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Sighted Man's Truth: The Circle of Leaf

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[Edit: The contest is complete and we have a few winners. Here they are:

1st PLACE WINNER:
Brazilian Villain Tweak #26, by @Hopduro
Binder: LO Ecuador seco
Wrapper: LO Ecuador viso
Filler: 1:1 mata fina to flojo viso (WLT)

2nd Place Winners (tie):
Flan
, by @webmost:
Wrapper: LO Sumatra binder
Binder: LO Colombian
Filler: 1/2 leaf each WLT corojo seco, viso, ligero; & 1/2 leaf LO Dominican olor (seco?)

Nick Tubo #2, by @NickGarret:
Wrapper: HB2K WLT (marked as 2010 crop)
Binder: Nic (mojo'd) (LO)
Filler:
1 dom criollo 98 ligero WLT ( mojo'd and no stems)
2 dom seco WLT (stems in)
2 braz habano viso LO (stems in)
These are leaf counts , not exact ratios.]

What if, for example, quarterly each of us who wanted to participate in the Circle of Leaf sent two cigars, two different blends that we had created and enjoyed, to each other roller in the Circle of Leaf; and we each had one day per cigar to smoke them. So, for example, if there were seven of us, we send out 2 each to six people, so we have twelve days to smoke them and take notes. We could provide, in our shipments, a print-out of what we think about the sticks we're sending, what we think is their profile, why we feel good about'em, whatever notes.

And then we all individually pick our top two out of the twelve or 14 or whatever and report those favorites to someone, e.g. me; and then the highest rated smokes of that quarter are declared with great fanfare; and the creator reveals the blend. And then we all know what is a great blend, at least for that quarter!

And then we get to working on our entrants for the next quarter's Circle of Leaf!
 
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mine are still a little too loose and sloppy, but next time sounds awesome!
No one said that appearance counts.

Bliss, lay out the criteria, would ya, in order of importance: e.g. flavor, burn, appearance, volume, morning mouth, finish, stinkfinger, etc. Let's have criteria, weight, and scale. No fussin nor fudgin, guys... Bliss lays it out and we go with it. Loads of ways to do a thing, but it's his contest idea, so...
 
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No one said that appearance counts.

Bliss, lay out the criteria, would ya, in order of importance: e.g. flavor, burn, appearance, volume, morning mouth, finish, stinkfinger, etc. Let's have criteria, weight, and scale. No fussin nor fudgin, guys... Bliss lays it out and we go with it. Loads of ways to do a thing, but it's his contest idea, so...
I mean if he is just going to lay it out, then I guess we just do what needs done... lol
 
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Well you gotta have the same criteria & weight among all judges. Otherwise how would we know how to put our best foot forward? You got chaos. One guy's playing football, the other guy's playing squash, and the Chinese judge gives 9.5 points to anyone wearing red.
 
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Well you gotta have the same criteria & weight among all judges. Otherwise how would we know how to put our best foot forward? You got chaos. One guy's playing football, the other guy's playing squash, and the Chinese judge gives 9.5 points to anyone wearing red.
(Un)fortunately cigar tasting is more subjective than football, what with modern goal-line technology and video reviews of all scores.

The intention here is to discover new blend ideas and have fun. So one judging criterion that one might apply would be, "Which is the blend I most want to find out the recipe for." (Blends won't be revealed until after the votes come in and the top two cigars are picked). I would assume that each guy/gal would try to put their best foot forward in terms of the structure of the stick. For one thing, a stick that draws and burns well is gonna tend to prop up the blend's positive qualities. As to the aesthetics, I think everyone will try their best to make their cigars an all-around pleasure to enjoy for the other participants; but this doesn't have much to do with blend quality, so I think that should not be a factor in selecting your two faves.

In later rounds, if we go quarterly, we could adjust the criteria. Or not.

I think we need at least six guys, so we each have ten cigars to test from the other guys. As of this post we only have 4.5 (I don't know about Dom56 and his special 3-month needs). I'll give this thread a week to see if we get enough. If so I'll do a group PM with the "Circle of Leaf rules" (as previously stated) and where we can exchange all our mailing addresses. Then I'll pick a date one month hence by which you must mail your two cigars (different blends) to each of the other guys/gals in the game.
 
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What I gather from this is, @Castrol should jump in, cause loose can still taste fine. & I'm betting by the time these sticks get distributed, Dom's 3 months is half up. So stop making excuses, the worse that can happen is you get to try a bunch of sticks from your brothers.
 
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What I gather from this is, @Castrol should jump in, cause loose can still taste fine. & I'm betting by the time these sticks get distributed, Dom's 3 months is half up. So stop making excuses, the worse that can happen is you get to try a bunch of sticks from your brothers.
I'm not really the guy who needs convincing here. I'm already in.
 
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Unfortunately gentlemen, I'll have to be out on this one. My schedule is way too busy to smoke that many cigars, let alone roll them... it saddens me, but I must know my limitations. Give me some more time to develop the new hobby, and I'll be happy to dive in.
 
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