan WCD 120 Redux for W. Curtis Draper is one of only two cigars in Cigar Coop history to score over 96 points. What I am saying is, from this Cigar of the Year list curator’s perspective, they don’t belong on an end-of-year list.
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
