Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using The Cigar Library application ("Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use our Service. We reserve the right to update these terms at any time, and your continued use of the Service constitutes acceptance of any modifications. Where we offer these Terms in another language, the English version governs if they differ.

2. Description of Service

The Cigar Library is a collection management platform for cigar enthusiasts. Our Service includes:

• Humidor and cigar collection tracking
• Review and rating system for cigars and lounges
• Personalized recommendations and taste profiles
• Interactive lounge discovery and mapping
• Smoking session logging and analytics
• Social features including challenges, leaderboards, and social circles
• Community feedback and voting system
• Photo storage and management
• Data import (CSV/JSON) and export (CSV/JSON/PDF)
• Multi-user shared humidors with role-based access control
• Curated cigar library with admin-managed database
• External cigar ratings integration
• AI Flavor Wheel for personalized flavor profile visualization
• Daily Cigar of the Day with AI-generated tasting notes
• Community Reviews for sharing reviews and discovering cigars
• Events calendar for cigar gatherings and meetups
• Direct messaging between users, with email and text notifications of new messages
• A wishlist of cigars you want to try
• A public blog of articles and reviews, written by us and by members we appoint as Editors
• A referral program, under our Referral Program Terms
• Bug reports, feature ideas and, by invitation, a beta program

3. User Accounts

To use certain features of the Service, you must create an account. You are responsible for:

• Providing accurate and complete registration information
• Maintaining the security of your account credentials
• All activities that occur under your account
• Notifying us immediately of any unauthorized use
• Enabling Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for enhanced security (strongly recommended)

You must be at least 21 years of age to use this Service, or, where The Cigar Library has set a lower minimum age for the country you signed up from, that age, which is never under 18. Where we don't know your country, the minimum age is 21. You must also be old enough to buy tobacco where you live. We ask for your date of birth when you create an account and check it before the account can be used; if you sign up with Google, we ask for it the first time you open the app. Giving a false date is a breach of these Terms. If the date you give shows you are under the minimum age, the account is deleted. Accounts created by an administrator are activated through an emailed link, where you set your own password and give your date of birth. Our blog can be read without an account by visitors who confirm they are 21 or older.

4. Account Security

We provide multiple security features to protect your account:

• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Enable TOTP-based authentication via authenticator apps (Google Authenticator, Authy, etc.) with backup email verification codes
• Security Alerts: Receive email/SMS notifications for multiple failed login attempts on your account
• Phone Verification: Optional phone number verification so you can receive text messages for new messages and the notifications you choose. What we send, how often, and how to stop it is set out on our text messages page.
• Security Audit Logging: All security-related events are logged for your protection

We strongly recommend enabling MFA to protect your account from unauthorized access.

5. Subscription Tiers

We offer a free tier and paid subscription tiers with different limits (cigars, humidors and photos) and features. The current tiers, their prices and what each includes are shown on our pricing page and in Settings → Subscription.

Paid subscriptions are billed monthly or annually through Stripe. First-time subscribers may receive a free trial; unless you cancel before the trial ends, the card you gave at sign-up is charged when it ends. A trial code (for example on a printed card) gives a new account a paid plan free for the number of days it states, starting when you confirm your email address, with no card; one code per account. When those days end the account becomes a Petit Corona account and keeps its data, unless you subscribe. An account that has had a free trial without a card (from a trial code, a lounge's invitation or one of our invitations) gets no further free trial when it subscribes: it is charged from the first day. Promotional discounts apply only for the period stated in the promotion. When you change plans, an upgrade takes effect at once and you are charged the prorated difference for the rest of the billing period; a downgrade takes effect at your next renewal. You may cancel at any time, and your subscription will remain active until the end of the current billing period. Payments are non-refundable, including for partial billing periods and when you delete your account, except where the law requires otherwise or we choose to issue a refund. A referral can give a longer first free trial or a free month, as our Referral Program Terms set out.

In the iPhone app you can instead subscribe through Apple's App Store. Apple then takes the payment, and its terms govern billing, renewal, cancellation and refunds; you manage or cancel that subscription in your Apple account, not with us. You can have one subscription at a time: while an App Store subscription renews, change your plan there. If a website subscription and an App Store subscription are ever active together, we keep the App Store one and cancel the website one, refunding its unused part.

If a payment fails, you keep your plan while the payment is retried over the following days, and we tell you how to pay the amount due. If every retry fails, the subscription is cancelled and your account becomes a Petit Corona account. We may offer you a different plan, which takes effect only if you accept it, or give you a plan free for a set period; when that period ends, your account returns to the plan you pay for (or Petit Corona) unless you choose to keep the plan at its price.

When your account moves to a plan with lower limits (a downgrade, a cancellation, a failed payment or the end of a free period), nothing is deleted. Your humidors and cigars within the new plan's limits, oldest first, stay available; the rest are locked, kept but hidden, until you upgrade or make room. The humidor limit and the cigar limit are counted separately: a cigar within your cigar limit stays available even when the humidor holding it is locked, though that humidor cannot be opened or added to. Features the new plan doesn't include become unavailable. Upgrading unlocks everything again.

Inactive Petit Corona Accounts

Petit Corona accounts that are not used for 1 year are archived automatically. When a paid subscription ends, the account becomes a Petit Corona account and this policy applies to it from then on. We email you 7 days before archiving; signing in or using the app at any time before then keeps the account active. Paid subscribers are never archived for inactivity.

Archiving does not delete your data: your collection, reviews and settings are kept, but you cannot sign in to an archived account. You can restore it within one year of archiving for a one-time, non-recurring fee of $5.99, paid through Stripe when you next sign in. The account is restored as a Petit Corona account as soon as the payment completes. An account still archived a year after archiving is deleted, with its data, the same way as if you had deleted it yourself.

6. User Content

You retain ownership of content you submit (photos, reviews, feedback). By submitting content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide license to use, display, and distribute your content within the Service. You agree not to submit content that:

• Violates any applicable law or regulation
• Infringes on intellectual property rights of others
• Is sexually explicit: sexual acts, exposed genitals, or nudity presented sexually
• Shows anyone under 18 in a sexual way, in any form
• Harasses, threatens or demeans a person, or attacks a group of people
• Shows violence, injury or cruelty, or is there to shock
• Impersonates another person or entity
• Contains spam, malware, or malicious code

Photos of people

People are welcome in your photos, and clothing suited to a beach, a pool or a warm evening is not "explicit". A cigar photographed next to someone in swimwear or without a shirt is ordinary for this subject and is allowed. Photos like these are marked as sensitive, which means they are shown blurred until the person looking chooses to see them: a member can turn on Show photos marked as sensitive in Settings, or reveal one photo where it appears. Explicit material is a different thing, and we do not host it.

How photos are reviewed

A photo on a lounge you submit is reviewed by a person before other members can see it. While it waits, it is stored privately: you and our reviewers can open it, and it is not published at a public photo address, so there is no link to pass on yet. A review you share and a cigar you suggest for the library are approved by us, photos included, before they appear. Reviewers are our administrators and members an administrator has appointed as moderators. We don't promise how long a review takes.

Every photo is also checked automatically when you upload it. Automated services rate it for sexual and suggestive content, and it is matched against hashes of images already identified as child sexual abuse material. Automated checks get things wrong in both directions, so they sort the queue rather than decide it, and a photo that was approved can still be reported later.

If a photo is rejected we delete the file and clear it from our cache, so its address stops working. Rejection removes a photo; it does not merely hide it. Nobody looks at the photos in your own collection, which nobody else can see; they are checked automatically like every other photo.

Blog posts by Editors

If we make you an Editor, the posts you write for our blog are published on our public website and in the app under your display name. We may edit, schedule, unpublish or delete them, and a published post stays on the blog, under The Cigar Library's name, if you delete your account. The rules above apply to them, as they do to everything else you submit.

7. Community Guidelines

When using social features (reviews, feedback, lounges, messaging, events, social circles), you agree to:

• Be respectful and constructive in all interactions
• Provide honest and accurate information in reviews
• Submit only legitimate lounges and venues
• Not manipulate voting or challenge systems
• Use messaging responsibly and not for spam or harassment
• Create events with accurate information and attend responsibly
• Respect the privacy of social circle members
• Report a photo, review or post that breaks these rules instead of reposting it

Reporting something

Shared reviews, lounge reviews, forum posts and replies, and lounge photos have a Report button. A report goes to our moderation queue, a person looks at it, and we email you what we decided. The member you report is not told who reported them. Reporting things you know are fine, or reporting the same member over and over, is itself a breach of these guidelines.

What happens when content breaks these rules

We remove content that breaks these guidelines, and we may suspend or close the account behind it. A first mistake is usually the removal and a note explaining why; repeated violations end the account and you do not get your subscription back. When we remove something of yours, we email you and say why. If you think we got it wrong, use the link in that email within 30 days to ask for another look, and we will look again and email you what we decided. A moderator doesn't decide an appeal against their own removal. While our team is small, though, the owner of The Cigar Library may review their own moderation decisions on appeal.

Content that shows a minor in a sexual way is the one exception to the step-by-step approach above. The account is suspended at once, without a warning, and we report the content as United States law requires us to. Our Privacy Policy explains what we keep in that situation and for how long.

8. AI-Generated Content

Certain features use AI to generate content including:

• Flavor Wheel: Analysis of your flavor preferences from reviews
• Cigar of the Day: AI-generated tasting notes and pairing suggestions
• Band reading: reads the brand and line from a photo of a cigar's band you take in Add Cigar, to suggest cigars from our library. The photo isn't kept: it is read and then discarded
• Photo checks: a second opinion on whether an uploaded photo is sexual or suggestive, and whether another website's watermark is on a cigar photo (see "How photos are reviewed" in section 6)

AI-generated content is provided for informational purposes only. Flavor profiles and tasting notes are subjective interpretations and may not match your actual experience. We do not guarantee the accuracy of AI-generated content.

9. Lounge Directory

The lounge directory is community-driven. Submitted lounges require admin approval before appearing publicly. We do not guarantee the accuracy of lounge information and are not responsible for your experiences at listed venues. Always verify hours, policies, and availability before visiting.

Lounges and HERFs that run on The Cigar Library do so under our Lounge and HERF Subscriber Agreement. Each is responsible for its own loyalty program and rewards, and for the prices it shows publicly, being allowed under the law where it is. We sell nothing for them: a purchase, membership or reward is between you and the lounge or HERF.

10. Intellectual Property

The Service, including its design, features, and content (excluding user-generated content), is owned by The Cigar Library and protected by intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works without our written permission.

11. Limitation of Liability

The Service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the Service. Our total liability is limited to the amount you paid for the Service in the past 12 months.

12. Account Termination

You may delete your account at any time in Settings → Privacy, or by emailing support@thecigarlibrary.com. Deleting it cancels a subscription on our website, but not one bought in the App Store or on Google Play, which you cancel there. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms. Upon termination, your data will be deleted in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

13. Changes to Service

We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time. We will provide reasonable notice for significant changes that affect your use of the Service.

14. Health and Responsible Use

Cigars are tobacco. Cigar smoking can cause cancers of the mouth and throat, even if you do not inhale, and cigars are not a safe alternative to cigarettes. Tobacco smoke increases the risk of lung cancer and heart disease, even in nonsmokers, and cigars contain nicotine, which is addictive.

The Cigar Library is for adults who already choose to smoke cigars, to keep their records and share their experiences. We sell no tobacco, and we don't encourage anyone to start smoking or to smoke more. Nothing in the app rewards smoking: challenges, points and badges are for using the app, such as cataloging, reviewing and visiting lounges, never for how much or how often you smoke, and a lounge's or HERF's loyalty points are for checking in, never for buying or smoking tobacco. If you want help to stop, ask a doctor or your local health service.

15. Contact

For questions about these Terms of Service, email support@thecigarlibrary.com, or contact us through the Support section in the app or via the Feedback system.