How we score cigars

Critics

Published numeric scores from cigar critics. If a critic scored several sizes of the same cigar, we average them first, so each critic gets one vote. Once we have at least 200 scores from a critic, we adjust for their habits, so a critic who hands out lots of 95s doesn’t outweigh one who rarely does. Until then, their scores count as published.

Critics we use today: Cigar Aficionado, halfwheel, Cigar Journal, Cigar Coop.

Which reviews count:

• Regular production only. Limited editions, store exclusives, anniversary releases and pre-release reviews don’t count toward the regular line.
• The same blend. A review of the maduro doesn’t count for the natural, even when the name and size match.
• Recent enough to matter. Reviews older than 10 years are left out, because blends and crops change.
• One score per size. If a critic reviewed the same size twice, the newer review counts.
• Free, public scores only. We use scores an outlet publishes openly on its own site, never ones from behind a paywall. Cigar Journal prints most of its scores only in its paid magazine, so we use the ones on its free Best Buy lists.

Top lists

Credit for making a respected year-end list, and more for ranking high on it. Each extra list adds a little less than the one before (about 60% as much), so no single list can carry a cigar. Making a list can only raise a score, never lower it. We count editions from the last 10 years.

• Cigar Aficionado Top 25: The magazine's year-end ranking of the 25 cigars it rated highest that year.
• halfwheel Top 25: halfwheel's year-end list, ordered by the scores its own reviewers gave that year's cigars. It leans toward limited releases.
• Cigar Journal Top 25 New Cigars: The magazine's year-end ranking of the best recent releases from its blind tastings.

Smokers

Ratings from people who smoked the cigar: readers of this site and guests at partner lounges. A cigar needs at least 25 ratings before this part counts, and a cigar with few ratings is pulled toward the middle until more people weigh in.

The rules

• Missing parts hand over their weight. Until a cigar has 25 smoker ratings, critics and lists carry the score, and the page says so.
• Agreement gets you to the top. One outlet alone can’t push a cigar past 91. A magazine’s score and the same magazine’s year-end list count as one voice, not two. In the rankings a held cigar counts as exactly 91, so it can’t edge past a cigar that earned 91 or more with two outlets agreeing.
• Same blend only. A maduro and a natural version of the same line are scored separately. Sizes of one blend are scored together.
• No one can pay for a spot. No store, brand or lounge can buy a rank, see a score before it’s published, or change one afterwards. When a store pays us a commission, its cigars rank exactly where they would anyway.
• Smoked or research. Every cigar page says which it is. “Smoked by Carlos Gil” means our editor smoked that cigar himself; his notes sit next to the score and never count toward it. “Scored from published reviews” means the score comes from the sources above.
• Only facts we can show. Every number links to where it came from. If we don’t have a number, the page says so instead of guessing.
• No prices on our pages. Stores set their own prices and change them often, so each “See price” button opens the store’s own page with today’s price.

Coming next

Sources we’re adding, so more cigars get a second, independent voice:

• More critics who publish free, public scores
• Smoker ratings from readers and partner lounges