This is taken from the book The Wine Trials, it's a listing of 150 wines that beat out wines priced from $50 - $150 in blind tastings. It looks at people tasting wines where they know the real price, where they were given a fake price and where they were not told a price at all. I think a lot of this could apply to cigars as well - even though most people would say they aren't affected by these things. 
What I found very interesting is in one study they actually had people sample wine while having a brain scan. When people were told a price on a wine the part of their brain that reflects pleasure registered higher readings when the price of the wine was higher. The brain actually believed it was enjoying the more expensive wines more, even when sampling the exact same wine but being told the prices were different.
The book goes into much more detail, a few chapters, so I hope I haven't mangled this in the translation. I also imagine there is not only a Taste of Money but also a Taste of Hype - especially in the cigar world.
- When people knew the actual prices prior to tasting the ratings generally reflected the price of the wines.
- When people were given a fake price prior to tasting the ratings generally reflected the fake prices.
- When people were given no prices prior to tasting the price had little effect on ratings. 2/3 of people actually preferred less expensive quality wines over their high-priced counterparts.
- However, when people were given actual prices after tasting but prior to rating the prices had little effect on the ratings.
What I found very interesting is in one study they actually had people sample wine while having a brain scan. When people were told a price on a wine the part of their brain that reflects pleasure registered higher readings when the price of the wine was higher. The brain actually believed it was enjoying the more expensive wines more, even when sampling the exact same wine but being told the prices were different.
The book goes into much more detail, a few chapters, so I hope I haven't mangled this in the translation. I also imagine there is not only a Taste of Money but also a Taste of Hype - especially in the cigar world.
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