This may be a little more thought than any of us want to put into this but how do we (you) rate your cigars?
Part two: Should we come up with a Standard grading system?
How I do it honestly is more how I feel about it at the end. I give everything a 5 just because it is a cigar and then add or take away points on how much I enjoy it.
Some things to consider:
Draw
Burn
Flavor
Apparance
Construction
Aroma
What other type of variables should there be? Any input would be appreciated.
Matt
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I take cost & availability into consideration, but not much more than what you described above when I rate a cigar.
ReplyDeleteI am guilty of rating a cigar very early on in the smoke. If the cigar doesn't impress me within the first 1/4, even if it finishes strong, I usually rate it fairly low. I try to keep an open mind with everything I smoke, but this particular grading habit of mine has been difficult for me to move away from.
I'm not sure this is such a good habit, either, but I find that I will rate every cigar I smoke against my favorites. If a new smoke is a good smoke in its own right (using cost factors, and those others you list above), but doesn't knock my socks off like a good old standby (say, an Edge--imagine that), I will rate it fairly low. So, if I think that I would have enjoyed smoking one of my favorites more than the cigar in question, it gets a low score.
I don't see any problem with trying to develop a standard OCCS grading system. It would be ours, which is cool, and I think it be beneficial for all of us--even if it simply gives us more reasons to discuss cigars, and, God forbid, to smoke more cigars. As I said, about the only things I would add to your list are cost & availability. Some things to simply note when rating a cigar, too, may be the time of day, location/event, what you are eating/ate and/or drinking/drank.
Then again, maybe recording such detail is just the mindframe trying to get the shop up to OSHA standards (part of my New Year's Resolutions) for the last two months has put me in.
Adam
For me, in a perfect world, I would like to smoke two or more of a particular cigar before rating it. I realize that this cannot be the case every time, but sometimes a single cigar was poorly made or was kept in too dry or moist conditions—I think this has been my battle with the Oliva V.
ReplyDeleteI also like to smoke and rate a new cigar by having that cigar as my first cigar of the day. This allows me to pick up on more of the smaller flavors and aromas of the new cigar with my cleaner ‘palate’.
I think a relaxing atmosphere helps me enjoy a cigar more as well.
I also try to look at the cigar for what it is, if it’s a mild cigar, I rate it for that. In other words, I don’t knock a cigar for not being something it wasn’t intended to be. Take the Perdomo Lot 23 maduro for instance-it was a mild-medium cigar with strong chocolate and coffee notes-it wouldn’t be fair to compare that cigar to the Cain Habano 6x60.
In rating terms, I take the following into consideration:
Availability/Price-If I can’t get it, I can’t smoke it. If it costs $2,500 (Behike), pretty sure I’ll never smoke one—all of these cigars get an automatic 0 rating in my book and are considered silly-guy cigars. Also, if a cigar costs, say $8+, I start to expect more of these cigars and will rate it tougher as a result of higher cost.
Draw-If I can’t draw smoke out of the darn thing (Victor Sinclair), I’d be better off never trying to smoke it in the first place.
Flavor-I’ve had a couple of cigars that burned great, but they tasted so badly that I couldn’t get past 5 puffs.
Burn-A cigar that burns only on one side of the cigar, is not very enjoyable.
Construction-Could mean different things to each of us. To me, I look at a solid cap, tight/good looking wrapper and ample filler. This has an effect on about every aspect of the cigar, so this may be a little more difficult to rate and may bleed into all other categories.
Aroma-Some cigars do have a sweeter or smokier aroma, but usually this goes right along with flavor (to me anyway). If I’m enjoying the flavor, the aroma is usually enjoyable as well.
I’m in favor of putting a standard rating system into place. How should we go about it? I see we all kind of rate cigars a little different.
-Joe
Joe, since you are hosting the next meeting would you mind if we take a few minutes and table this for discussion? I agree with both of you on the availability/cost issue. I also think that a standard for cigar ratings will give ourselves a great opportunity to get a sponsor for our club...
ReplyDeleteSounds like a deal. It would be nice to have a sponsor.
ReplyDeleteOn another note...take a look at the very bottom of the blog. I added the link to Cigar Magazine's electronic version of their latest copy. I'll have to update it as new issues come out. I found it on JR Cigars' website...which I beleive is their magazine.
-Joe