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Keeping a Cigar Journal

Updated 2026-08-14 · by Eric

"That was a good cigar" is not a note... it's a mood. A journal starts working the day you write down what you liked and why, because that's the sentence a tobacconist, a future you, and a buying decision can actually use.

My first notes were useless

Early on I either took no notes or wrote the note everybody writes: good cigar. Months later, standing in a shop, that note is worth nothing. Good how? Good compared to what? Would I buy it again at that price? No idea. I owned a memory of enjoying something and zero information about it.

The upgrade wasn't complicated. Instead of "I liked it," I started writing "I liked it because"... which flavors showed up, whether the burn behaved, how it changed across thirds, what I'd want next to it. And "I didn't like it because" turns out to be even more valuable, since those are the dollars you don't spend twice.

The note is for three people

The tobacconist. Walk in and say "I liked this one" and a shop employee can only shrug or upsell you. Walk in and say "I liked this because of the cocoa and the pepper on the retrohale, and this other one came off bitter to me"... now a good tobacconist can actually work, and you'll find out fast whether you're dealing with a good one. The ones worth your money take specifics and hand back better specifics. The other kind pushes whatever came in Tuesday. Your notes are how you tell them apart.

Future you, picking tonight's cigar. This is the everyday payoff. You don't want the same cigar 365 nights a year any more than you want pizza 365 nights a year. With real notes, "what do I want tonight" becomes an answerable question... something bold, something creamy, something for a two-hour sit, something for a cold porch. I pick cigars for the occasion now the way you'd pick from your handful of go-to bourbons or dinners, and the notes are the menu.

Future you, spending money. Notes compound. A year of them tells you which wrappers keep winning, which brands keep missing, which price band your actual favorites live in. My notes are why I know my own lane isn't what the beginner script said it should be. That knowledge is worth real money every time a sale email shows up.

What to write down

Keep it under a minute per cigar or you'll quit doing it:

• What it was, exactly... brand, line, size. Bands lie to memory.
• Two or three flavors, in your own words. "Mellow pepper and tobacco sweetness" is a real note; nobody's grading your vocabulary. The flavor vocabulary page helps when a taste is on the tip of your tongue.
• Construction: did the burn and draw behave, or did you fight it?
• The verdict question: would you buy it again, and at what price?
• Anything situational... what you drank, how long it went, whether the last third fell apart.

During or after doesn't matter. I jot during the smoke when something jumps out and finish the entry after. The format has changed over time and that's fine... the habit is the asset, not the template.

Full disclosure: the journal ate my life

This entire site is my cigar journal with the doors open. I wanted my notes in one place where I couldn't lose them, and I wanted the version of reviews I couldn't find anywhere else... including the cigars that missed, because a reviewer who loves everything is a reviewer you can't use. How to read a WSA review explains the system that grew out of it. Yours doesn't have to become a website. A notes app or a $6 notebook does the same job. But a year and a hundred-plus logged cigars later, I can tell you which of my cigars earned a second box and exactly why... and the guy with no notes is buying on vibes and band art.

Keep reading

• How to taste a cigar
• Flavor and aroma vocabulary
• How to buy cigars
• How to read a WSA review

Reviewed at WSA since this page was written