Whether CA's ratings or those of any other source are influenced by advertising or not is a rather moot point ... they could be as pristine as new fallen snow at the north pole and many among us would still not agree with them ... for the simple reason that each of us tastes things differently ...
If one of you absolutely LOVES a certain cigar and raves about it here, does that mean I will like it as much as you do, less than you do or perhaps even more than you do ? Could be any of those choices, depending on how my taste and yours match up ...
I know how my taste compares to SOME of the guys on this board and could rely on their ratings to guide me ... and remember, that can cut either way ... guys whose taste is known to me to be quite different than mine and others whose taste is much the same ...
If 10 of us were to use the same system CA uses, rate a number of different cigars, then "average" our scores, you know what we'd have? ... a lot of other guys wondering what the hell we were thinking in rating some cigars so high and others so low ... because even collectively, there's gonna be some difference in taste ...
If we were to ALL use the same system and average out scores, it'd be a little more reliable in the broad general sense ... but, even without advertising or other payola to influence us, any one of us would still wonder what the hell the rest of the group was thinking
EXAMPLE: Bucanero Full Sails ... would be almost certain to be given an extremely high rating here ... yet, there are other boards where they are not as highly esteemed by the group at large as they are here ... why? ... because apparently, even group taste can vary ...
Not something limited to cigars either ... restaurants, movies, music, cars, you name it, they all have reviewers that a lot of folks disagree with ... my mother once said that she could count on Rex Reed's opinion of a movie to let her know whether she'd like it or not ... I expressed surprise, thinking I had a pretty good handle on her taste and knowing how different the stuff was that he seemed to like ... she said oh, yes ... absolutely ... if he pans a movie, I'm probably going to like it, but if he praises it, I know I should stay away ...