Rating Cigars

OK – a few things right here at the start:

  • Ratings Are Subjective: Your ratings are an indication of how well you enjoyed – or didn’t enjoy - a particular stogie – so when you’re doing a rating remember, it’s what you think that’s important – forget about other ratings or the price you paid for it.
  • Numbers, Always Numbers: Every cigar starts out with 100 points and it’s down hill from there – more for some than others. Our rating sheet will help you organize the deductions and sum up your experience.
  • Price Does Not Enter Into It: If you rate two cigars at 90 but one is three times the price of the other … well you know where this is going. But you shouldn’t feel obligated to rate a stick highly simply because you paid the equivalent of a mortgage payment for it.
  • Tobacco Tastes Like Tobacco: Try to forget about nuts and berries when you’re describing the taste of a cigar. The truth is that cigars taste like tobacco because – with the exceptions of those which are infused – that’s what they’re made of.
  • Taste It When You Rate It: Remember that your tongue is not a very good taste organ – your sinuses are much more sensitive and discerning. Make sure to pass smoke out through your nose. You’ll get a lot more of the taste that way. Try to sort out the various aromas that you are experiencing. And try to be accurate in what you taste. Good information in this area will help others understand what you mean by your comments.

Here’s three big potholes to watch out for:

  • The Draw: A well made stogie should draw easily but not too easily. The draw goes a long way to determining how hot the cigar will smoke. A hard draw will make it difficult to keep the damn thing lit while a very easy draw will heat things up too much.
  • Proper Aging: Many bad experiences with cigars come because the tobacco is green – meaning that it has not been properly fermented and aged. All sorts of nasty things – like ammonia, for instance – are removed if the process is done right. Most of them are still there in a green cigar.
  • Even Burning: A well made cigar will burn evenly all the way down to your fingers. Hard spots or spongy areas will cause it to canoe – burn unevenly. The roller may have had a bad day when your smoke was made – but doesn’t make the experience any better.

Now to the rating: It will be easier if you download and print out our rating sheet and have it handy as we work through the various categories. It will even help more if you get one of your favorites out and smoke it while we are working through the sheet.

A good rating takes into consideration the history, appearance, lighting and burning, construction and taste of the cigar. You’ll see that the rating sheet is divided into those five areas. The first section tells about the cigar, where and when you bought it, when you smoked it, where it was made, what size and ring gauge it is and what it cost you. So, before you light up, take some time to fill in the first section on the form.

Got it done? Now here are links to the four remaining areas that you might find helpful. I take you step by step through the process of rating your cigars. Before you light up, go through the appearance section and fill in that part of the form.