Way back in 2009, Stogie Review underwent a massive update and had a Custom WordPress Theme designed and developed for us.

It was quite the undertaking, not to mention quite the expense, but we were thrilled with the end result. We had a Cigar Review website that was unlike anything else in the blogosphere and it was exciting.

As with anything tech-related, time took its toll on the Theme. Much of the functionality we had built into the design was becoming commonplace on off-the-shelf themes. Not to mention, the design started to get tired.

A couple of years after the initial launch, we reached out to our developer and had them give us a little refresh. We tweaked some design elements and did the best we could with the bones of the old site.

That last update held us over for several more years. With each passing year though, the site required more and more plugins to keep it viable. Eventually, site-speed began to take a dive and maintenance became a chore.

A couple of months ago Ben started a group chat with Brian and I. Ben wanted to gauge interest in overhauling the old design to make improvements in a number of areas.

I was a bit hesitant at first (The price tag of the Custom Theme is still burned into my brain) but Ben was right. It was time to take the old Stogie Review off of life support, make some changes, and see if it could come back to life.

There was a lot of frustration along the way but we finally have the new Theme up and running. You should see a substantial increase in loading speeds, the site is now secure with SSL, and probably most importantly – the Theme is responsive to a number of devices (without the use of an antiquated plugin).

Now that the bulk of the upfront work has been completed, we’ll be doing some housekeeping. Cleaning up old pages, updating information, and getting back on track with a predictable posting schedule.

How many Old-Time SR Readers do we have lurking in the shadows?