What Makes a Cigar Highly Rated: Construction, Flavor, Consistency

You've seen the numbers — 96 points, 97 points, a rare 98. But what actually separates a highly-rated cigar from one that scores a solid but unremarkable 87? The answer isn't mystery: it's construction, flavor, and consistency, evaluated through a rigorous blind process.

Here's what critics are actually looking for, and how you can start noticing the same things in your own smoking.

The blind tasting process

Cigar Aficionado's tasting panel smokes every cigar without knowing the brand. That's important: it means reputation, marketing, and price don't influence the number. A cigar earns its score — or doesn't — purely on what it delivers in the mouth.

Critics taste hundreds of cigars throughout the year and only publish scores for those that reach a minimum threshold. Everything below that line simply isn't reviewed. That's why the published ratings skew toward the higher end of the scale. See our Cigar Aficionado ratings explained guide for full detail on how the scale works.

Construction: the foundation of every great score

A highly-rated cigar must be impeccably made. Construction failures tank scores faster than almost anything else, because a cigar you can't draw from or that burns unevenly robs you of the entire experience.

Critics evaluate:

Draw

The resistance when you puff on an unlit cigar, and when it's burning. The ideal draw is slightly resistant — not loose (which causes a hot, harsh burn) and not plugged (which means you can't get smoke through at all). Getting the draw right across an entire production run is a quality-control challenge that only the best manufacturers consistently solve.

Burn

A highly-rated cigar should burn evenly across the foot with a clean, steady burn line. Canoeing (one side burning faster than the other) and tunneling (the filler burning while the wrapper lags) are construction defects that pull a score down quickly.

Ash

A firm, dense ash that holds its shape for an inch or more signals well-packed leaf and good construction. An ash that crumbles immediately often indicates inconsistent packing or lower-quality filler.

Flavor complexity: what separates good from great

A technically well-made cigar that tastes flat won't reach 94 points. Complexity — multiple flavor notes that interplay and evolve — is what pushes a score into the top tier.

The three thirds

Experienced smokers talk about the "three thirds" of a cigar: the first third (just lit, the coolest, most nuanced smoke), the second third (fully warmed up, typically the most complex), and the final third (richest and sometimes strongest). A highly-rated cigar changes across all three. The first might offer pepper and cedar; the second might reveal cocoa or espresso; the final third might deepen into leather and earth.

A cigar that tastes exactly the same from first puff to last stub is missing something. Critics notice.

Balance

No single flavor should dominate to the point of drowning everything else. A cigar can be bold and full-bodied (like the legendary My Father Le Bijou 1922) and still be balanced — the spice, the cocoa, and the earth are loud but not fighting each other.

Finish

The "finish" is how long flavor lingers after you exhale. A short finish is fine on an everyday cigar. A long, complex finish — flavors that evolve on your palate for a minute or more after the smoke is gone — is one of the hallmarks of a 95+ rating.

Consistency: the most underrated factor

Here's the thing critics rarely shout about: a cigar that scores 97 once and 88 the next time you try it isn't worth 97. The world's highest-rated brands invest enormous effort in producing cigars that smoke the same way, from the same box, across different production runs.

Padrón ages their tobacco for years before rolling. Arturo Fuente controls their own Dominican farm. My Father Cigars tracks every blend down to the individual leaf source. That obsession with consistency is what gets a brand to Number 1 — and keeps them there.

What you can look for

You don't need to be a professional critic. Next time you smoke, pay attention to:

• Before you light: Does the cold draw taste like anything? Does it pull easily?
• The first third: What are the first notes you get? Pepper? Wood? Cream?
• The second third: Has anything changed? Has a new flavor emerged?
• The burn line: Is it staying even, or do you need to touch it up?
• The finish: When you exhale, what lingers?

Log your observations in the Casa DNC app — your own rating history is one of the best ways to train your palate. Browse our cigar pages, many of which include critic ratings alongside tasting notes, so you can compare your experience to the professionals.

The short version

A highly-rated cigar nails construction (draw, burn, ash), delivers layered flavor that evolves through three thirds, maintains balance without any single note dominating, and does it consistently across production runs. That's the full picture behind a 94-plus score.

Explore our best 94-plus rated cigars guide for specific picks, or see how the top Cigar of the Year winners performed in our COTY winners rundown.