Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary
July 12, 2010
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Stogie Review Needs Your Help
If anyone reading this has a blog, you probably know what its like to be slammed with a case of bloggers / writers block. It is probably the very thing responsible for claiming the lives of so many blogs. Essentially, if you can’t come up with content, it is tough to keep your site moving.
Imagine, if you will, getting yourself your favorite beverage and a nice cigar. You plan on sitting down to hammer out a couple of quick posts to act as filler content. Unfortunately, all you manage to do is stare at a blank word processor screen with its blinking cursor mocking you.
That is where I have been finding myself as of late. Being crunched for time lately, setting aside a large block of time to do all that is required to produce a video review has been difficult. Not to mention, having my taste buds out of whack for a week and a half due to coming down sick, takes its toll on producing reviews.
I’d like to create a pool of written articles to fill the void when needed. This is where you come in, I could use some help in coming up with topics to write about. Ideally, these topics are ones that could be covered in couple hundred words and would not require a video. I think that if the juices started flowing in terms of topics, my bloggers / writers block may break away and things will get back to normal. Feel free to drop your suggestions in the comment field below, or use our contact form to get in touch.
You should branch out to pipes.
How about a Q&A about B&M events? Likes and dislikes. Expectations…..
Food and drink articles. For instance, what is the best root beer you have ever had? What is your favorite spirit with a cigar?
Another idea is cigar accessories. Why do you choose a certain lighter? What kind of cutter is your favorite?
How about more articles regarding the “stogie lifestyle” Where do you like to smoke, when, who with, etc.?
I also like Rich’s idea about food & drink articles.
I would vote for more accessories. Would keep it inline with cigars.
I would NOT want to see alcohol reviews – I would rather have 1 site for cigars and 1 site for alcohol if that is what you would like to do. I do not like having them mixed in as they are 2 separate animals!!
How about tips and tricks – I am sure you guys have some neat ways to fix cigars, light, cut, smoke, ash, etc – would be nice to hear some of those to give newbies a different way to try something, or to help them to do what they need.
Mike
I’m fascinated by the whole cigar/tobacco industry. Everything from growing regions to how leaves are selected and processed. I’ve talked with several makers/blenders this year and am always interested in their stories of how a cigar comes together. I’m sure you have LOTS of information along these lines to relate.
How about fan input on less exspensive sticks? Create a $ figure for a particular day and have everyone submit where and what their favorite is in that price range! Proceeding to do a review on said stick would be up to you guys. Would create a buzz and help everyone find those reasonably priced gems that we all love so much to discover! Thanks!
I know that you reviewed budget cigars, but you could do a top 10 list of your best budget smokes out there. Also try to get viewers list as well.
Walt-
One of the topics that gets left out of many cigar discussions is cigar bands. I think it would be good to write about the designs of cigar bands; what inspiration led to their creation. All of us focus on the stick itself, but we cigar bands are often left out of any conversation.
-Ed
I agree completely. I’m a huge band nerd, and I’d love to see some ‘making of’ or inspiration behind type of article.
I’m with Ed as an amateur designer I find cigar art fascinating and would be very interested to find out who really designs cigar bands. How much is it the artist and how much the company.
How about a pick- a -leaf review. Take a nice wrapper leaf, doiscuss it’s various attributes, growing conditionas and location and list a couple of cigars that use the wrapper…or binder , or filler!
I am always down for accessory reviews like you did the other day. I don’t think a cutter or lighter or something about a humi needs to be a video. A couple ideas about about band art and how they are made would be very interesting. I wouldn’t mind an article about different wrappers and what you could expect from those wrappers. Or even an article about some of the flavors or profiles you could expect in tobaccos from a certain country.
Walt,
Here are some suggestions:
1. Revisit your SR samplers – the $40 sampler, the $50 sampler and the $70 sampler. Maximize cigars and quality per sampler. Minimum 5 cigars. Costs based upon online singles (Tampa Humidor or whomever else sells singles).
2. Analyze cigar costs over time. Brian took a look at a $0.10 cigar that should have been $2.50 factoring in inflation but was retailing for $5.50. Taxes?
3. Do at cost driven top 10 list, i.e. Top 10 cigars $4 or less, $8 or less and finally, skies the limit.
4. Accessories
5. How to, i.e. cut a cigar, different lighting approaches, smoke rate
6. Comparative analysis of the Cigar boom failure vs where we are today, history repeating itself?
7. Recommended cigars for the holidays
8. Repeat cigar pairings. I saw an interesting advertisement in CA for Dewars pairing 4 cigars up against 4 different Dewars Scotches and how they paired. That would be cool to do a series on that.
9. B&M cigar etiquette – don’t mash your cigar out, buy a cigar from them before you smoke etc.
How about a “How-to” on telling plume from mold. When I see a cigar and a B&M with the white stuff on it, I’m always suspicious it’s really mold, but I’d have to be passing up on a cigar with some good plume.
I think you should go back to using some of the SRFF reviews. You haven’t posted any for a while as far as I know. I know for a fact that there is a great review of the El Museo by LFD.
I do plan on incorporating them, but slowed down for a bit. The reason I got away from them is because I was seeing alot of re-posts from other blogs / sites. It was becoming time consuming to make sure that the review i was publishing as a Guest Review was original content.
I know that certain people only post their reviews on the Fan Forums, but the duplicate content was overwhelming the original content.
I only post mine here. Don’t care much for the other sites.
Walt,
I like all of the above suggestions except the pipe one. No offense to anyone who smokes pipe (My dad loves pipe and I smoke them in the winter) but SR should keep to its namesake.
With that said, maybe try writing on the process of making cigars. I have had the opportunity to visit La Aurora’s factory in the Dominican Republic while I was doing service but only got a brief overview. It is quite an amazing process that takes alot of time, care, and skill. My other suggestion is to write on Limited Edition cigars ie: habanos, non-cubans, tatuaje, etc.
Just my 2 cents Walt.
Walt, did you ever build a humidor? It would be great to see a build in action.. I enjoyed Jerry’s humidor tour, maybe you and brian could do something similar? I also like the idea of top 10 cigars for a particular price range / region. Cigar and drink pairings sound good too.
I think it should stick to stogie reviews, like it has allways been, even if it’s just a short little review of something written only, imho it’s better than the b&m reviews and the accessories. No offense to anyone, but I buy my cigars locally and don’t really care about other shops to be honest. All I’m trying to say is I would like to see the site to go back to what it has been since it first started out, a great cigar review site! The only stuff that I love other than cigar reviews is when you guys do the ipcpr coverage, that is awesome!
Part of the problem with sticking to cigars only is that they run into writer’s block/run out of content to post an article daily. The B&M reviews may not cater (and won’t, probably) to everyone, but I know people have seen them and have gone to that particular shop because of the review. It’s also a good way for shops to get advertisement (not that that’s the goal of them, but it really is a good way for frequents to show their support of a shop).
I understand Ray, I really do, but you mean to tell me that if on one hand you had a review of a cigar and on the other a cigar shop review, you wouldn’t want to see the cigar review?
Even if the review is short, gives a little info about the cigar, whether or not they liked it and would recommend us giving it a try. No video neccessary.
I do think it is a cool idea, I’m just being honest in saying that it doesn’t peak my interest and i’ve read only maybe 2 or 3 of them from top to bottom.
I’d rather have a thorough shop review than a quickie cigar review, yeah. Few other places have such solid shop reviews, and this place has some of the best long cigar reviews on the net IMO. I’d prefer it if they put up some other content that was less labor intensive and take that saved time and put it toward a video review (or rockin’ written and ToB from Brian).
Nothing on this site will cater to everyone. Do more people watch video reviews? Sure, but putting together some other review might take 1-2 hours tops while a video review probably takes 5ish hours start to finish to put together and such. The guys don’t get paid, and given the recent addition to Jerry’s family, they’re a little bit shorter on time.
As an aside, I would suggest for anyone that wants to see more cigar related content to join the forums (shameless plug…lol).
Aging cigars. Lately I have had bad luck with aged cigars. It seems they have lost flavor and in some cases taste better with barely any age at all. I would like to know which cigars age well. Do full-bodied cigars age better than mild cigars? What brands get better with age? What ever the topic, I would like it to cigar related.
It might be cool if you can get someone from a cigar company to write a short story about the industry or a small essay or the like. Something like “notes from the inside”. I am sure manufacturers and or reps would be willing to submit stuff.
What about….
1. Whole tobacco growing process
2. Create trips to countries, similar to a fly fishing trip but for cigars… Then have people blog about it
3. More information on humidors and the process around a cigar
4. A beginners guide to smoking and cigars, an idiots guide or 101 type post
5. I agree with Jeff- Plume vs Mold, Cellophane vs Unwrapped…. Things like that. Maybe a test to define those.
I know a few things here and there about the companys behind most cigars but sometimes I enjoy reading new information that is intuitive and hard to find in a typical article or writeup. Why not try focusing on a brand a week or something and sharing some fact about how it came to be any interesting history and some good/ or bad smokes that the brand has came through with. As well would be interesting to see the variance between growers who escaped Commie Cuba to create new companys in the Carribean and Central America. Just an idea, but the history aspect of Cigars has always in particular excited me.
It’d be cool to read about how the actual torceadoras, growers, laborers, etc feel about the cigars their making, not just ceos, reps, etc. But that might be a little hard to come by.
My only advice is try not to worry too much about it, when all is said and done this is only a blog about cigars and they and meant for relaxation and enjoyment. If you have nothing to say or nothing to write about then say and write nothing.
How about a brief history on the rarest and most collectible cigars, and high dollar cigar auctions at places like Christie’s or Sotheby’s?
I didn’t read all the comments, so I’m sorry if this got suggested already.
I think there should be blind tastings to show what we’re paying for as consumers spending our hard-earned money. I suggest something like blind smoking a Tatuaje and a Pepin CC to see if there’s any difference or smoking a Padilla with no band and still thinking it’s any good.
One person picks the cigars and takes the bands off and gives them to the taster who makes his notes having no idea what brand he’s smoking. I think it’d be hillarious to see how some of the big names get judged when the taster doesn’t know what brand he’s got in his mouth.
Another shameless plug here…lol
http://www.stogiereview.com/fanforum/index.php?topic=3040.0
There’s the most recent group blind tasting on the forums if you want to check that out (and mayI say I did a damn fine job until I got cocky after a correct pick?…lol)
I think a segment on humidor care wold be a good topic, covering things such as optimum humidity for each season and an explanation the process of how humidor aging effects the flavor/benefits cigars. Another would be to tell which wrappers smoke better at lower and higher humidities.
Walt, Once in a while you should consider pulling up some piece of cigar related news and give your opinion on the matter. This could be done weekly, every other week, or just whenever something of particular interest pops up.