What's most important when rating a cigar?
- Thread starter itsme_timd
- Start date
smokem94
BoM Sept. 05
I totally agree, and I also agree with Dave about ratings from people selling advertising!
For me it is all about flavor and how it burns/draws. I don't care how it looks.
However, if I have a smoke that won't stay lit or just has a terrible burn then it totally ruins my smoking experience no matter how good the taste is. Also, if there's no draw then I'm probably not getting much flavor from it regardless.
However, if I have a smoke that won't stay lit or just has a terrible burn then it totally ruins my smoking experience no matter how good the taste is. Also, if there's no draw then I'm probably not getting much flavor from it regardless.
You have a bit of a catch 22 with the parameters. Construction and burn are necessary ingredients for good flavor...Without quality craftsmanship, your flavor (no matter what you use for wrapper, filler, and binder) will suffer.
Obviously the flavor aspect is subjective which is why for the most part its impossible for any publication to really put together an accurate list. Everyone's pallet is different. Having said that here is my personal system:
Flavor (60%)- this is rated based on my profile flavor preferences
Strength (20%)- again this is rated based on my preference for strength which is medium/full to full
Burn/draw (20%)- not too much subjectivity here
I also don't officially give a cigar a rating until I have smoked it at least 3 times over at least a few month period to account for variances in shipments and variances in my pallet and health (sometimes slight cold throws everything off). Never rate a cigar if its the 2nd cigar of the day for me as often the first cigar will throw flavors off on the 2nd cigar. Finally, never rate a cigar if it hasn't been in the humi for at least a few weeks to allow for proper conditions.
Flavor (60%)- this is rated based on my profile flavor preferences
Strength (20%)- again this is rated based on my preference for strength which is medium/full to full
Burn/draw (20%)- not too much subjectivity here
I also don't officially give a cigar a rating until I have smoked it at least 3 times over at least a few month period to account for variances in shipments and variances in my pallet and health (sometimes slight cold throws everything off). Never rate a cigar if its the 2nd cigar of the day for me as often the first cigar will throw flavors off on the 2nd cigar. Finally, never rate a cigar if it hasn't been in the humi for at least a few weeks to allow for proper conditions.
danthebugman
BoM Nov '10
I start with appearance since it's the first thing you see. Then appreciate the construction. Burn and flavor both get assessed at the same time. Of those I would say that flavor ranks around 60-70% of the score, burn and construction rank about 10% each, and then appearance/price would be the remaining.
Dan
Dan
Flavor is #1 by huge margin. Construction and burn are the same thing IMO because the only construction problems I care about are the ones that affect burn and draw. Price is next because it is what it is... some smokes are expensive some are cheap. I don't think it should affect a rating that other people are going to look at. The person reading it can decide if it is too expensive or not. Appearance covers the other side of construction that I don't care about.
I'd probably split it 60% flavor and 40% construction/burn.
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I'd probably split it 60% flavor and 40% construction/burn.
Posted from my BlackBerry using BerryBlab
stephen_hannibal
stephen_hannibal
Taste first everything I think falls in line after that.