Bolivar Gold Medal (LCDH)

[crusse]

Right, let's not beat about the bush!
"I waited until I'd been smoking CC's for 2 years before I posted my first review on this forum...." Crusse,Look at your own posts & do the maths...
I agree wholeheartedly that every review is subject to the guy who's reviewing the cigar but that doesn't get away from the fact that if you appear to be knowledgeable then others even less experienced may fall foul of that ignorance... That's ALL I was trying to say...
As already said I like your reviews...I just have a problem with a scoring system that has no real relevance..
I apologise if I seemed harsh or antagonistic but I always speak my mind..also I do totally agree with Arf & Kev, Arf for his method of leaving the top ten blank & Kev for saying it's fun, it should be for all....

Regards & apologies,

Puff.

I'm up for a good debate so no need to apologise. My basic points are these:

I accept that knowledge and previous experience play a part in reviewing and scoring and I haven't intended to make people think that I'm an expert. If I've in any way given the impression that I think I'm an expert then I'm genuinely sorry, because that would be arrogant of me.

But while I'm a relative newbie, I'm not absolutely new to cigars. It's not as if I posted reviews and scores of my first ever smoke. If I had done that, my score would not be relevant to anything. As they stand, my scores are genuine reflections of what I've experienced, learned and felt. I still have a lot to experience, learn and feel when it comes to cigars, but my reviews and scores trace my own particular journey of discovery. For that reason, I think that they are very subjective but not completely irrelevant or meaningless.

[Puff Scotty]

Nuff said...

[kevree]

Excellent Kev...but you didn't score the f***er did you?

lol.....ok.

On my seven level scoring system it was 'Very good'

The skill and the writing of the review was obviously 'Awesome'

hehehe

[Puff Scotty]

The skill and the writing of the review was obviously 'Awesome'

Yessiree! The absenteeism of pretentious shite was indeed 'Awesome'...

PS. only a 7....

[kevree]

The cigar was a five on my level system.

Very good.

Awesome is 6 and Holy shit! happens very rarely.

[Zigatoh]

Not to stir the hornets nest but the scoring thing has always been a bit weird, I think Arf picking 7 as a benchmark was a good way to go, I also think the CA system that has multitudes of cigars in the 90s is a bad way to go, where's the room for manouvre??
Given that (fingers crossed) things in any area should get better over time, starting with 90+ as pretty good is daft!

Personally I work on the flavour descriptions, and mainly the conclusion, of any review as my guide... I enjoy the flavours, but how I feel and am left feeling is what makes a good smoke for me.

Example, Liga Privada no9, not the best flavours for me to be fair, and not the most change and progression through the smoke, but I feel good when I smoke them, and am left happy, that's why I enjoyed it and that's why I bought a box, job done

[Puff Scotty]

Ahhhh! enlightened now I can sleep (specially after a Sig VI) Nite Nite.

[Zigatoh]

Sarcastic or nice, not sure (reddit style pic of Fry from futurama required but can't be arsed)

[crusse]

I think Arf picking 7 as a benchmark was a good way to go

I think that Arf writes excellent reviews and really enjoy reading them but his scoring confuses me a bit. Almost every Lonsdale that he's reviewed has got a 7.something. So he really has a 10 point scoring scale, with 7 as ok and 7.9 as amazing!

But I agree that scores of 90+ should be reserved for outstanding smokes. My rule of thumb is that only cigars that make my top 10 list receive 90 or more, but that means that there are a lot of excellent smokes that I think of as 88s or 89s! To be honest, putting a number to something as subjective as how much you enjoy a smoke is bound to be confusing. It just can't be accurately quantified. Maybe the solution is to do away with scores and just give your overall impression?

[kevree]

Like I said earlier......write something honest......forget the scores.

[Zigatoh]

Only thing is, scores can be ordered and searched, general terms of like dislike etc cant, so for a magazine, catalogue, index, set of reviews, etc, scores are kind of necessary.

[tippexx]

Arfs Lonsdales scoreing.

a) Arf f*@ked up a bit on the first cigar. Having not smoked too many Lonsdales and wanting to leave space to go for 20 odd smokes, the first one, the Rafael Gonzalez, in retrospect I marked too low. But the difference between the RG and the following smokes hasn't been so wide as to warrant an 8 or 9, so I've had to compensate with percents of a point.

b) The majority of points are awarded on taste. Construction points so far have been more or less even Steven .... and points for appearance, what's that about .... who cares. I've only got/had one of each, so if one was an out and out ugly bug I wouldn't know anyway.

c) Marks 8 9 are held in reserve for those cigars which I know others rate highly, but which are too expensive for me to buy or are so rare I haven't been able to find them.

My reviews are just my views on the day. I'm not precious about them, but I do try to be as honest as I can.

[Puff Scotty]

Sarcastic or nice, not sure (reddit style pic of Fry from futurama required but can't be arsed)

Not being sarcastic Zig, my post was in reply to Kev's previous post,, & I went to bed after a reasonable Siglo VI which I scored 78.93862......

[tippexx]

Not being sarcastic Zig, my post was in reply to Kev's previous post,, & I went to bed after a reasonable Siglo VI which I scored 78.93862......

78.938 that's reasonable .... the 62 .... hmmm, debatable!

[Puff Scotty]

78.938 that's reasonable .... the 62 .... hmmm, debatable!

Always open to any reasonable criticism Arf.