Tobacco and the "Wisdom of Crowds"

The first thing I think of, when I hear the phrase "wisdom of crowds," is a lynch mob - not much wisdom there. The second thing I think of is a website called TobaccoReviews.com, which is a pretty wise place indeed. TobaccoReviews.com is a place where people can write about their impressions of smoking tobaccos they have tried. That's all there is to it. There's no comments section, no chat, no bulletin board, and thus there are no trolls or flamers either. Anybody can put their two cents in and nobody gets offended. Are all the reviews wise? Heck no, but after a few write-ups accrue for any given product, the reader can get a pretty accurate idea of the product in question. You can browse reviews by company or blend. You can also browse by reviewer, which is useful if you find a contributor whose tastes line up with your own.
This is the wisdom of the consensus, which only goes so far in matters of personal taste. There are times when the consensus is wrong, not wrong for everybody, just wrong for me. For example, it seems to me that the consensus finds Samuel Galwith Brown No.4 to be stronger than McClelland's Black Shag - I find the opposite to be true. Much more commonly though, a review of the reviews helps me to find new blends that I like and helps me avoid those I won't. Recommendation: I can't recommend this site highly enough.

Photo: Library of Congress