Official Rules

1. Tournament Format

The Ashology Challenge Connecticut Pilot is a 16-cigar, single-elimination tournament: eight opening matchups, four quarterfinals (Final 8), two semifinals (Final 4), and one championship.

• Opening Round — 16 cigars (8 matchups)
• Final 8 — 8 cigars (4 matchups)
• Final 4 — 4 cigars (2 matchups)
• Championship — 2 cigars (1 matchup · one Champion)

There are 15 matchups and one Champion. There is no third-place matchup. Each matchup has two cigar evaluations; a player who completes the entire tournament submits 30 evaluations. Testing is not blind. A cigar that advances must be evaluated again for its new matchup.

2. Player Participation

Participants must be 21 years of age or older, use one account, and represent one participating smoke shop during the pilot.

Submit accurate registration information and your own evaluations. A wrong or missed earlier pick does not eliminate a player — you can keep tasting, picking, and earning points for the rest of the tournament. Late entrants: see Section 17.

3. How a Matchup Works

Each matchup contains two cigars. Complete the full Ashology 100-point palate test and all required market questions for each cigar on Ashologist.com.

After both evaluations are submitted and locked, select one of the two actual cigars as your prediction before that matchup’s deadline.

Both completed evaluations also unlock your official preference vote and eligibility for the matchup drawing, which awards $100 each to two different eligible participants.

Your personal cigar ratings are separate from tournament points.

4. Points for Testing Cigars

Completing both full cigar evaluations earns 30 tournament points per matchup, awarded once. These points do not depend on your ratings or whether your prediction is correct.

Completing only one cigar earns no matchup completion points. However, one complete, valid evaluation still counts as one test toward your shop’s 200-evaluation requirement.

Maximum evaluation score: 450 points — 15 matchups × 30 points.

A wrong prediction does not eliminate you. You may continue evaluating cigars, making new picks, earning points, helping your shop, and qualifying for matchup drawings.

5. Predicting the Winner

Players make a fresh prediction in each actual matchup after completing both cigar evaluations and before that matchup closes. There is no requirement to predict the entire tournament before Matchup 1. Each submitted prediction is final.

Correct predictions earn:

Prediction points are awarded after the official matchup result is confirmed.

Original-selection bonus: In each later-round matchup, earn an additional 10 points when your current prediction is correct and the winning cigar was one of your saved opening-round selections.

There is no opening-round bonus. The bonus is a flat 10 points per qualifying matchup and does not stack or increase by round. A wrong prediction earns no prediction points or bonus.

Later picks do not change your saved opening selections. An eliminated cigar’s bonus eligibility does not transfer to another cigar. You may return to a surviving original selection in a later matchup even if you picked against it or missed a pick in an intervening round.

Maximum regular prediction points: 320. Maximum original-selection bonus points: 70.

6. Matchup Drawings: Two $100 Winners

Each matchup awards $200 total as $100 each to two different eligible participants selected by random drawing.

Each matchup has its own published closing date and time. Its two $100 player prizes are drawn and awarded after that matchup closes and eligible entries are verified. To qualify, participants must fully complete both required cigar evaluations and all required matchup submissions by the closing deadline and meet all other Official Rules requirements. Each matchup uses its own eligible entry pool, even when multiple matchups close on the same date. A matchup’s featured week is promotional; it does not replace its published closing deadline. Winner notification, prize claims and payment follow the applicable prize-claims provisions of these Official Rules.

• Each eligible participant receives one entry per matchup, across the entire Connecticut pilot. A wrong prediction does not remove an otherwise eligible entry.
• With at least two eligible entrants, two different winners are drawn without replacement. Each receives $100; no player can receive both awards in the same matchup.
• When two matchups close on the same date, each keeps a separate entry pool (four $100 awards / $400 total). Drawings do not wait for other matchups in the round.
• Previous winners may win again in later matchups when they qualify. They also remain eligible for the individual champion and team awards.
• For N eligible entrants (N ≥ 2), each entrant’s chance of winning one $100 award is 2/N. Qualification does not guarantee a prize.
• A shop’s failure to reach 200 tests does not, by itself, disqualify a player from Matchup Prizes or the individual champion award.
• The advancing cigar result is separate from the player cash drawing. Later matchups open only after both feeder winners are verified.

Fewer than two eligible entrants: a single entrant cannot receive both $100 awards, and unused awards are not automatically rolled into another matchup. Whether one eligible entrant receives one $100 (or neither award is issued), and what happens to unused prize funds, are organizer decisions that must be published before the tournament opens.

See also Section 16 · Deadlines and Section 15 · Winner Notice & Prize Claims.

7. Cigar Advancement

The cigar with the most qualified participant preference votes advances. A qualified vote requires both complete evaluations and an on-time submission; each participant has one preference vote per matchup. Cigar ratings do not themselves award tournament points, and cash-prize drawings never decide which cigar advances.

If qualified preference votes are tied: the cigar-advancement tiebreak procedure is an organizer decision that must be published before the tournament opens. It is separate from — and must not be confused with — the prize-score tie drawings in Section 14.

8. Maximum Player Score

9. Individual Standings

A player’s tournament score is the sum of evaluation completion points, correct-prediction points, and original-selection bonuses. Standings display these components and their combined total.

Equal scores may display as ties. Cash-prize ties are resolved by random drawing under Section 14.

10. Smoke Shop Competition

There is no minimum player count per shop and no shop enrollment cap. Each participating shop must physically stock all 16 exact tournament SKUs, including the specified sizes; existing inventory counts, and gaps may be filled through the shop’s preferred supplier. The shop groups the 16 tournament boxes in one dedicated display, places the current featured matchup’s two boxes side by side on the counter during its promotion (duplicate stock is not required), keeps open selections available and replenishes advancing cigars. Shop requirements, including the one-time Program Package, are set out in the Retailer Participation Terms.

For scoring, a “round” means a tournament stage: Opening Round, Final 8, Final 4, or Championship.

The Opening Round counts as one stage for the shop Top 7 calculation (all Opening Round matchups). Final 8 counts as one stage across its matchups.

For each stage, the shop’s score is the sum of its seven highest individual player scores earned in that stage, including evaluation points, correct-prediction points, and applicable bonuses. Missing positions count as zero. Different players may count in different stages.

The shop’s final score is the sum of its four stage scores. Multiple squads at one shop contribute to one official shop score and one combined evaluation count.

Example: Opening-stage scores of 320, 310, 300, 290, 280, 270, 260, 250, and 240 produce a Top 7 total of 2,030 points.

To qualify for the team prize, a shop must meet the inventory and display requirements above and accumulate at least 200 valid individual cigar evaluations across the tournament. All eligible players assigned to that shop may contribute. The same seven players do not have to complete all evaluations.

One complete, valid cigar evaluation counts as one test. Both cigars completed by one player in one matchup count as two tests. Predictions and votes are not tests.

The eligible shop with the highest final shop score wins the $700 team award. Its seven highest-scoring eligible players in the final individual standings receive $100 each. Prize ties are resolved under Section 14.

11. Prize Schedule

All listed awards are player prizes, subject to the eligibility and unclaimed-award terms in Sections 12 and 15.

12. Participant Information & Integrity

Registration records identify the participant and assigned shop and provide accurate contact details, used to verify identity, age, eligibility, and prize delivery. Use one account per person — evaluations must reflect that participant’s own experience.

Incomplete, duplicate, fabricated, impersonated, or late submissions do not receive points, votes, tests, or entries for which they do not qualify. The organizer verifies submissions and eligibility before paying awards, and records any correction or removal with its reason.

13. Official Tournament Results

Each matchup’s official winner is published after verifying eligible preference votes and applying the advancement procedure in Section 7. Correct-prediction points and original-selection bonuses are calculated from that official result. A repeated calculation never awards points twice.

If a verified result correction is needed, the previous result is retained, the correction is explained, and affected standings are recalculated. Prize eligibility is confirmed against verified records before payment.

14. Prize Score Ties

If eligible participants or shops finish tied for a cash-prize position, a random drawing among those tied will determine the winner.

This applies to:

• The $500 individual champion prize: draw among the tied eligible players.
• The $700 winning-shop team award: draw among the tied eligible shops.
• The winning shop’s seven $100 team payments: if a tie affects who receives the remaining payment or payments, draw among the tied eligible players to fill those remaining positions.

Each drawing will be recorded, and its result will be final. Leaderboard display order does not determine a cash-prize winner.

This section covers prize-score ties. Tied cigar preference votes follow the advancement rules in Section 7.

15. Winner Notice & Prize Claims

Selected winners are notified using their registered contact details. Winners must provide the information reasonably needed to verify identity, age, eligibility, and payment details.

Not yet final (organizer decisions required before publication):

• Legal name and address of the prize-paying organizer, and prize-claims email/phone
• Geographic eligibility limits
• Whether organizer, shop, manufacturer, or sponsor employees/contractors and their household members may receive cash prizes
• Winner-notice method, claim deadline measured from notice, verification requirements, payment timing
• Treatment of an unclaimed or invalid award
• Drawing-entry disclosures (including how evaluation and purchase-related conditions are treated)

These items are listed on the internal organizer-decision sheet and are intentionally not filled in here.

16. Deadlines

Each matchup has an official opening and closing date and time displayed on the website in Eastern Time, including the year.

Both evaluations must be completed and submitted before making that matchup’s prediction. Evaluations, predictions, and preference votes must be submitted before the matchup closes.

Closed matchups do not accept retroactive submissions. Each matchup has its own deadline; there is no tournament-wide prediction lock at Matchup 1. A featured week is promotional and does not extend or replace the published closing deadline. Delays in verifying winners or announcing prizes do not reopen submissions. A later-round matchup opens no earlier than its published opening time and only after both feeder winners are verified. All dates and times are Eastern Time (America/New_York).

Matchup prize drawings follow Section 6: each matchup’s two $100 player prizes are drawn and awarded after that matchup closes and eligible entries are verified, using that matchup’s own entry pool.

17. Late Registration

Late entrants may complete evaluations, make predictions, cast qualified preference votes, contribute to their shop, and qualify for drawings in open and future matchups.

They receive no points for missed submissions. Opening-round selections cannot be added retroactively. A cigar without that player’s opening-round selection cannot earn an original-selection bonus.