Why Spreadsheets Stopped Working
The fundamental flaw with a spreadsheet is that it is disconnected from the actual experience of smoking a cigar.
If I bought a box of twenty Maduros, I would log them. But when I smoked one on a Friday night, the last thing I wanted to do was open my laptop, find the correct row, and change the quantity from 20 to 19. So I would not do it.
Months later, I would look at the spreadsheet, see that I supposedly had five left, open the humidor, and find it empty. The data was always out of sync with reality. I needed a system where logging a smoke automatically updated my inventory.
Why Existing Apps Did Not Fit
When I realized the spreadsheet was failing, I looked at the existing cigar apps on the market. There are some incredibly robust tools out there, but they did not fit how I wanted to interact with my collection.
Most of the popular apps are built around social networking. They want you to follow other users, read community reviews, and scroll through a feed of what everyone else is smoking. That is great for discovery, but I just wanted a quiet, private place to manage my own humidor. I did not want my tasting notes broadcasted, and I did not want a cluttered interface full of advertisements for online retailers.
I wanted a platform centered entirely around my own collection.
The Idea Behind Lounge Mode
The real turning point for building this platform came during a cigar night I hosted at my house.
I had a few friends over, and when it was time to choose a cigar, the process was chaotic. They were digging through my humidor, picking up delicate sticks, and asking me what each one tasted like. I realized that while I knew exactly what was in the box, they had no idea.
I thought: what if I could hand them a tablet that looked like a high-end restaurant menu?
That was the birth of Lounge Mode. I wanted a way to display my collection visually, complete with my personal tasting notes, so guests could browse safely and securely without accessing my administrative controls. It is still my favorite feature on the platform today.
Building for the Collector
My Digital Humidor is the platform I wanted for myself. It is clean, it is web-based so I can use it on my laptop or my phone, and it respects the quiet ritual of the hobby.
If you have outgrown your spreadsheet, or if you are tired of apps that feel more like social media networks than humidor trackers, I invite you to try it. I built it for collectors like us.
