Abstract: To effectively decrease the interference by individual differences among panel assessors on sensory evaluation results and to evaluate their perceptual sensitivity to key sensory evaluation indicators, sensory evaluation data from 18 trained assessors on different cigarette products were used as the research sample. A characterization method for the sensitivity to cigarette sensory evaluation indicators was developed through two key dimensions: directional bias and gradient deviation in smoking assessments, and the entropy weight method was applied to objectively weigh the parameters and characterize the sensitivity. The results showed that: 1) Four key sensory evaluation indicators, namely aroma, offensive odor, irritation and aftertaste were identified based on the score distribution patterns across multiple rounds of sensory evaluation on different cigarette products. 2) Significant variations existed in the assessors' sensitivity to the cigarette sensory indicators. 3) The adopted design method for sensory performance indicators could effectively identify assessors with low sensory ability, demonstrating an optimal effectiveness in enhancing the reliability of the evaluation data. This research provides the technical support for cigarette smoking sensory assessor selection and sensory panel formation.