Dear Members,
Things are changing in the online cigar community, and I feel it’s necessary that I fill you in on what’s going on, and our stance on this recent development.
You may have noticed that five cigar forums were recently sold to a gentleman named Jon Caputo.
Jon purchased:
Club Stogie
Top 25 Cigar
Cigar Live
Cigar Review
Cigar Smokers
...about a week or so ago. This is quite an acquisition…
Jon approached me about a year ago and wanted to purchase CigarPass. I declined… A couple months ago he approached me again wanting to purchase CigarPass. Without going into too much detail on the offer, I will say it was enough money for a good down payment on a house (in California) plus money left over for a new car. His offer also included keeping me on board as a paid consultant. I doubt the offers he proposed to some of the other sites were as generous (surely it depends on the reputation, size, etc of the site he’s eyeing).
I started CigarPass in 2000; I have always had a very strong passion for cigars, which is why I decided to start CP long ago. CP has become one of the largest, most trafficked and most respected cigar communities around. I never had any intention of trying to make a quick buck with CP; I have made many very good friends because of CigarPass. That in itself is priceless, and I don’t want anything to change.
I don’t know Mr. Caputo other than the correspondence I have had with him over the past year, however he says that he is passionate about cigars, and wants to take the forums that he recently purchased to the next level. I will say that if Jon paid anywhere near what he offered me for CigarPass, he has a major investment in those five forums. Business is business, and it appears that his goal is to make money from those forums; most likely with advertising revenue, content purchased, etc.
We’ll have to wait and see how this transpires...should be quite interesting. My only thought is, if he is so passionate about cigars, why was he never been a member of any of the forums in the past? It’s about turning his purchases into revenue making entities. It seems people on the other forums have a lot of questions that are not being answered. As a member of a community, they’re entitled to answers. After all, it’s the members who make the community… When you think about it, one owner of multiple forums would most likely treat those forums as one, bundling them all together in a sense. If you get banned from one forum, do you get banned from the others as well? Are the rules now the same for all forums? Members of those communities have a lot of good questions – we’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out.
I did some research on Jon and his previous acquisitions, and I came across some unhappy people who had wished they never sold out. I’ve been participating in online communities for the past 15 years, and it’s rare that an acquisition of a community goes smooth. This acquisition is major, involving five cigar sites…
My loyalties have and always will be to this community and its members. CP is the largest privately owned cigar community around, and things aren’t about to change for us, you have my word. I have declined all offers, and will continue to do so. Passion is a strong word, and I think I’ve proven how passionate I really am about this community, and how much it means to me.
That’s all I know right now, we’ll have to wait and see how things transpire.
I wish the other forums a lot of success, however buy-outs rarely ever go smoothly for the members.
I will post more information as it becomes available.
Yours Truly,
Rod
CigarPass - The ONE and ONLY
Edited to add Top 25 Cigars as one of the acquired sites.
It really shows that CP IS the place to be! Thank you Rod!!
