Volt
10-22-2008, 07:07 PM
Ok, I saw a post or two on “do you inventory”. I’m fairly new so, an inventory is a good way for me to remember what’s what and a history of what I liked. I started an Excel spreadsheet and quickly decided that was going to be too much work. I looked at Cigar Briefcase and it looked a bit simple and no real database to work with. This left me with Cigar Register, so this is a review of Cigar Register v2.0 after about a month of use.
Install
The install is quick and very clean. It uses a .NET base and installs in the back ground with user interaction. CR installs to the Program Files folder and will require admin rights for the install.
Start up and Configuration
Start up can appear to be slow, but that is the program syncing with database over the Internet. Options include the ability to do the following:
Synchronization – You can sync you data, wish list and reviews with www.cigartower.com (http://www.cigartower.com/). I choose not to as I’m a bit private and don’t share personal info too often.
Measurements – You can set RG, metric or inch, Celsius or Fahrenheit.
Language – Choices are Dutch, English and Magyar
Major Tabs
Home
Home is where you will see the news of cigars. As an example, today I had news on new fake Padrons and two new lines of the God of Fire smokes.
Cigar Database
Here CR comes pre-loaded with ton of brands and lines of cigars. From here if your current cigar is not in the database it is easy to add. Click on the add button and fill in the blanks. Only difficulty for this new guy is finding the wrapper/filler/binder info on the net.
Your right click, way to easy here. Select any cigar in the database, right click on it and you get the following options: delete the cigar, edit (in case you made a typo while adding to the database), add to humidor (more to follow), and light up (more to follow).
There is also a section for searching the database by county, brand and/or cigar name.
My Cigars
Adding
Here is your collection, first off add a humidor. Click the add humidor button and you get to add info such as type, cost, cigar count, etc. Too easy.
Adding Cigars Well, now that we have a humi, we need to add cigars to it. Basically two way, either click the add cigar button and fill in all the blocks such as count, wrapper, country, etc. No fun and almost like work. The easy way, click back over the the cigar database, add if not in it, drag and drop the cigar into the humi. It will ask how many, cost, how you got it (trade, purchase) and your done.
Humidor measures
All the humidors you add get their own statistics database. Click on the add statistics button and it will allow you to add the temp and humidity for that day. It keeps a running bar graph allowing for easy eye tracking of the trends and a by date listing of the numbers. Excellent when you are trying to settle in a new bulk load of cigars or a new humidor.
Cigar count
There is also a bar graph to show how many cigars are in the humidor. Either I don’t know how to read it or its way off. There is also a number by each humidor name that shows cigar count for that humidor – this number is accurate.
Deleting a cigar is done one of two ways. Select it with the mouse and then right click. You can delete, edit the number or “light it up”.
Other info
Other tabs that are available are, see all cigars regardless of humi at a glance, a running history of every cigar you have had in a humi, and a wish list (more for Cigar Towers use IMO if you choose to up load it).
Light it Up
Last but not least, light it up. You add your smoking thought here. It allows you to log you time, place, how the smoke went in parts, the ash, construction, etc.
Thoughts
Pro
Pretty easy to use, large pre-built database of cigars that’s easy to edit. Allows for many humidors with individualistic statistics. The light it up and total cigar history are nice touches. Best to start using before you have 3000 cigars in the humis. To those who like the news, the rss feed is nice. Overall it's helping me out. I know what I have and where it's at. Easy to maintain and to keep accurate. I love the "light it up", it helps to keep me straight on what I liked and didn't.
Cons
Some of the measurements seem off and the mm to inch seems a little weird, hrd to explain. Easy to delete the wrong cigar if not paying attention, you need to select your cigar first, then execute the desired action.
Install
The install is quick and very clean. It uses a .NET base and installs in the back ground with user interaction. CR installs to the Program Files folder and will require admin rights for the install.
Start up and Configuration
Start up can appear to be slow, but that is the program syncing with database over the Internet. Options include the ability to do the following:
Synchronization – You can sync you data, wish list and reviews with www.cigartower.com (http://www.cigartower.com/). I choose not to as I’m a bit private and don’t share personal info too often.
Measurements – You can set RG, metric or inch, Celsius or Fahrenheit.
Language – Choices are Dutch, English and Magyar
Major Tabs
Home
Home is where you will see the news of cigars. As an example, today I had news on new fake Padrons and two new lines of the God of Fire smokes.
Cigar Database
Here CR comes pre-loaded with ton of brands and lines of cigars. From here if your current cigar is not in the database it is easy to add. Click on the add button and fill in the blanks. Only difficulty for this new guy is finding the wrapper/filler/binder info on the net.
Your right click, way to easy here. Select any cigar in the database, right click on it and you get the following options: delete the cigar, edit (in case you made a typo while adding to the database), add to humidor (more to follow), and light up (more to follow).
There is also a section for searching the database by county, brand and/or cigar name.
My Cigars
Adding
Here is your collection, first off add a humidor. Click the add humidor button and you get to add info such as type, cost, cigar count, etc. Too easy.
Adding Cigars Well, now that we have a humi, we need to add cigars to it. Basically two way, either click the add cigar button and fill in all the blocks such as count, wrapper, country, etc. No fun and almost like work. The easy way, click back over the the cigar database, add if not in it, drag and drop the cigar into the humi. It will ask how many, cost, how you got it (trade, purchase) and your done.
Humidor measures
All the humidors you add get their own statistics database. Click on the add statistics button and it will allow you to add the temp and humidity for that day. It keeps a running bar graph allowing for easy eye tracking of the trends and a by date listing of the numbers. Excellent when you are trying to settle in a new bulk load of cigars or a new humidor.
Cigar count
There is also a bar graph to show how many cigars are in the humidor. Either I don’t know how to read it or its way off. There is also a number by each humidor name that shows cigar count for that humidor – this number is accurate.
Deleting a cigar is done one of two ways. Select it with the mouse and then right click. You can delete, edit the number or “light it up”.
Other info
Other tabs that are available are, see all cigars regardless of humi at a glance, a running history of every cigar you have had in a humi, and a wish list (more for Cigar Towers use IMO if you choose to up load it).
Light it Up
Last but not least, light it up. You add your smoking thought here. It allows you to log you time, place, how the smoke went in parts, the ash, construction, etc.
Thoughts
Pro
Pretty easy to use, large pre-built database of cigars that’s easy to edit. Allows for many humidors with individualistic statistics. The light it up and total cigar history are nice touches. Best to start using before you have 3000 cigars in the humis. To those who like the news, the rss feed is nice. Overall it's helping me out. I know what I have and where it's at. Easy to maintain and to keep accurate. I love the "light it up", it helps to keep me straight on what I liked and didn't.
Cons
Some of the measurements seem off and the mm to inch seems a little weird, hrd to explain. Easy to delete the wrong cigar if not paying attention, you need to select your cigar first, then execute the desired action.