I figured this place needed an injection of legitimacy, so I looked no further than the man who quickly and quite graciously opted to sit on the HOT SEAT that is: Who What When Where Why. Will his tuchus blister? Of course not. Because I forgot to mention (although there's a spill-the-beans pic right up top) that the tuchus in question belongs to the cigar industry's leader in journalistic savoir faire, none other than -- Mr. William Cooper, the Coop of Cigar Coop and Stogie Geeks.
Who has mentored you and who have you mentored?
I started Cigar Coop in 2010, but really wasn’t mentored by anyone, but had to learn on the job and didn’t do everything perfect.
When I merged with Stogie Geeks in 2013, Paul Asadoorian mentored me on podcasting and understanding the nuances of running a media entry as a business. Stogie Santa, a part of the show continues to always be a guiding hand in navigating the cigar industry. I also have to give props to Jon David / Willy Styl of Toasted Foot; Emmett Malone and Aaron Loomis of Blind Man’s Puff, Master Sensei of Cigar Dojo, and Seth from Seth’s Humidor. All of these guys are always there for me, and are invaluable with their guidance. Seth in particular has talked me off the ledge many times. Newer guys like yourself (Kap) and Dave Burck of Cigar Jukebox also are leading by example, and this is good for media as a whole.
I haven’t formally mentored anyone, but have a very open policy where if anyone has a question or needs help, I will be there for them. By helping others, you learn along the way. We need more quality media outlets and the more some of the guys who have been around can help, the better it is for the cigar industry and cigar media.
What have you compromised and what won’t you compromise?
I’d like to say I’ve never been compromised. In age where reporting news has gone to reporting rumors, chasing down teasers, and employing tabloid journalism (TMZ) tactics, I’m proud to say I’ve never given into it. It might mean we don’t get a story first, but I can go to sleep at night knowing what I report is honest and accurate. If I have been compromised, it was perhaps when I went to numeric scoring in 2012. It was something I didn’t want to do; but its a barometer many use in the industry, so I felt there was a need to do it.
When is it a failure?
Failure is when you set a goal and fall short of the goal. Perhaps a notable failure occurred this past year, when I decided to dive heavy into covering shop exclusive cigars. I underestimated the difficulty in doing this, and overestimated the return on investment for the effort required. While I still will cover some shop exclusives, it is now with those brands and retailers who have a desire to provide us press information without investing resources in chasing it down.
Where are you on your journey and where are you going?
The journey I set forth when I launched Cigar Coop was to cover the Cigar industry with the utmost integrity, and delivering a wide variety of content on different mediums. So far, I’m very happy with where I am on the journey, but there is much ahead on the road and still a lot more to learn.
Why do you succeed?
I’d like to say its because I am passionate about the cigar industry, but also passionate about the craft of journalism. Cigar Coop and Stogie Geeks is s a 365 day a year operation - and has been like that since 2012. These media brands are also a business. We have established processes to operate our business. While we do this for fun, we have a stake in the game and are committed to making our operation solvent. We continue to invest and aren’t going away.
We’ve been fortunate to have an incredible audience or readers, listeners, and viewers. Without these folks, nothing else would matter.
A great big open-mouthed-kiss thanks to Coop for answering my questions in an of course prompt, professional, and courteous manner. I mean, the fella edited his answers for me! Please do pay a visit to the sites below: