Why "would buy it again" beats any score
A number rates the cigar. A yes or no rates it against everything else you could have bought.
A score answers "how good was it". A repurchase answers "compared with what else I could spend that money on". The second question is the one you are actually asking in a shop.
What the flag captures that a number does not
Price, availability and mood all live inside a yes or no. An excellent cigar at triple the price of something you like nearly as much gets a high score and a no — and that combination is a fact about your buying, which a score alone hides.
It also survives scale drift. Your 8 in 2024 might be a 7 now, but "I bought it again" is unambiguous forever.
Using both together
- High score, would buy: your actual favourites. Usually a shorter list than people expect.
- High score, would not: price, rarity or occasion cigars. Worth knowing before you queue for a release.
- Middling score, would buy: the everyday workhorses — often the most valuable list you own.
- Low score, would buy: almost always means the evening was wrong, not the cigar. Smoke it once more.
Do this: answer the question before you write anything else. Deciding yes or no first tends to make the rest of the note honest, because you have already committed to a verdict you cannot hedge.
Keeping it honest
The flag stops working the moment it becomes a politeness. If nine out of ten cigars get a yes, you are recording that you enjoy smoking, which you already knew. A useful ratio sits somewhere near a third.
Ask it in the specific form: would I buy this at this price, today, instead of the thing I usually buy. That framing is what keeps the answer from drifting into "was it nice".
Why it matters when other people read it
Scores are only comparable between people who share a scale, and almost nobody does. "Would buy again" needs no calibration: it means the same thing coming from a stranger as it does from you, which makes it the single most portable piece of a review.
A flag that travels with the review
When you publish a tasting in Ligero you add a verdict in your own words and, if you like, "would buy it again". It sits next to the score on the cigar card, where anyone reading gets the one part of a review that needs no shared scale to understand.
Read next
Scoring out of ten so the number means something
A score is a sorting tool. It only sorts if you use the whole scale.
Tasting & notesWriting a tasting note you will still understand next year
Three sentences beat three paragraphs, if they are the right three.
Storage & ageingHow many cigars is the right number to keep
Enough that something is always ready, few enough that you know what you own.