Tobacco Reviews Website Update

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
20,672
48,783
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
reviews. And those have been hobbled by the anonymous nature of many of the entries, and the fact that any review older than a few years is of marginal value, as manufacturers change blend contents and quality.
And that’s an inconvenient fact that renders a lot of the content on TR irrelevant.
Whoever was in charge of this reboot appears to have seriously screwed the pooch. But more than that, the blenders, responding to conditions beyond their control, have muddied the waters by substituting components while using the same branding because it’s a known IP. It’s a mess.
Personally, I’d look at reviews on new blends, reviews on discontinued blends, one offs, or short runs, and skip reviews on long running “famous names” that aren’t what they once were. Consistency used to be the name of the game. It doesn’t feel that way anymore.
 

KruegerFlap

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 3, 2021
151
353
Ohio
I have no idea what the developers were thinking on this one. Almost nothing works anymore on the site and all the useful data that was always front and center is virtually gone. Plus the overall look and feel of the site is like something a 15 year old would make in an hour with a 20 dollar budget. I'm really getting tired of the new age idea that the wheel has to be constantly re-invented just for the sake of saying it's new.
 

Servant King

Lifer
Nov 27, 2020
4,720
27,330
39
Frazier Park, CA
www.thechembow.com
The website still moves, as my dad would say, slower than whale shit. It's much quicker for me to just type a blend name in Startpage and click the first result that shows up, which is almost always the TR page for that item. That's all I really use it for anyway.

The AI simply must change everything all the time, regardless of whether or not it actually needs updating (usually it does not). It's as though this behavior is built into it's overall program. And these IT people just go along with it all, but that's no surprise--they're just Borg drones without the circuitry.
 

PurePipes

Lurker
Jan 13, 2022
24
33
TR has a new update which is saw for the first time last night. The bottom of the TR page states its a "STC Holdings LLC, a division of Mac Baren USA".

The website seems a little clunky on my phone but flows a lot better on a desktop. That being said, the site seems to load much slower and Ive already gotten several "Error establishing a database connection" messages when trying to click on links.

TR's update also includes a forum. Ill be curious to see how the forum stacks up.

I wish them best of luck and I sure have used them often, but I'm not about to join a forum, or a site, where I have to verify that I'm over 21 years old to get on it almost every time I visit the site, even when I leave the "remember me" checked. This is something a 10 year old could do and is absolutely 100% useless.
 

skoutros

Lurker
Dec 23, 2015
1
4
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
TR has a new update which is saw for the first time last night. The bottom of the TR page states its a "STC Holdings LLC, a division of Mac Baren USA".

The website seems a little clunky on my phone but flows a lot better on a desktop. That being said, the site seems to load much slower and Ive already gotten several "Error establishing a database connection" messages when trying to click on links.

TR's update also includes a forum. Ill be curious to see how the forum stacks up.
You'd think with that kind of backing, they'd get the site update done correctly and quickly. Loved it before they messed with it, and hate it now.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
20,672
48,783
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
It's good to know that MacBaren is working to improve the TobaccoReviews site that they purchased and butchered. All of this bungling incompetence is surprising, given the deep pockets involved. I would imagine that porting a site designed to service a database would present a different set of challenges from other types of sites, but that hiring experienced pros would lessen the trauma. Guess I was wrong about that, or they didn't hire experienced pros. Whatever, the site was opened way prematurely, clearly was the product of very poor judgement, and is going through a slow and hopefully thorough process of debugging and development. With any luck it will be fixed before it's sold again.
 

sardonicus87

Lifer
Jun 28, 2022
1,322
13,889
37
Lower Alabama
I mean, TR was slow before and needed updating. If I wanted to look something up, I would Google it and click the link to go to the TR review page for it. The internal search wasn't good at all. Even many people before the update suggested finding reviews of a blend by searching externally and going directly to the blend's page.

The bungled roll-out is one thing to complain about, but to say the old site was better is pretty inaccurate—the old site barely worked and wasn't really better than what it is now. Once they get their s--- together, it should be better (as in working)... aesthetics is another matter.