In iTunes its really easy. Open iTunes and go to Advanced -> Subscribe to Podcast and paste in the above URL and you should be good to go. I imagine the process is similar with any other podcast aggregator software.

Also, don’t forget you can always visit the site from any iOS device as we’ve optimized the site for those devices. You can even play our embedded videos. All you have to do is rotate your iPhone, changing its orientation, and the black box you see should now have the “play” button in it for you to watch and enjoy.

Welcome to my write up for this week. I have been battling this nasty cold/flu that is going around and have not been able to smoke a cigar since Thanksgiving. I am hoping I can smoke next week but the way this thing is hanging around, I am not sure.

Well anyway, this gives me the opportunity to introduce the world to the Stogie Review Travel Humidor. We have 5, 10 and 15 count sizes with that beautiful logo on the top so the whole world will know which review site is the best around.

As I am a nice guy and Walt gave me permission (LOL), I am going to give away a 10 count size of the above humidors to a random person who leaves a comment and tells me what accessory you would love to see the Stogie Review logo on?

Contest will run until December 10th at 11:59pm. Winner will be selected on December 11th and notified by the email address you used to post a comment.

We have been throwing around the idea of doing a group buy on these. If anyone would be interested in purchasing them, hop into the forums and post in THIS THREAD or just send us an email stating which sizes you would be interested in purchasing.

I am 99% sure the pricing will be
5 count – $25
10 count – $30
15 count – $35

There you have it, a nice little giveaway for a Stogie Review 10 count humidor and even an option where you may be able to purchase some of them if the interest is high enough.

Random Generator picked Matt B to be the winner.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Our host stepped in to help us cleanup and harden the security of the site (we had some abandoned FTP accounts with weak passwords). Unfortunately one of the FTP accounts and its data was associated with our WordPress and vBulletin installations. When we realized the error we asked our host to restore from a backup. Thats when we were informed that their backup system hasn’t been working and actually crashed the week before losing all saved backups. But hey, they were very sorry.

Luckily, our MySQL databases for the site and fan forums were not deleted. A quick installation of WordPress and pointing it to the existing database (same thing for the forums using vBulletin) and we were back in business on the backend. We hired our theme designer to reinstall and configure the theme, plug-ins and widgets. For the most part we are about 99% restored. Some plug-ins aren’t working correctly but nothing that should affect use of the site.

While we don’t collect sensitive personal information like credit card numbers, mailing addresses, etc,. I want to assure you that the database containing the information we do have (mainly e-mail addresses) wasn’t compromised. We hired a third party contractor to conduct a security audit and the intrusion was limited to uploading trojans to attack other sites.

Anyway, after a long, frustrating and f-bomb filled couple of days and nights, its nice to be back. Thanks for your patience and most of all, your support.

Setting trends and leading the pack isn’t something we could do alone. There were so many people that were instrumental in our success at IPCPR. Manufacturers, retailers and even fellow cigar bloggers had a helping hand in getting us access and time to people we’d never interviewed previously or didn’t know anyone at a manufacturer. I would try and name all those who helped but I fear I’d forget to mention some of you and feel like an asshole afterwards. You know who you are, and we thank you.

Many of you asked us when a particular manufacturer was going to be published. While it was a banner year for us with so many videos and so many first time interviews, we sadly didn’t get them all. Even some of the usuals like Oliva, CAO, Alec Bradley or Jesus Fuego we just didn’t get face time with. Sometimes it was as simple as their booths were too busy and the stars never aligned for us. Sometimes we just got ignored. Sometimes we set up appointments only to get stood up. So if we missed your favorite manufacturer it wasn’t done on purpose and as I say every year about my beloved Baltimore Orioles…there is always next year.

In the event that you have used our Contact Form to send in a question or comment and we have not responded, we ask that you please re-send that correspondence, if still applicable. If you have contacted us in the past, using our individual email accounts, you can continue doing so as our addresses have not changed.

We apologize for any emails that have gone unanswered.

We’ve grown a lot over the past five years. I remember how excited Walt and I would get when 100 people visited the site back in those early days. The stat that impresses me the most is our 20,000 comments. Unique visitors and pageviews are nice but getting feedback, connecting and having a conversation with our following is truly what makes the site worth all the work. I quickly run out of fingers and toes when I start to count the friendships I’ve made through the years.

Whether this is your first visit to the site or you’ve been with us from the start or anytime in between, the site wouldn’t be what it is without your support. From all of us here at The Stogie Review I’d like to simply say, thank you.