Regarding My Cigar Notes & Grading System

I've been under the weather as of late, so I've backed off smoking cigars some -- just until I feel a tick better, my throat less sore and glands less swollen. This distance has given me some time to think about stuffs, so I did. As I did, ideas clarified in my own mind, and I thought that if I shared them ideas of greater clarity -- it would clarify yours, as well. At least insofar as how you make heads-or-tails of my cigar reviews. Lettuce do this thing, gentlepersons...

K A P L O W  I T Z SCALE GRADING

K A P  = Low/least, A being its center/average
L O W = Medium/middle, O Being its center/average
I T Z  = High/most, T being its center/average

K A P L O W I T Z SCALE ASPECTS

Construction: Performance, craftsmanship, and appearance.
Combustion: All about the burn, its line, and pacing.
Flavors: What is smell/tasted, the intensity thereof.
Body: Weight, thickness, and texture of mouth-feel to finish.
Strength: Level of zetz normally via nicotine. Woozy/dizzy.

FINAL GRADE

-A to A+ are "must try sticks." Every offering is given a starting A at its onset, and each negative aspect of the experience dings a grade point. A becomes -A, becomes B+ on the back of a wobbled burn (combustion) and uneven draw (construction) for instance. An A+ grading is an experience sans ding, plus an audible "wow," let loose from my lips at any time during the smoke.

FLAVOR NOTES

Food-based notes of smell/taste remembrances have somewhat bothered me from the get-go. Is noting "leather," licking a work-boot? Or is it opening a shoebox of newly purchased work-boots and smelling them on the back corners of yer tongue via nasal passages? Hopefully, it means that second thing to ya. Humsoever, I do not judge, gentlepersons. Throw wood and dirt into that mix, as ya wilt.

There are five (5) basic tastes -- think the taste-bud equivalent of an eight-pack of Crayola. In a cigar-centric manner they are:
Sweet -- Sugary and/or creamy dessert stuffs, baked or candied (chocolate).
Sour -- Acidity... citrus, grape, wine, weak coffee.
Salty -- Simple & self explanatory.
Bitter -- Baker's chocolate, espresso, citrus peel.
Umami -- Savory, meaty. Grains (cereal/bread) and mushroom, too. I place leather herein.

"Everything else is either a combination of these four or a combination of taste and aroma." Henke Kelner. Sir left out Umami in his "four." It's rather new, ya know. In the interest of further understanding it, then -- think MSG and ketchup (I've tasted soy sauce in a cigar, never ketchup -- but you get the gist).

Carlos Fuente, Jr. has said re: flavor notes that when talking to other tobacco men, "We use words like acidic, salty, bitter, sweet, bite, sour, smooth, heavy, full-bodied, rich, balanced..." All good words. From both Misters Kelner and Fuente. I shall take great strides to move toward them and away from my chef foodie-centric roots.

I do hope this post serves to clarify my cigar reviews all the more. Thanks as always gentlepersons, for the loaning of yer attentions.

EDITOR'S NOTES

8/2/16 

Nuances are complexities within each note, depth lettuce say.

Complexities are how notes mingle with one another.

That is my working definition of each, gentlepersons.