Thursday, January 22 2009
By David "Doc" Diaz
President,
Stogie Fresh Online Cigar Publications
I have been ranting for quite some time about how hard it is to get timely and accurate information from cigar manufacturers about their cigars.
It burns me that they don't update their web pages with current information and, even when they do update it, the information they have about their cigars is cursory, at best. I believe that in this time of economic crisis, cigar consumers are becoming more discriminating, and will want to better educate themselves, but they need help from the cigar industry. All of us in the media would also benefit from more comprehensive cigar information that is readily available.
The cigar companies need to take a lesson or two from the wine industry, which generally does a superb job of providing comprehensive information about their wines. And, the wine industry is still growing, even with uncertain economic conditions.
I have created a petition that I hope will make this problem more widely known and will bring cigar smokers/hobbyists/collectors together in one voice to help change the industry. However, I need your help. In order to make a difference, we will need thousands of signatures, and I am sure we can do it together.
I will be announcing the petition on my next podcast, which posts on Saturday, January 24. Please feel free to pass this along to others whom you think would be appropriate partners in this effort.
At some point, I hope to share this information with the cigar manufacturers and see who will become leaders on their end. I realize this may be inconvenient for some manufacturers, but they need to understand how important this is to the consumer. We may be surprised at their response. I would like to think that the cigar manufacturers want what is best for the industry and I think it is high time that they start really listening to the wants and needs of the cigar consumer, even if it means an inconvenience, in the short term.
Sign the petition now, and thanks to you all for your contributions. I am hoping that we can begin to change the industry by working together on this and many other important projects. £
