Disconnect in cigar ratings?

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by LasciviousXXX

Man THAT'S what I was trying to say...

Then why didn't you just SAY it.

[galaga]

Originally Posted by pnoon

Then why didn't you just SAY it.

b/c he's got short fingers..........














I'm surprised you type as well as you do


and where's your banana?

[LasciviousXXX]

Originally Posted by pnoon

Then why didn't you just SAY it.

I'm not as eloquent as our fealess leader

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by pds

First, the reviews at top25cigar.com come from a much larger pool of reviewers than here at CS, or really anywhere for that matter. Top25Cigar is intended to be a compilation of all the smoking publics thoughts on a cigar, and does not differentiate from someone smoking their first cigar to someone smoking their 10,000th. All reviews have the same value.

Lastly, anyone trying to make sense out of personal opinions is going to get frustrated. You will never agree with everyone, and your favorite cigar may not be someone else's.

T25C was developed to display an average public opinion of a smoke, and really came to be in response to the reviews at CA that are so heavily influenced by advertising dollars, and a minimal sampling base...sometimes as small as one or two editors.

Seems pretty obvious to me just looking at both sites and reading the reviews from both. Some reviews on Top25Cigar are very general and uninformed, and others are quite detailed. CS is generally quite informed and detailed.

Cigars are product I think the manufacturers can rest on their laurels more than other products. I know any Davidoff or Ashton are going to be good. If Trinidad, Cuaba or Cohiba release a new style, I expect it to be good and don't need a review to convince me. If I like the shape and the box is in front of me at the right time; I will just buy it and read the reviews later.

[TheDirector]

Originally Posted by discdog

I tend to scour the review archieves of a couple of different places and pick out someone doing reviews that has the same taste preference that I do. Then, when something new comes out, if I haven't tried it yet, I look for reviews from those individuals. This process has been accurate for me about 90% of the time. Just goes to show, not everyones taste is alike....

I agree with this strategy.

That's why the descriptive content of reviews are very important to me. It is nice to compare reviews with someone with a "known" palate and taste preferences. Also I love pix so I can really get a close look at the real thing. I would love to see more reviews of all types and price-ranges - friends don't let friends smoke dog rockets, at any price! I try to post reviews on both top25 and CS. The average ratings on top25 are very informative as a general direction...it is hard to go wrong with that as a starting point! I browsed top25 for 2 years before I even checked out CS.

As for the gap in ratings: personally my palate is maturing ( thanks to CS bros) and my cigar knowledge increasing and that makes my reviews a snap shot of my state at the time. Not to mention the variabilities of premium cigars, their handling history and even their genuineness. Even with all these issues I enjoy reading all reviews and I am challenged to provide better reviews everytime (more description, better pictures) for the B/Sotl here on CS.

There is no accounting for taste, and that's what makes the world go round! I would like all the CS gorillas commit to doing some critical reviewing for our board. Like Icehog told me when I joined.... [SIZE="4"]"tell it like it is"[/SIZE]

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by TheDirector

Like Icehog told me when I joined.... [SIZE="4"]"tell it like it is"[/SIZE]

Don't listen to him. He's a douche bag.



















Sorry, Tom. Couldn't pass that one up.

[donp]

If you are referring to the Top 25 forum, I use it as a general indicator. Some of the reviews aren't worth a damn, and others are very useful. You may also notice that one reviewers rating will be in the toilet and the very next one will be glowing. I read them for information about a particular cigar and not how others may rate them, mostly becuase there usually is so much variation in individual taste etc.

[carni]

Originally Posted by Hydrated

I totally ignore CA ratings... they are so skewed by advertising dollars that they become totally useless. C'mon... you could put the crappiest cigar in the world up there and CA would give it an 80 rating in the hopes that the manufacturer will buy ad space later. Another problem is that a cigar's availability evaporates as soon as it gets a good rating from CA. Give an average cigar a 90 in CA, and you can't find that stick for 6 months... even if it isn't really THAT good.

I read the reviews on top25.com to get an idea of a cigar's general personality before I buy. But I only use it as a tool to spot obvious trends in cigars. I look to see if nearly every review talks about how strong a cigar is... or how smooth the stick smokes... things like that. And I like the fact that top25 is all posted by regular guys like me who don't necessarily taste chocolate and nutmeg based earthiness in every cigar that they light up...

Bobby

AGREED

[RETSF]

I can only offer a "WAG" (wild A*S guess) on this subject: I suspect that There are great reviews on a few cigars vs. the large number of good reviews of a lesser quality cigar is probably due to the affordability. Look through the Thread which asks "what do you do for work"; It ranges from collage students, junior enlisted personnel to the wealthy. Most everyone reaches an upperlimit which they can only sample on rare occassions and possibly pass on a review. For example; To me the Ashton's, CAOs, & Gurcha (?) cigar line are outside my limit, but I do enjoy a Helix (churchal) which is at the top end of affordability, and give that cigar an outstanding rating. Other members can give rating on the more expensive cigar lines out there. Bottom line is you may only see a few great reviews on the higher end cigar but it only means of those who can reasonabily afford the higher end stick thought it was simply an outstanding smoke. I would be more apt to key in on if the High end cigar possesses certain qualities of a lower cost cigar. If the lower end cigar is within a price range of the reader, more than likely they will purchase that cigar for baseline qualities, make the determination on wheather or not to take that plunge and purchase the higher price smoke with the reasonable expectation of an even greater experience of the baseline cigar. Bottem line is a $10.00 (+) maduro cigar I would expect to be an even better smoke compared to the lower cost cigar: at some point I'll try that higher end cigar based on the few great reviews.

My thought process on this may be flawed, but I'm OK with me.

[RETSF]

Darn, too many Bottom lines in that one.

[Boston_Dude05]

I'm curious whether tying in the two sites in terms of reviews would be beneficial. By this I mean that there are probably some/many people here who post their reviews only in these forums and vice-versa, so the groups of posters is somewhat different. Sometimes, I do that also. I only post in these threads, as I feel it might be redundant to post again in Top25. Maybe it makes sense to have the same rating system here for all cigar reviews and they automatically link/post to Top25? (having all reviews come from Top25 to these forums obviously doesn't make sense). This way you post once and it automatically goes to the two sites.