How does the rating system work? All I know is that a 90+ is impressive. What is average and how high do the ratings go?
Absolute newbie question.
- Thread starter bunchdouglas
- Start date
-
- Tags
- cigars
the best system I have seen on 100pt scale is the one cigarsmoka uses for the Cigar.com Cigar of the Month Newsletter. I dont have it handy but hopefully he will chime in. Just a word to the wize. Take all ratings with a grain of salt. I have smoked some stuff guys claim is a 93 and thought it was more like an 83 and visa versa. It is all personal taste.
There are definately a lot of politics involved when it comes to magazines, articles, etc... when rating cigars. I try to be as objective as possible and go on the tobacco alone instead of manufacturer etc. It's hard as to be unbias too. What I love someone will inevitable hate and vise versa. So i try to emphasize a lot on characteristics, construction and burn, if the body and flavors were balanced, complex, if it were harsh or became hot or soft etc...So It's not really even a personal rating, but more so an overview of the whole experience. Anyway, heres a run down of how it works.
There are four scoring catagories (Similar to CA) The fourth score, being dependent on the first three. here's an example of how it works.
The catagories are as following: Appearance/Construction 00/15, Flavor/Body 00/25, Smoking Characteristics 00/25, Overall impressions 00/35.
The overall impressions is a representation of the first three catagories combined. Lets say you rate a cigar the following,
13/15, 23/25, and 24/25. (this is where I differ from everyone else) you take the difference in each catagory, which would be 2(15-13), 2 (25-23), and 1 (25-24). You add those numbers which would give you a total of 5. That sum of 5 is subtracted from the overall impressions 35, so the overall impressions recieves a 30/35. Now the sum of all four catagories 90/100, the overall score of this cigar.
When it comes down to getting the points for each catagory, it can get compliocated and is really up to what you like in a cigar. Things to notice are the quality of wrapper, if the cigar burned even, the condition of the ash, the draw, if the flavors are complex, if it develops, if it's balanced, becomes bitter etc...there are tons of things to go off of, so you'll just have to play around and find whats suitable for you. I hope this helps and wasan't too confusing.
There are four scoring catagories (Similar to CA) The fourth score, being dependent on the first three. here's an example of how it works.
The catagories are as following: Appearance/Construction 00/15, Flavor/Body 00/25, Smoking Characteristics 00/25, Overall impressions 00/35.
The overall impressions is a representation of the first three catagories combined. Lets say you rate a cigar the following,
13/15, 23/25, and 24/25. (this is where I differ from everyone else) you take the difference in each catagory, which would be 2(15-13), 2 (25-23), and 1 (25-24). You add those numbers which would give you a total of 5. That sum of 5 is subtracted from the overall impressions 35, so the overall impressions recieves a 30/35. Now the sum of all four catagories 90/100, the overall score of this cigar.
When it comes down to getting the points for each catagory, it can get compliocated and is really up to what you like in a cigar. Things to notice are the quality of wrapper, if the cigar burned even, the condition of the ash, the draw, if the flavors are complex, if it develops, if it's balanced, becomes bitter etc...there are tons of things to go off of, so you'll just have to play around and find whats suitable for you. I hope this helps and wasan't too confusing.
Thanks cigarsmoka. Great info .
What would be a good mild to medium cigar for a beginner that's easy to find? A friend of mine gave me a Cohiba Toro - all I know is it cost $18 and is in a silver tube. Is this good, or should I hold on to it for another time?
. What would be a good mild to medium cigar for a beginner that's easy to find? A friend of mine gave me a Cohiba Toro - all I know is it cost $18 and is in a silver tube. Is this good, or should I hold on to it for another time?
I say smoke it...unless smoking the price tag bothers you save it for a special occassion. I only have few that I save and have no idea when I'll smoke them. I would try the Cusano C18's, Flor de Oliva's and even Arturo Fuentes are reasonable and are very easily accessible. The Fuente Don Carlos are in my opinion medium all around and very consistant, not a bad smoke at all. Give those a shot, I'm sure you'll like them. There are a ton more, maybe some others will chime in with their opinions too...