Commentary: Give Us a Piece of Your Mind
7 Jan 2015
StogieGuys.com was born from a love of cigars. Its founders created the site (over eight years ago!) as an outlet to share their passion, and it has grown and evolved through the years, though cigars remain at the core.
I’ve spent some time reading through all our entries for 2014. In addition to scores of reviews, we’ve covered topics that range from tips for beginners to author interviews, from guides on great libations to exploring pertinent legislation. And many, many others, including reports from overseas.
As we head into a new year, it seems appropriate to do a little reassessing. To ask, as former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was fond of inquiring, “How am I doing?â€
That’s where you come in.
Tell us what you’d like to see at StogieGuys.com in 2015.
Should we cover more of the growing number of high-end releases? Or scout for worthwhile low-priced sticks? Do you like to see interviews with industry leaders, or has the explosion of social media made them so visible that interviews aren’t really necessary nowadays?
One issue we struggle with is, when you’ve been doing this as long as we have, there’s a danger of being repetitive. Still, many readers are newcomers and could benefit from information or advice that may have been presented years ago.
Another big item for discussion: For the first time in years, we didn’t cover the 2014 IPCPR Trade Show in person. Our absence, mind you, wasn’t a protest; it was simply a reflection of the fact that (1) our site founders have day jobs and family obligations, and (2) travel accommodations are not inexpensive. Did you miss us not covering the event live? Or did we still give you enough reporting on the new releases and activities? Do you think it’s essential we cover this summer’s convention in New Orleans in person?
We’ve dabbled a bit into the world of pipe smoking. Should we do more?
Looking back, one area I’m particularly proud of is our coverage of federal legislation and regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. We’ve also tried to rally readers to the cause. The outcome has the very real potential to dramatically alter—even destroy—every cigar smokers’ ability to continue enjoying cigars. Too much? Not enough? Just right?
I could go on. As you can see, I have barely scratched the surface of areas of interest.
So, if you would, take a minute or two and leave a comment, or send us an email, with your thoughts about Stogie Guys in 2015. And trust that we really value your feedback.
I can’t promise we’ll be able to satisfy everyone, though we will certainly consider all of your replies carefully.
And I will guarantee one thing: Cigars will always be front and center. We still love them.
photo credit: N/A
Patrick Ashby
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief
Patrick Semmens
Co-Founder & Publisher
George Edmonson
Tampa Bureau Chief
If at all possible, I'd take great interest in a more "international" approach. I live in Sweden were we have a growing interest in cigars. I enjoy supporting our local businesses, but I also enjoy making purchases online from retailers that care about the product and their customer. I find it hard knowing beforehand which retailers that are good and which are bad. So far, I find cigarplace a good retailer and AtlanticCigar less so, even if their samplers are awesome.
So, if possible, cover that area? 🙂
Forgot to subscribe…
First off, a big THANK YOU for being a tremendous source of info that I read daily. You guys are the best.
Second, for cigar reviews, I would try to focus about 85% on boutique blends, rare cigars, special releases, etc. and only 15% on mass market, regular production stuff.
Third, despite their presence on social media, I would advocate for more interviews with top brass at cigar manufacturers. When these guys comment on facebook, twitter, forums, etc. they don't exactly answer hard-hitting questions.
Looking forward to all you'll do in 2015!
First off George and Patrick(s), you do a great job with this site, and I consider it one of the more accurate and insightful ones available. With that said, it's impossible to cover all aspects, and for that, it's good to have other sites that take a different focus. In a number of ways they're complementary and don't overlap which is good for all parties. So with that, it is probably unnecessary to cover IPCPR (unless you want to) as the "half" guys do a pretty thorough job. Likewise, they tend to focus on some lines and exclusives that you don't. Again, best for both I think to not overlap too much.
With that said, I think there are opportunities to expand your reviews, maybe set up a request system to supplement what already interests you. Some solid lines like CLE, current EPC limited releases, L'Atelier and Perdomo don''t seem to get the same attention as say Tatuaje (which I love as well). Again I know there is only so much time, but you asked for suggestions.
As far as topics, I would like to see some more reviews or linkage to other sites and information that you don't spend much time on. Maybe a regular review of different lounges and B&Ms you encounter during travel. It's always good to have someones recommendation when you are in a "new town". Other possibilities are explorations of cigars from the perspective of blenders. You had a survey question a while back that included that in what one uses to choose a cigar. For example, it was knowing that AJF formulated cigars for Emilio that first had me search out that line (and led to discovery of other great non AJF/Emilio offerings). Likewise I would be interested in exploring "Acme" cigars if I knew that DPG blended a line for them.
One other possibility is comparing and contrasting a larger group of cigars with certain similarities, either within a single company or blender or by shared attributes. For example, comparison of pipe tobacco cigars (Leccia Black, KFC, Spectre) or cigars by DPG (Blue, La Sirena, 5 Vegas Miami and a Tatuaje). Hopefully that makes sense.
Of course you could continue to expand your alcohol pairings to rums, beers etc. or again, provide links to articles that you like if for example you are not much of a beer drinker.
Mostly, just keep doing what you're doing, write about what you enjoy (pipes for example, while I have no real interest in them). You're doing a great job and provide a highly informative and enjoyable site.
+1 one the topic of mini series of reviews or interviews covering factories or belnders that make cigars for multiple companies. I think it would be great to have a consolidated collection based on blender or factory to help readers find new blends or brands. Who knows you guys draw attention to the next aj or pdr.
Keep up the great work in 2015!
Thanks for the thoughtful responses. Keep 'em coming!
I am going to repeat a suggestion I made previously, which was not adopted. It would be very helpful in your reviews if you included a small information box with the important results. I'm talking about price, strength, and vitola, at the very least. The first thing I do when I read a review is look for the rating at the bottom. I next hunt around the verbiage looking for the price and the strength. What I am doing here is trying to decide whether it's worth my while to read the entire review. If the review is about a cigar I would never buy, I really don't want to read the whole thing. So if I see 3 stogies have been awarded, I'm thinking this cigar better not be priced more than around $5. Even a 4- or 5-stogie rating would not be of interest to me if the strength were not at least medium to full. And finding the strength information somewhere in the full review can be somewhat tedious.
So, please reconsider including a little box that summarizes the important information.
Cigar Seeker – I appreciate your points and we'll certainly take them seriously. But from my own point of view, I find that price and strength are often not as straightforward as one might think. With price, for instance, there's the MSRP, of course. But the price at the point of sale is considerably different from state to state because of taxes. And then there are sales and discounts. For example, the Zino I reviewed recently has an $18 price tag. I paid less than half that per stick for a box of 10. Many cigars have an MSRP that few, if any, sellers ever charge and some seem to be made up of whole cloth. Strength can be highly subjective. I've smoked cigars I thought were medium and others have labeled strong. Similarly, I've found some to be medium and others thought they were mild. What we try to do in each case is provide what we believe is relevant information in the context of the review. That generally includes price and some description of strength. We also try to keep our reviews tightly written and edited out of respect for our readers' time. All that being said, we'll certainly reconsider your recommendation.
IPCPR, not a big deal missing New Orleans. Up dates on FDA. Yes on updates on both high and low end cigars. Enjoy what you guys have done in the past, kept doing what you do. Thanks to all three of you.
Thanks to all for the great work. I rarely find myself disagreeing with a Stogie Guys review. Really like the reviews on spirits. There's not much I'd do differently. No burning need for more reviews on the trade shows. I agree that reviews on the lounges you visit would be nice. You could even put in a area for reader's reviews to share. I'd also like to see an index of your Quick Smokes similar to your index of full reviews. Thanks again.
Love what you do and respect each of your reviews. I find them balanced like a good cigar. Don't see a need to change much. Do like the idea of somehow grouping cigars with similar characteristics. Agree with Reggie on not spending too much space on the big boys of the industry. They have the money to promote their products. Keep up the great work!!