With the CA ratings recently past I've been talking with a lot of people about magazine ratings, online ratings, reviews, etc. All of the systems have pros and cons (well not all of them - some just suck) but I was curious what everyone else thinks.

Looking at the factors below, what order would you put them in when rating a cigar? To take it a step further - how would you rate each of those factors as a percentage (X of 100) of the overall score?

Just curious to see how the average cigar smoker would do this.

- Flavor
- Construction
- Appearance
- Burn
- Price
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Flavor
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For me, price relates to value and has nothing to do with the cigar itself. I would also put Burn as part of construction (storage conditions can have an effect on burn).

For me, 75% flavor. 20% construction. Appearance 5%. I don't care very much about appearance. One of my favorite smokes, H. Upmann Naturales, are ugly buggers but are a divine smoke.

My :-) YMMV.
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I was curious to see how much appearance played in. When we're looking at cigars in the store or pics on the internet it's easy to let appearance make us drool, but some cigars I really enjoy look like they may have been rolled by monkeys. :-)

Price and value are the same IMO. At some cigars may be a great value at $10.00 and others are overpriced at $5.00.

Thanks for the input!
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It's all about flavor. If a cigar tastes great, I will happily deal with burn issues.
Price to me is only an issue in that if a cigar is too expensive for my budget, I won't buy it. There's way too many good, cheap smokes out there.
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I agree Tim. But when "rating" a cigar, I don't consider price. Different retailers charge different prices. It's not a constant and the cigar does not change if I paid $5, $8, or $50 for it.
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Personally I'd rate construction first. If it's tight, plugged, whatever, any enjoyment I might get is gone. A so so cigar that smokes well does me a lot more good than a flavor powerhouse I can't smoke. I agree with Peter that burn is a facet of construction.

Then comes flavor. Good flavor is the deciding factor as to what I buy.

Cost comes next. Not affordability so much as value for the money.

Appearance I could care less about. I'm not trying to impress anyone, and a rough looking cigar doesn't bother me at all.
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My thoughts exactly

I like the 75/20/5 system too pnoon.

I don't smoke cigars cause they burn nicely, I smoke cigars because they TASTE good :-)

aj
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But Bill makes a good point that if a cigar is not constructed well (burn, plugged, etc.) any enjoyment from flavor is greatly reduced or eliminated.

A couple of years ago, I was gifted an 83 Cohiba Lancero by a very generous BOTL. When I fired that puppy up, I could tell I had a real flavor treat ahead of me. Lo and behold, the stick was plugged. I worked and worked on it to try and loosen it up - to no avail. I had to pitch it. :-)
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On the other hand, who cares if a cigar is perfectly constructed if it tastes like ass? :-)
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Flavor, flavor, flavor. Did I mention flavor? Only when the construction is absolutely deplorable, like when the cigar unravels or is a tent pole, will those factor in, but then, I usually don't even bother rating those cigars until I can find a specimen that does smoke well. Appearance means nothing to me, as some of the best cigars I'm smoked have been butt ugly.
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When I read the reviews I usually ignore the number rating system people use. I am more interested in the description of the cigar and the experience the reviewer had.
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:-) A review that says something like "Flavor: 8.9/10" is pretty worthless IMO, unless the reviewer also describes the flavors.
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Still waiting on that review of the Havana Night Club. :-)
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I'm pretty sure it would be lower than 8.9. :-)
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I don't weight burn much, God gave us lighters for a reason andi don't mind using them (to an extent).
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I think in terms of flavor, apperence, value, construction and then overall experience which is just some **** I made up lol. The ones that matter the most, if I had rto rank them are Flavor, Construction and Value.
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Without a doubt...FLAVOR!!
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This is why rating a cigar is tough -- great flavor and poor construction OR great construction and poor flavor both make for a bad cigar.

Flavor and construction are very tightly coupled when reviewing a cigar, but I would put flavor first as you can ususally do something about a plugged cigar or a pealing wrapper.

(BTW, Tom -- how do you know what ass tastes like???)
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I have to put draw up there with flavor....if its like sucking a golf ball through the garden hose it could have the best flavor in the world but I will not want to smoke it
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