[vtdragon]

I've been reading quite of lot of reviews lately, both here and at Top 25 Cigar and I am struck by how varied the criteria are that people use to judge cigars. It appears that most everyone has a preferred taste in cigars, though many, (like me), have a very difficult time describing what the taste is that they like. Thus, we get these descriptions such as fruity, nutty, cedar like, chocolately, earthy, spicy, leathery, etc. For purposes of this discussion let's leave taste out of it. I'll accept that you like what you like.

Having said that, my question for all you BOTL's out there is: "What is the single most important criteria other than taste that you use when choosing a cigar to smoke?

To give you an idea of what I'm thinking, my single most important cigar quality, (other than taste) is it remaining cool as I smoke it. I just cannot abide any cigar that makes the tip of my tongue hot as I smoke. I feel that the relative heat of a smoke is what seperates a good from a bad cigar.

Now others may be particular about how loose or tightly rolled a stick is, how the mouth end holds together, whether there are tunneling or other burn issues, the aroma, the feel of the wrapper, the look of the wrapper, the volume of smoke, the length of ash or whatever. I don't know. I was going to attach a poll to this thread, but am afraid that it would limit the answers too much. I'm interested in your thoughts, chime in tell us all what you think.