I get quite a few submission to the database each week (ranging from 5-10 to 30-40 depending on the time of the year, especially when IPCPR is approaching). I get the pending submissions as an alphabetical list, without regard to submitter or date that they were submitted.
All submissions go through a vetting process, which can take a minute or two, or can be quite lengthy if limited info is available, or if incorrect data is submitted.
Those submissions that are easy to work with (i.e. have all necessary info) get first priority. Those that have limited info provided are addressed klast be me, often regardless of how long they have been sticking around.
Also, pre-release cigars tend to be put off until they are near release or have been released, as the initial info for them is often wrong.
So, if you want to get your cigars approved quicker, please adhere to the following:
Brand: Put the brand here, not the individual frontmark. If it is an Alec Bradley, put that. Don't put Alec Bradley Fine and Rare or something similar. Also, I really don't care who manufactured it, I want the name of who is selling it as their own. For Example: Camacho, La Fontana, Baccarat, Don Macho, Don Felo, Zino, etc would be Brand names. They would not be listed under the Brand Name Davidoff, Christian Eiroa, Oettinger Davidoff Group, or Hendrik Kelner.
Cigar Name: Please fill this line out completely. This includes the series that the cigar is in (examples being Rare Corojo, Crescendo, Brazila, Mata Fina, Millennium, etc). If it is a different wrapper version of the standard line, include that. Also, give me the individual the name of the cigar, be it Robusto, Toro, Epicure or Dirk Diggler. Again, whether it matches the proper terminology for the size is irrelevant; we need to know what the company calls it. This means if it is a 9x87 and the company calls it a petite corona, that is what you put. Please do not make up names, as this slows down the process.
Under Shape, please put the standardized size (please no guessing) for the cigar. This size will often conflict with the name (6x50 robustos!?). If you do not know the size, you can enter the length and ring gauge in our Cigar Sizer to get the answer that you need. If it is weird and irregularly shaped, then use Figuarado; if it is weird and regularly shared, then Parejo can be used.
http://cigargeeks.com/sizer/default.asp?action=sizeform
Lastly, please put a refernce in the notes section to where you found the cigar (a link really speeds this up, rather than "sold by Cigars International")
Using this as a guide (and not making things up if you don't know) will significantly speed up the approval process.
:thanx:
If you are looking for someone to help with this I'd be willing. I love reading about new cigars and wouldn't be adverse to doing some of the necessary legwork....but I would require a key for the company humidor.
Thanks Jason, good idea on the reference/link.
Quoteninfiction - 10/26/2015 2:20 PM
If you are looking for someone to help with this I'd be willing. I love reading about new cigars and wouldn't be adverse to doing some of the necessary legwork....but I would require a key for the company humidor.
I appreciate the offer. Unfortunately, our system has no way of marking works in progress, so I am afraid that multiple people will be getting in each others way. If we could flag ones as, being currently worked on, then I would say welcome aboard.
Quoteheadfirst - 10/26/2015 2:45 PM
Thanks Jason, good idea on the reference/link.
The biggest error that slows me down is when I get a submission for a brand (such as Gurkha, Graycliff or Nat Sherman) and the submitter puts Reyes, Fonseca, Don Pepin or Camacho, because the cigar was assembled in their Factory.
I understand that some people may want this info for the cigar. However, that just sends us down a rabbit hole, as many cigars are made by 3rd parties. CI or Famous may put it in the description for brand name recognition, but the typical person would have no reason to know what blender or factory made the cigar when the box/ band makes no reference to the fact. Heck, if we went down that route, most every cigar would be listed under Swedish Match, General Cigar, Davidoff or Altadis.
Great post Jackal. The database is an unwieldy monster and community guidelines for submissions need to be published, reinforced, reinforced again, talked about, soapboxed, dead-horse-beaten etc. I feel there ought to be better and more stringent community guidelines for reviews as well.
QuoteKid Montana - 10/26/2015 3:08 PM
The database is an unwieldy monster
Yes, as we are trying to present our data in an orderly and organized manner, for an industry that lacks any true, universal standards and often lacks any coherency (especially with small "boutique" manufacturers and many fly by night companies).
Thanks for your efforts on keeping the cigar data base up to date Jason, I am sure it can be a head ache!