I know I’ve written about Cigar Sense more than once here. First, it was a Friday Brand Feature. Then, I shared my personal recommendations to give you an idea of how the system works — it works pretty damn well, by the way. But one of the coolest features I’ve stumbled upon without realizing how much I’d enjoy it, is the virtual tasting setup.
You sign up through your account simply by selecting an upcoming tasting. Following the group’s assignment, you taste the cigar mentioned before the deadline if there is one. Then, you log on to Cigar Sense and share your tasting notes and experience. It goes into a big, old digital pot, with everyone else’s experiences. At the end, you get to see the group results.
Why would you care about group results for virtual tastings?
For starters, it’s pretty cool to see how your flavor note picks stack up with the rest of the group. You might taste something they don’t, or they might have a more refined and better way to describe a flavor you did taste. It’s like gathering in a circle around a bonfire and talking about your favorite smokes, except you never have to go anywhere.
The only downside is that the cigars aren’t sent to you, but it makes sense why. So, you have to procure the cigars before you complete the virtual tasting. However, you can invite your friends and peers to participate, for free, with a special invite link. They can try the cigar on their own time and then report their experiences. That information further contributes to the group’s results and scores.
After you submit your tasting results, you’ll get an official entry number, which you can use to compare yourself on a leaderboard. The scores work like golf, however, and you want a low score, not a high one. Your submissions are compared by aromas, tastes, mouthfeels and nicotine strength you report, and that’s matched up against what the group reported.
How do the virtual tastings work?
There are a few options, but one you might recognize is the Davidoff Nicaragua Toro. Basically, you join the group and set aside some time to enjoy the cigar. You can log in to the site from a laptop or even your phone. Then, you simply light the cigar, and as you puff, you select some aromas and choose a corresponding intensity. For example, animal leather, or earth peat, or spice cloves. You choose up to six aromas, with matching intensities, and then you can choose an additional “Freeform” aroma — you write in your answer.
From there, you choose tastes and tactile perceptions, like savory, with a number scale, and whether you liked it or disliked it. After you acknowledge nicotine strength, based on what you thought. Then, some additional questions are at the end. There’s a place to mention overall character, how the cigar made you feel, if you’d buy it again and so on.
You can also deliver text feedback if you want. But otherwise, you submit your results and then see how you compare to the rest of the group. Some of the virtual tastings have been going for a while. But there is an opportunity to win prizes if you rank high on the leaderboard. Even if you don’t win anything, you get bragging rights for out-cigar-ing your buddies, especially if you get them to participate.
You do have to be a member to join the virtual tastings, but a free account is just fine. Also, to see the results, the virtual tasting has to be: 1) past the end date and 2) have enough submissions from participants.
If you want to set up a virtual tasting group or have a recommendation, you can also email the Cigar Sense team. I won’t include that here, but it is available on the Virtual Tastings page.
Briley has over 16 years in the publishing and content marketing business. He's been writing about cigars for nearly half that in various forms. What makes him a tour de force is he also smokes them.
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