RIP: Marvin R. Shanken, Founder, Editor and Publisher of Cigar Aficionado Magazine, Dies at 83. “Shanken began his publishing career in 1972, when he purchased a small beverage alcohol industry newsletter named Impact. Within a decade, he turned it into essential reading for thousands of members of the spirits and wine industries. In 1979, he purchased a struggling newspaper given away for free at wine shops named The Wine Spectator, which he would grow and then transform into a glossy magazine prized by more than three million wine lovers as essential reading. In 1992, he released the premiere issue of Cigar Aficionado, a magazine he created based around his longtime love of cigars. The magazine was instrumental in bringing new interest to the long-struggling cigar industry, showing the world that cigars were luxury products rather than commodities. The magazine today has an audience of more than 1.3 million people.”