There are two general elements involved in the making of a fine, handmade cigar:

QUALITY TOBACCO AND QUALITY CONSTRUCTION. They are equally important. But the primary consideration in judging whether a cigar is “good” or not, or just how good it is, is the consistency of both.

Consistency then, as in many human endeavors, is the key factor. The golfer gets rated by the number of times his ball lands in the fairway from the tee and the number of greens reached in regulation: consistency. The sports world provides so many examples of this. The free throw contest in basketball is measured by the number of consecutive baskets achieved: consistency. The highest paid baseball sluggers receive enormous salaries because they can hit the ball more often than others. Again, consistency. On and on, as in other walks of life as well, being able to perform on an extremely high level, time after time after time, is the primary way we measure excellence.

So too in judging fine cigars!

Any producer of premium cigars can make an occasional smooth burning, rich tasting product. But, the truly excellent producer will develop a way to do it every time, or almost every time.

If a skeet shooter cannot hit 100 out of 100, he’ll never reach world class ranking, and that’s 100 of every 100 he tries. A cigar must be judged by similar standards. Even the weekend golfer will par a few holes during a round. But the real measure of excellence is how close a certain cigar brand, and any shape within that brand, comes to being that good drawing, good burning, good tasting product time after time.