Bands and Blind tasting

[mrpeccator]

I never used to take the bands off of my cigar but after doing some blind tasting of my own stock, I decided that the brand was altering an honest evaluation of the cigar. Since I then I smoke with them off and find it much easier to evaluate them purely for cigar attributes and not a pretty color and a good reputation. I always thought I was smarter than that. Guess not. Anyone else had a similar experience?