Help Needed: Cigar Journal
 

Hey all,

I'm going to launch a project to improve my web programming skills for my job and have decided to create an online cigar journal that will be free to the public (hopefully). I wish to start by creating a website first, then eventually include an integrated mobile app.

I was hoping to get feedback from the community here to get a sense of useful features (requirements) that I can use as a foundation to get started. My programming skills are very limited, so this will probably be very basic to start as I grow my skillset.

The first question is, are there sites available for this? I know Cigar Aficionado has an online humidor application, as well as several mobile apps that let you track your cigars. I haven't used the CA app in a while, but I remember it being somewhat clumsy. The few apps I've tried (Cigar Boss comes to mind) don't seem to allow you to store your data on the web, which makes it difficult to retain and access your data when moving to new devices. What I am looking to provide is a rating system where people can share/rate their cigars publicly if they wish, while also keeping a personal inventory (Journal) of all the cigars they've smoked and those that are in their possession. Perhaps create wish lists and things like that too.

So far my requirements are as follows:

• Create a logon system to track individual users and link the following data
• Provide a list of cigar brands to select from (Not sure where to obtain this)
• Create a form that has the following inputs:
• Thumbnail image
• 1-5 star rating - Always public
• Marca
• Country of Origin
• Vitola
• Wrapper
• Binder
• Filler
• Country of Origin selection for each leaf type
• Comments/Review
• Option to make review public
• Personal wishlist public or private

One dilemma I am pondering is how to keep the data standard. How to control data entry mistakes and how to populate a list of brands so that I am not constantly having to manually update this considering the panoply of different brands and makes out there.

Would you all use something like this? Any input on this topic would be much appreciated.

Re: Help Needed: Cigar Journal
 

Another CA user, KenS (Kenneth Sayward) developed an iPhone app called MobileStogie. It was a pretty good app. He sold it to someone else, who dropped the ball. If you have it you can still use it, but it cannot be downloaded anymore.

In any case, if you can get in touch with Ken he might be a good source of info.

The app had a shared database of cigars and allowed you to keep (and export) your own database. You defined humidors and then added cigars to your humidor by marca, vitola, year, etc. You could also add new marcas and vitolas to your database. If you sent them in to Ken, he would update the common database and everyone would have access to them in the next database update.

You could review and add comments. All of the reviews and comments are private in MobileStogie, but an option to share them would be useful.

I know I did not really answer your questions -- but it's kind of like "Field of Dreams" -- if you build it, they will come.

This could be a fun project, but it's a big one :)

Re: Help Needed: Cigar Journal
 

Thank you. Another member pm'd me a good site that is more or less what I am aiming to do, so it should give me a good point of reference. I don't think I'll copy it, but it may give me some ideas.

The database of brands and makes is ever changing and I see this as being the biggest obstacle.

Re: Help Needed: Cigar Journal
 

I had the same idea last year and create the "Social Humidor" app. Have you tried it? I would love to get your feedback :-)
The Database is indeed the biggest obstacle and requires a lot of manual work I can tell you..

Re: Help Needed: Cigar Journal
 

Welcome aboard, André!

Re: Help Needed: Cigar Journal
 

You can do drop downs or quick picks for everything. Will keep the formatting consistent.

Re: Help Needed: Cigar Journal
 

cool Brian good luck with your project .

Re: Help Needed: Cigar Journal
 

This is what I want to do, but the problem then becomes, how do I add something that isn't in the list? There are so many different makers and types of cigars out there, it's unrealistic to think I could capture them all.

I was thinking of adding an "other" option that would open up some new fields that would allow users to manually add their own. I would then keep an internal list of manual adds that I can triage and add to the permanent drop-down lists after doing some leg-work.

I'm still pondering this, but this is probably the direction I will go.