Written by Smoke Signals | 30 June 2015

THE GUEST WHO REFUSES TO LEAVE
SMOKE SIGNALS MAGAZINE - July - August 2015

There's always one.

The person who's the life of the party - the one whose stories delight and entertain all of the other guests.

The hours pass, and the glorious evening slowly nears its end. Groups of guests say their thanks and head off into the night.

Yet one guest remains: the "life of the party," who refuses to reliquish his center-stage position until there's not a soul left to hear his now-tired and repetitive stories.

The hosts endure as long as they can, before firmly ushering the final guest to the door and wishing him a pleasant good-bye.

For 21 years, Smoke Signals Magazine has been honored to be one of those favored guests, welcomed by the members of our community who were happy - at times, even eager - to hear our stories.

And throughout that time, we have resolved not to be the guest who refuses to leave when the time comes.

 

In our last issue, we asked readers whether they still valued the presence of Smoke Signals Magazine in its online form, requesting brief emails with your thoughts.

Over two months - not counting touching emails from several colleagues and friends - we received two emails. (And we greatly appreciate those two people taking the time to write.)

That response spoke volumes, and told us that even if the party isn't quite over, time is short.

 

We fully understand the life cycle of businesses, and the way the internet's development has irrevocably changed the nature - and even the purpose - of the media.

We also fully understand that while Smoke Signals Magazine was a once figurative lifeline to those who could never place a name to their fetish, it's now approaching the status of anachronism.

 

A number of years ago, we promised ourselves that we would never do what others have done: convert their sites into forums which facilitate the posting or sharing of copyrighted material into which producers have poured their money and their lives.

Doing that might make Smoke Signals Magazine more "useful" to a large number of people, increasing our web traffic and most probably our revenue.

However, we were never in the soul-selling business and don't plan to change.

www.cookingworld.info In just the last couple of months, the ubiquitous "sharing" of copyrighted material has claimed two more victims who were pillars of our community for nearly twenty years (CoLight and Specialized). We won't contribute to any further darnage.

 

So, where do things stand?

We quoted Hyman Roth in our last issue - and so far, we don't see a suitcase.

We're taking the summer to consider the future of Smoke Signals Magazine.

We'll continue to welcome reader feedback during that time at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . And we'll let you know the decision in September.

(And this has no bearing on the future of Smoke Signals Online or any of our other web services like Smoking Flicks or the Smoking Clip Store.)

 

We know the food is gone and the bar is running out of liquor. Our question now is simply whether it's the right time to leave, or if there are a few more stories yet to be told.

Enjoy the July-August issue!