How do I rate cigars?

In every review you will see the following:

Cigar facts (brand/model, vitola, size, origin, box code/humidor time etc.)

Separately rated sections

1. Appearance/construction (look of the cigar, wrapper, rolling/packing, foot, cap)

2. Smoking experience (draw, burn, smoke amount, ash holding)

3. Flavor (1, 2 and 3/3)

4. Quality-price ratio

Rating scale and descriptions;)

1pt. = DON´T SMOKE THIS!!!
1,5pt. = OMG, what a load of..
2pt. = Are you kidding me?
2,5pt. = Anything better please?
3pt. = It`s OK, not a box worth though
3,5pt. = Nice stogie, try it!
4pt. = Excellent smoke!
4,5pt. = I`m in love..
5pt. = This is heaven!!!

At the end of every review there`s always a final grade which is an approximated average of the four rated sections. For example:

1. Average = 4,375
    The final grade = 4,5pt.
2. Average = 4,875
    The final grade = 5pt.

If the average is for example 4,25, it will be approximated to 4.


Five flavor profiles

In the world of cigars a smoker is familiar with the terms called full, medium and mild. Often they mean the combination of flavor and nicotine which together create the body of the cigar. In this blog the aforementioned terms mean only the flavor instead of the nicotine tolerance.
You will see cigar reviews categorized in five different flavor profiles. There are two extremities (pr. 1 and 5) offering two different full flavor. Profiles 2 and 4 are medium and 3 is the mildest. The flavor profile is shown next to the final grade.

Profile 1. = Strong "dark" flavors (pepper, spice, leather, tobacco, earth etc.)

Profile 2. = Medium "dark" flavors

Profile 3. = Mild flavors (not much/one dimensional light flavor, smoke is like air)

Profile 4. = Medium "sweet" flavors

Profile 5. = Strong "sweet" flavors (creamy, caramel, cedar, cocoa, coffee, nutty, chocolate, citrus,                         dessert like etc.)

During the smoking a cigar can progress in terms of flavor. For example it can produce both dark and sweet flavors so the smoker has to decide which one of profiles is the dominant one. Fortunately we all have our own taste buds and the final judgement of a cigar is a matter of taste so sometimes a cigar can be totally different than you thought it would have been. Also young and aged cigars carry different flavors which just makes this all even more interesting. I hope this set of five profiles can help you with your purchases and to find you a cigar taste you enjoy!

Happily, Hippie;)