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Cigar Tracking Software
ScottU
Posts: 194
Hello all! So through my days at the forum I see that most people are using Excel to track their cigars, etc. Over on cigarobsession.com I see that he's listed a couple pieces of software that were mediocre at best.
Because I love to program, I've been thinking about creating a cigar tracking program and just wanted to get you guys input on it.
So... is this something that you guys would use? Are there specific features you would like to see in it? Lets get some brainstorming going here if you guys think you would use it...
Scott
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Features I'd like to see. Database entries colored based on ratings. In an excel file I used to highlight sticks I rated red for a poor rating, an orange-ish color for okay, and Green for good. To me this indicated whether or not I'd purchase the stick again. red - never, orange - if i got a good deal, green - definitely would purchase again. Sticks would be only be rated on an overall basis on a 10 point scale. Entries would be for brand, line, name, size (inches), ring gauge, rating, and notes.
The biggest drawback/annoyance to the Cigar Register software is that when you are in the cigar database you can't hit a letter and automatically go to the first cigar of that letter. The built in searching function aren't good and don't work the way one would expect.
I'm sure I can think of more ideas later.
Not a vital feature, but somewhere to put that info in the program sure beats skimming through the internet Favorites list for 5 minutes.
ID
Type
Size
Date Purchased
Purchase Location
In Humidor(Suggestions for this heading would be nice, just a reference for those of you have multiple humis)
What else would you guys like to track? Also, to jdoris and brc, you guys can absolutley help test. Thanks!
Each cigar would be grouped together with a frame and you just click a field, enter your info and tab down till your done. Maybe also have a spot where you can cut and paste a pic (such as a cigar label) too. Once the page is full, it turns the page. And instead of trying to include every little thing people would track, I would just make my fields customizable. That way people can track whatever they want. Maybe having a sound effect such as a page turning would be cool too.
"Long ashes my friends."
I'll help test this baby out too when it's ready!
I was looking at different databases yesterday, I will probably be running DBase. It's open source which means free (which is good for me!) The auto update will definatley go in my idea pad, but wont be until later releases.
The abililty to add a picture of the band/cigar is something I will look a little deeper into.
Regarding the Days in humidor, the current plan is on the checkin screen, wou will enter your purchase date, then when you actually check your stock, it should automatically caclulate based on your computers time/date. So it will always give you that info in real time.
I finished up all of the interface last night, it is extremely ugly, but now I can start working on the database side of things and hopefully get a release out relativley soon.
Any good suggestions for a name?
"Long ashes my friends."
Cigar Radar
"Long ashes my friends."
In the program, include an area to note specific smoking conditions, i.e. temperature and RH of humi when the stick is pulled, temperature and other weather conditions where you're going to smoke, what you've had to eat or drink, etc etc. More often than not, these conditions greatly affect the way a certain cigar smokes, and it can be a completely different experience between two of the "exact same" cigars. also, a weather and humidor condition monitoring feature would be nice. give the ability to note temp and RH of the humidor, and ambient temp and RH and log it for reference. then you'd be able to track it by date, and see how the weather outside affects the humidor.
perhaps i'm grasping at straws... i dunno. the name is good though i think.
After a few thousand lines of code I asked around on a couple of forums to gauge interest and got the exact opposite response as this... Basically nobody really showed any interests. Life took over and other (i.e. paying) projects took over and it dropped off to the sidelines and has never been touched since...
Not sure how much you've got done, but in an effort to maybe help save you a little work, here's a rough sketch of the database layout and some of the features I wanted to include... It's not a complete picture by any means, a lot of it was in my head, but it might at least give you some ideas.
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Inventory:
Inventory_ID
HumiID
received
BrandID
StoreID
country
strength
color
wrapper
binder
filler
size
shape
MSRP
cost
Notes
StatusID
Status:
Status_ID
name
Colors:
Color_ID
name
Strengths:
Strength_ID
name
Countries:
Country_ID
name
Wrappers:
Wrapper_ID
name
Binders:
Binder_ID
name
Fillers:
Filler_ID
name
Sizes:
Size_ID
name
Shapes:
Shape_ID
name
Brands:
Brand_ID
name
factory
website
email
phone
Stores:
Store_ID
name
website
email
phone
Humis:
Humi_ID
SeasonDate
size
name
model
MSRP
cost
HumiData:
Data_ID
HumiID
temp
humidity
notes
date
Trades:
Trade_ID
TraderName
Description
SentItems:
SentItem_ID
TradeID
InventoryID
ReceivedItems:
Recitem_ID
TradeID
InventoryID
Journal:
Journal_ID
InventoryID
Pre_WrapperScent
Pre_FootScent
Appearance
Pre_WrapperNotes
Pre_FeelNotes
Pre_TongueNotes
Pre_FlavorNotes
Smoke_FlavorNotes
Smoke_StrengthNotes
Smoke_FeelingNotes
Smoke_HeatNotes
Smoke_DrawNotes
Smoke_FinishNotes
Other_Notes
ConstRating (1-10)
FlavorRating (1-10)
BodyRating (1-10)
BurnRating (1-10)
OverallRating
Overall_Adjust
Overall_AdjustNotes
date
Print sheet for "away" smokes so it can be transcribed when back at software
It will keep track of your humidors... When they were seasoned, how much they were purchased for, etc...
It will also of course keep track of your inventory of sticks... Which humi they are in, when they were bought, all the info on the stick itself, the msrp, your purchase price, etc...
Likewise it will also keep a journal of all your smokes... Keeping track of your details on the smoke, i.e. construction, flavor, burn, impression, misc notes, etc... Each of the categories will also have a rating you can assign which will generate an overall rating of that smoke... It will also generate and print out a hard copy version of the journal (by page as each page is completed) which will also contain a spot to tape the band to, etc...
It'll keep track of trades as well... Who you traded with, what was traded, etc...
Then of course it'll have reports that can be generated... For example, you could generate a report that showed msrps and what you paid to show how much money you've saved by buying deals, etc... You could generate a report on a single type of stick which would average all your rating details... Or do the same, but the rank all of your sticks... generating a "Top 5", "Top 10", "Top 20", etc... Perhaps a report that will show aging on all the sticks, etc... That kinda stuff...
Humi tracking data (temp/humidity) etc...
Include a "Timer" that will chime every 60 seconds. This can be enabled by new cigar smokers to help them learn about how often the should drag.
Include a "pop-up" flavor wheel diagram to make it easier to describe certain flavors while entering info. ----------------------------
R U Serius !?!?!?
or is Cigar Register/Excel still the best bet?