Marvin R. Shanken, the founder of M. Shanken Communications and the editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado, died on October 29, 2026, at age 83. Cigar Aficionado announced his death the same day.
Few people did more to shape the modern premium cigar business. Shanken launched Cigar Aficionado in 1992, at a time when cigars were out of fashion and his own team doubted there was an audience for the idea. The magazine presented handmade cigars as a luxury to be savored rather than a commodity, and the cigar boom of the 1990s followed. According to the company, U.S. imports of premium handmade cigars roughly quadrupled within five years of the first issue.
Shanken often said the idea came to him on a flight home from Cuba in 1991. “In the airplane, I said to myself I don’t want to die without having a cigar magazine,” he recalled.
Born October 4, 1943, in New Haven, Connecticut, Shanken studied business at the University of Miami and earned an MBA from American University before working in investment banking. He moved into publishing by buying Impact, a small wine and spirits trade newsletter, and in 1979 he bought Wine Spectator, which he grew into one of the best known wine magazines in the world. His company later added Whisky Advocate along with several trade publications.
For cigar lovers, his reach went well beyond the page. He interviewed figures from Fidel Castro and Michael Jordan to Carlos Fuente Jr. and José Orlando Padrón, and his company’s Big Smoke events brought thousands of smokers together with the people who make their cigars. According to the company, his Night to Remember dinners raised about $30 million for prostate cancer research.
Shanken is survived by his wife, Hazel, his sisters Elaine and Susan, his daughters Samantha Shanken Baker, Allison Cohen and Jessica Shanken Reid, and four grandchildren. Cigar Dojo extends its condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
Photo: M. Shanken Communications, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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