Cigar World Explains Cigar Ratings

What makes a great cigar a great cigar? At a certain level, enjoying a cigar is subjective. You may love a cigar because it was a gift, or because of an occasion, or any number of sentimental reasons. However, cigar ratings look to measure and rank cigars based on “objective” factors like taste, draw, burn, “dynamism”, consistency, and, occasionally, appearance and price. Here, we’ll delve into cigar ratings, explain what they mean, and help you make sense of the various awards and accolades that cigar brands value so much.

What are Cigar Ratings?

Note that the following statements should be read as a general guideline for the industry. Exceptions to these rules abound. But generally speaking, cigar ratings are published by cigar-media entities like magazines, blogs, and personalities. Almost all cigar ratings use a 0-100 point system. The higher the score, the better. As a rule, any cigar that tops the 90 mark is considered excellent. Anything above 95 is a rare feat. Cigars that score between 85 and 90 tend to have positive qualities balanced out by problems in construction or flavor profile. 

Premium cigars that score below 80 are fairly uncommon and typically suffer from some form of construction problem. Most cigar reviewers stick to premium cigar releases, but some also include a wider range of smokes in their review catalogue. 

How Are Cigar Ratings Calculated?

The short answer is that it depends on the publication. 

Cigar Aficionado, for instance, insists on tasting their cigars “blind” — that is, without the reviewer knowing any details (brand, country of origin, etc.) about the cigar. Unsurprisingly, Blind Man’s Puff follows a similar protocol for reviewing its cigars. Halfwheel, on the other hand, doesn’t review blind. 

Cigar Aficionado and several other publications rate their cigars by way of a panel; again, Halfwheel doesn’t, but instead relies on a single reviewer to smoke the same cigars multiple times to formulate a rating. Halfhwheel also denotes that cigars scoring 88 (not 90) or above are products that the reviewer can recommend as “box-worthy”, which may also help explain why Halfwheel generally gives out fewer 90+ ratings than other publications. (Cigar Coop also provides a similar value call-out in each of their cigar reviews — if you’re not as interested in numbers and would rather have an explicit recommendation.)

Lastly, Cigar Dojo takes a slightly different approach. Rather than using “points” Cigar Dojo uses a percentage-based scoring system (though it still runs from 0-100%). Most interestingly, Cigar Dojo also publishes scores for specific factors like appearance, draw, and flavor in their reviews. 

Regardless of how a cigar publication chooses to review a cigar, it’s often easier to think of a cigar starting with a hypothetical perfect score of 100, rather than starting at zero and building up. 

So if a cigar has a burn issue in the first third, it might get docked a point. If the draw becomes tight, it might lose another point. If the reviewer has to correct an inconsistent burn, the cigar might lose multiple points. And if a cigar never develops different flavors (or complexity), it might lose even more points. This means if a cigar garners a high rating, the reviewer didn’t find much reason to dock it points. 

Do Cigar Ratings Matter?

Yes and no. Cigar ratings are a little bit like superstitions; if you believe in them, they matter a lot. And if you don’t, they don’t. 

For our money, we like cigar ratings. We think that more people talking about and sharing their cigar experiences is a good thing, and we find value in hearing what people who love cigars think of new or well-known products. And because there is no central “authority” on cigar ratings, we recommend cigar lovers check out multiple sources and compare professional scores against their own smoking experiences. Odds are, you’ll find some reviewer/site/publisher whose tastes (and priorities) align with your own. 

While we appreciate professional ratings from publications, Cigar World is most interested in what YOU think of cigars. That’s why our site is full of honest, unbiased reviews from regular cigar lovers just like you. Check a few out and be sure to sign up for Cigar World to leave a review and rating of your own favorite cigar!