New for 2010…
No Ratings!!!
Rating a cigar and how to do it is something I have struggled with ever since I started writing reviews. Even when I didn’t have a blog and I was writing in a notebook for my own benefit, I struggled with putting a value to my opinion of a cigar. When I first started the blog I did not have a rating system or score card for cigars. I was new to the reviewing thing and didn’t know what to do but for some reason felt like I needed a way to score the cigars. So eventually I adopted a numerical scoring system used on one of my favorite forums. I never really liked it, so I switched to a more generalized letter grading system. This suited me much better and while generally I have been happy with it, I still do not love it and am not 100% comfortable with it. For this reason, I am trying something different for the year 2010 and perhaps beyond. I am going back to the beginning. I will no longer be assigning any kind of rating to a cigar. I will simply state my own opinion of the cigar in the review and leave it at that. That’s the meat of it anyway. Does putting a number or a letter on the cigar really add any value anyway?
-Matt
For historical context here are the links to my two former rating systems…
Matt's Cigar Journal 
welcome to the way i do things! haha I do not do numbers on my ratings, just say what my impression of the cigar is overall.
Agreed!
You have a good point. It is all subjective anyways.
And, describe a letter grade to a person for if they would like to try the cigar. “It’s an A smoke to me.” Then, they try it and say, “It’s a B- smoke to me.” We have not really learned anything.
You describe it, “It has a good earthy quality with some strong cedary notes and spice.” Ok, I don’t want that cigar today because, I want something that is nutty and chocolaty.
Now we can match our experiences.