Rating Scale
Greetings! If you made it here you’re probably wondering what black-magic I am using to rate these cigars. While it may seem whimsical to just look at a score that I seemingly arbitrarily posted there is indeed a method to my madness.
Recently, after a few hundred reviews it was starting to feel too mechanical and monotonous to break everything up into sections and rate them and such. I had developed my own scale based on what I feel makes a cigar great and had been doing the reviews in a more contemporary fashion for quite a awhile. I have a really good baseline of cigars reviewed using that method. Lately I can hardly smoke a cigar that doesn’t in some way remind me of another one that I previously smoked so I often look back at that review to see how it ranked. More times than not I am pretty on target with the number that I rated a new cigar with but without the official sectional breakdown. I feel that at this point I am basically inserting ratings amongst other smokes baselined within the same spectrum.
So here is how I break it down:
10 – Prelight
45 – Total flavor/aroma (15pts per 3rd)
30 – Construction (10pts per 3rd)
15 – Experience and overall enjoyment
Total = 100
I have yet to smoke what I would call a 100 but several have come pretty close with a 95 or 96 amongst my reviews. I am always looking to refine my process and certainly always in search of exciting new smokes that truly set themselves apart from the standard rank and file. Any suggestions let me know. 
Here are some good parting gifts that were provided by a true BOTL. These flavor-wheels certainly make great reference objects for picking out palate flavors and aromas in the bouquet.
This is a very hand little chart!
….and when you’re really ready to step up your game here is a very comprehensive flavor-wheel also provided by a faithful MCR blog reader. Thanks!
And for anyone having trouble picking out those subtle unsavory nuances of a dog-rocket I have found this extremely entertaining flavor-wheel.
Moki’s Dog Rocket Flavor Wheel
And finally a very nice interactive flavor chart from tobacconist university: http://tobacconistuniversity.org/pdf/flavorchart.pdf
