Half Ashed feedback

Ask us about or recommend show cigars, guests, segments, topics, stupid things we've said, etc. You can even just tell us we suck here...
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Stewmuse
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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by Stewmuse » Sun Jul 29, 2018 9:09 pm

Kip wrote:
Sun Jul 29, 2018 5:29 pm
Love this guy. He's been following us for years (at least 4), talking trash and leaving nasty comments and reviews in every outlet. I don't understand why he's still listening but I guess any press is good press :) Image

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Yup. Worked pretty well for Howard Stern. You guys just need more boobs on the show. I mean, aside from my episodes...
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kurtdesign1
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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by kurtdesign1 » Tue Jul 31, 2018 9:06 am

Saw this bozo, too. I honestly don't understand the purpose of a "can't recommend" feature. Isn't that simply the same as not "recommending" something? Social media puts the onus on people being more important than they really are. Nothing against that guy but we're a show that's been around for over 5 years. Our facebook page sees little to no action. You have to "like" the page to post there. He *still* thinks its beneficial to post a negative comment. Obviously we're not overly concerned with presence online or we'd be doing something more than we are. I just cant fathom why people in our age believe that their opinion must be shared. We think we are more important than we are. People used to wait until asked before sharing. Now we ask for people to read what we're sharing. I just don't feel comfortable with that.

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Zedman05
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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by Zedman05 » Tue Jul 31, 2018 11:23 pm

I agree with that guy. Where's Bob and Dale.....c'mon man.....

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Kip
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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by Kip » Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:55 am

Zedman05 wrote:I agree with that guy. Where's Bob and Dale.....c'mon man.....
Ouch. Harsh.

You can't reasonably do a show called Half Ashed with any regularity or substance, right? If we got serious we'd have to change the name, logo, format, website, etc. I'm too old to have the energy for that.

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Kip
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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by Kip » Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:26 am

Ah. Now I see why he "can't recommend" us. It's because Facebook just made the reviews more front-end-center. Before, they were in the background and didn't show. His anti-recommendation is actually a 1 star review. So now, we have a single review - his, which drops us to the bottom of the list for any exposure via the outlet (if we used social media). He's basically trying to make sure no one ever sees any of our information or posts.

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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by Kip » Fri Aug 24, 2018 6:24 pm

I am totally thinking of posting up this guy's words as a testimonial on the homepage. Kind of a badge-of-honor. If I can also dig up a few of the old commentary from our early days, I'll have a good set of negative opinions to put up...
White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise....

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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by The Banker » Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:35 pm

So i will say this show has its own charm to it. If you're looking for a highly polished over-produced show this isn't it. However, if you want to sit around and listen two dudes who you can confuse with people you may actually smoke a stick with then this is it. It's just honest banter from two good dudes who don't have an ego and just enjoy what they are doing - and not profiting off of. This podcast reminds me of early podcasts where it was genuine, not just another delivery method for a syndicated radio show.

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Kip
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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by Kip » Fri Aug 24, 2018 9:02 pm

The Banker wrote:
Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:35 pm
So i will say this show has its own charm to it. If you're looking for a highly polished over-produced show this isn't it. However, if you want to sit around and listen two dudes who you can confuse with people you may actually smoke a stick with then this is it. It's just honest banter from two good dudes who don't have an ego and just enjoy what they are doing - and not profiting off of. This podcast reminds me of early podcasts where it was genuine, not just another delivery method for a syndicated radio show.
You got it, in a nutshell. We spun off of Dogwatch Cigar Radio, which was a fantabulous podcast (maybe even the 1st cigar podcast) that ran for over 400 episodes for a period of 8 years (2004-2012). Craig often co-hosted it with Bob & Dale, and I made a few appearances over the years. They made a phenomenal product. When they decided to end their run, Craig and I wanted to keep the community going. Our interest was, and is, in hanging out, having fun, and keeping some semblance of the community alive with likeminded folks.

We made a few purposeful decisions about it before we even began recording Feb 2013. We don't solicit goods from manufacturers - if they want to send us samples we accept them, but we don't ever want to feel pressured to say anything other than our honest feelings about a cigar. We decided not to sell advertising for the same reason. If we were to have an important sponsor who gave us a garbage cigar, there may be some tendency (conscious or unconscious) to either give it a more positive review than it deserves or simply gloss over the fact that it's a dud - but, even if we don't feel that pressure, the community often perceives it as such. There are guys I know who are very willing to call a stinker out, even if it's one of their sponsors...but listeners often give them flak because of these arrangements. We have refused all offers of commercialization. It comes out of our own pocket, so we're not beholden to anyone.

This also causes some of the issues *we* take crap over. As everyone knows, we don't keep what you'd call a strict schedule. From Feb 2013 until some time in 2015/16, we recorded essentially every single Friday night. Then, we stepped back and went to a bi-weekly schedule. We've been really spotty for over a year now. This is OK, because 1.) we don't owe any sponsors anything and 2.) our interest is in the community and friendships rather than taking over the cigar media world. I don't want to speak for Craig, but if it becomes a burden more than a time of fun I'm not especially interested in doing it. For us, his is a hobby not a profession.

The other thing this affords us to do is smoke cigars that are outside the "latest, greatest" hubbub of the industry. We often smoke aged old Cuban cigars from Craig's collection, or brand-new Dominican sticks from little Mom & Pop operations that may never make it into common marketplace. We try to keep it relatable, of course, but I enjoy dabbling in the more peculiar cigars. These are usually limited to occasional forays these days, and most of the time we're smoking regular stuff - but we have the opportunity. Most guys trying to generate income from these kinds of things can't afford that luxury. They have to always be "on" for promoting the newest, trendy sticks.

We've had some great episodes over the years, sprinkled in with the chaff of less-than-stellar performances. You take the good with the bad. We're like you said - just a couple of guys who like cigars, geek out over tobacco, and love the community that surrounds it. Maybe we'll drift back into more reliable broadcasting at some point; I don't know. If/when we do, though, it'll remain something fun we do. This is why we sometimes don't even record the show - we just have a Hangout on a Friday night and chat with whoever shows up. We did that a few weeks ago. We just invited all the guys who showed up to watch the recording into a separate Hangout and hung out with cigars. Good times. That's what we're about.

I feel like I just wrote the note left behind by the Breakfast Club.....
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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by The Banker » Fri Aug 24, 2018 9:12 pm

So pick your song for the montage thats going on while the narrator is reading your note.

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Kip
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Re: Half Ashed feedback

Post by Kip » Fri Aug 24, 2018 11:55 pm

White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise....

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