This Cigar Sense Reviews Guide is intended to explain the objectives and the taxonomy used in our cigar analyses.
Our analyses are compiled based on detailed descriptions performed by our trained cigar analysts over ~150 attributes, following sensory analysis norms. You can learn more about sensory analysis in this short podcast episode. We believe that applying sensory analysis is extremely important for the benefit of all industry actors and, above all, for consumers who seek the best sensory experience for themselves.
In fact, contrarily to subjective reviews, objective cigar reviews help consumers make educated purchases and find the cigars that best suit them. This happens because, as we focus on reproducibility, the consumer who smokes another sample of the analyzed cigar will most likely recognize many of the sensory properties that we indicate. In this other short podcast episode on sensory evaluations we expand on this topic.
The data
- The charts focus on the lit cigar aromas (not on the wrapper and foot prior to lighting the cigar, nor on the raw draw)
- The charts represents the potential of the palette of aromas that you are likely to find in the cigar.
- In some cases, where the cigar presents a low level of consistency in its organoleptic performance across the various samples, the palette displayed in the chart might be wide. This is why our chart does not necessarily give a glimpse to the complexity of the cigar. We therefore recommend that you look at the complexity indicator in the cigar analysis table in addition to reading the chart.
Polar charts: Tastes (and palate perceptions) – This chart combines tastes (bitter, salty, savory, sour and sweet) to the additional key palate perceptions (spicy, creamy/oily, dry/tannic) that are most frequently found in the tasting of cigars.
Value for Price – this is the average value of all the outputs from each panelist based on their prior raw, gustative, organoleptic, mechanical and conclusive considerations. Our panelists get to see the price range for the cigar they evaluate in the final page of their online analysis form, therefore their overall blind assessment is not influenced by this, nor any other information on the cigar.
We may sometimes provide some beverage pairing suggestions. Of course this doesn’t rule out other pairing possibilities, which are extremely wide in variety and based on personal taste. To learn more, we invite you to read our article on pairing cigars with beverages.
The additional analytics
We also may provide an indication about the prediction of liking of the cigar among consumers. This will show as the % of our members to whom the cigar is being recommended because it highly matches their personal preferences. The higher the % of members to whom the cigar is recommended, the better the cigar is expected to perform across our members at worldwide level (90%+ accuracy). This also serves as a prediction of the success of the cigar with a wider population of consumers. The lower the % of members, the more the cigar is a niche product and a smaller number of consumers are likely to buy it.
We don’t score cigars, we rank them based on how they fit our members’ unique personal tastes. We also support manufacturers with analytics for their strategic product planning or for their sensory marketing planning. We also help answer their “tough” questions on consumer behavior as related to their or their competitors’ products. All our data is rigorously anonymized.
I am loving this site. The amazing differences in flavor and aromas are documented and allows me to understand what I truly enjoy in a cigar.
Thank you! We are all about helping the fine cigar smoker in her/his choices.