A while ago, I got a special offer with my print copy of CA for 50% off the price of CI. I was already a subscriber which has now lapsed. I would gladly reup for $25 but the site won't let me becuase my user ID is arleady in use. No where does it say this offer is limited to new subscribers of CI.

I never received that offer, but I did suggest that cA offer CI at a discounted price to cA subscribers.

I never gotz it either.

Here's the web address I have. It's not working for me now. Does it work for you?

cigarinsider.com/specialoffer

I am thinking about getting Cigar Insider? Is it worth the money? Is it just ratings or useful information about the cigar business? I am not really intersted in the ratings.... I am tried of people telling me what to smoke, "The new best thing" and all that crap tied to advertizing and money.

Your input would be helpful? Is it really worth the money?

CI carries stories not in CA (actual cigar news)- a shamless way to get more money. I'd pay $25 but not $50 for a full year.

CSmith, email me at dsavonaATmshanken.com and let me look into the offer.

As far as comparing CI to CA, let me explain some of the differences. CA is a feature magazine, published six times a year. The magazine is predominantly long feature stories with glossy photos, done in a very upscale format. It's a big book that has a very long lead time to print. It's not a news magazine. Were we to print news in it, it would be terribly outdated by the time it got to your hands.

Cigar Insider is a newsletter. It used to be published once a month. Now it's published twice a month. And instead of being printed and mailed (a process that took several weeks, more if you lived outside the US) it is made into a PDF and uploaded onto our website. That means news can break on Tuesday at 1 pm and you can read a story about it (not a press release) that evening, which happened recently with the General Cigar/Swedish Match deal.

CA is supported by ads. Cigar Insider has no ads. That helps explain the price difference. Also, by subscribing to CI, you get access to our full database of CA and CI ratings, more than 8,000 in all.

David - E-mail sent. Thanks for the reply and clearing up the differences between CA and CI.