Thursday, July 16, 2009
Welcome to my Cigar blog!
As of the last few years, cigars have been my "thing". It became apparent to me once last year when I showed up to a paintball game and two different players, of whom I had never met, each brought me a cigar. Since then I've had people express thier concern if I had showed up and didn't have a cigar to munch on.
I can't say that I have much of an authority on cigar smoking, but I know what I like and why I like it. I imagine the biggest obstacle to writing this blog would be smoking new things and giving my opinion of them. When I'm standing in a shoppe with a few bucks to spend, I usually find myself with a Java 58 in one hand, and some other cigar with a fancy looking wrapper in the other. I tend to hang on the the 58 not wanting to be dissappointed over spending 8 or so bucks on somthing I'm not going to like. But in the interest of finding new favorites, and maybe that elusive $2-$3 gem that you don't mind giving your non smoker friends, I'm going to make an attempt to try new things. In the process I'll be writing this stuff down here so that I don't forget about it.
For now, I'm going to try and use this rating method borrowed from www.stogiefresh.com, slightly modified for own rather imprecise ability to form opinions.
Thanks for reading!
As of the last few years, cigars have been my "thing". It became apparent to me once last year when I showed up to a paintball game and two different players, of whom I had never met, each brought me a cigar. Since then I've had people express thier concern if I had showed up and didn't have a cigar to munch on.
I can't say that I have much of an authority on cigar smoking, but I know what I like and why I like it. I imagine the biggest obstacle to writing this blog would be smoking new things and giving my opinion of them. When I'm standing in a shoppe with a few bucks to spend, I usually find myself with a Java 58 in one hand, and some other cigar with a fancy looking wrapper in the other. I tend to hang on the the 58 not wanting to be dissappointed over spending 8 or so bucks on somthing I'm not going to like. But in the interest of finding new favorites, and maybe that elusive $2-$3 gem that you don't mind giving your non smoker friends, I'm going to make an attempt to try new things. In the process I'll be writing this stuff down here so that I don't forget about it.
For now, I'm going to try and use this rating method borrowed from www.stogiefresh.com, slightly modified for own rather imprecise ability to form opinions.
- LOOK AND FEEL: a great deal of enjoyment can be had from simply looking at a cigar. Is the wrapper oozing oils that make it look good enough to eat? Is the wrapper smooth, with tiny veins? Is it mottled in appearance with big chunky veins? Are there bumps, lumps and other markings? What about feel? Mushy, soft, supple or rock hard?
- FLAVOR AND AROMA: Flavor is always subjective, but we tell you what we like and dislike about the flavors and why. Is the cigar harsh, bitter, spicy, or bland? Does the character of the cigar change as you smoke it? Also, how does the cigar smell? Not just the smoke, but the wrapper too.
- BURN: A good cigar should not be difficult to keep lit or have too tight a draw. It should burn consistently, throwing an ash that that sticks together. The edges of the burning end should resemble a thin dark line and should not be thick and bubbled, which shows improper aging of the tobacco.
- OVERALL SCORE = LOOK AND FEEL(.20) + FLAVOR AND AROMA(.40) + BURN(.40) [NOTE: We weight flavor and burn aspects higher than the appearance of the cigar.]RATING STANDARDS: We use a 1-10 point scale.
1 - 3 = POOR
4 - 6 = AVERAGE
7 - 8 = SILVER STAR
9 - 10 = GOLD STAR
Thanks for reading!
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