Written by Smoke Signals | 28 February 2014

A Repeat - But An Important One
SMOKE SIGNALS MAGAZINE - May-June 2014

It may seem impossible to believe, but there are times we have very little to say. This is one of those times.

For that reason, we're going to pass on our bi-monthly opportunity to rant and rave, because we're guessing there are people who haven't seen our last column yet. We think it's important enough to leave up for this issue.

If you have already seen it, but haven't contributed yet - we hope you'll give it another read and follow your heart. If you have contributed - our deepest thanks.

And don't worry, we'll have plenty more to rant about next time around.

Enjoy the May-June issue!

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As you may have gleaned from our musings, rants and diatribes in this space over the last few years, the 2010s have not exactly been great years for smoking fetish producers.

In fact, with huge declines in sales caused by illegal file sharing, many producers have fallen on very hard times. Quite a few have been battling to save their businesses, their homes...and even in one case, his life.

We're using this space to highlight that person's situation.

The name Ed Luisser is familiar to many who have been members of the smoking fetish community for a long time. Even those who are relatively new to our world are probably familiar with the name CoherentLight - even if it's just from a mention on one of those sites which are illegally displaying the company's groundbreaking material.

Ed is the brains and vision behind CoLight, which was without question the premiere smoking video producer of the last quarter-century. Ed's use of lighting (with a big nod to Tom Compo, another pioneer in the field) and costuming, attention to detail, and above all his concern for showing exquisite smokers in all their accomplished glamour and glory, set a standard which all future producers sought to emulate. His glamour videos were, to put it simply, stunning.

Ed was also a connoisseur of "dark side" smoking, and while many of his dark side pieces may not have been appealing to everyone in our community - there was no denying that they were works of art. And, of course, the smoking and detail was still so mesmerizing that even glamour fans could be captivated despite a lack of interest in piece's specific theme.

Finally, there was no more staunch supporter of our community - generous, caring, friendly, and eager to give back (probably more than he should have, in business terms) whenever possible.

During the mid 2000s, Ed was beset with a series of major problems. Serious health challenges and a devastating break-in and equipment theft left him struggling to survive - figuratively and literally. And the huge drop in revenues that plagued all producers made his fight much, much tougher. We certainly won't invade his privacy by detailing the entire story here; it's of course been up to him to reveal as much or as little as he chose. We'll just say that we're not exaggerating the severity of the situation.

The good news that we have to pass along, however, is that Ed is doing much better than he has in years - and he's looking to rebuild CoLight into a viable smoking video producer once again.

To that end, he's appealing to the smoking fetish community which means so much to him. Ed has set up a crowdfunding account, in an effort to acquire new equipment for CoLight, and start shooting again.

We'd ask everyone reading this to take a couple of minutes to read more of Ed's story - and to help in any way you can. Our community isn't as close-knit as it used to be (we used to know most of our subscribers and/or members by name!) - but hopefully we can still show that we care, and appreciate everything he's done for us over the years.

Please visit Ed's page here and do whatever you can to help.