Written by Smoke Signals | 30 April 2015

DID YOU MISS US?
SMOKE SIGNALS MAGAZINE - May - June 2015

We were overburdened with "real life" work at the last publication deadline for Smoke Signals Magazine, so for the first time in more than twenty years, we actually missed publishing an issue. And by the time we actually had time to get the issue together, it was way past deadline - so we decided to just hold the material until the May-June issue was to be published.

Admittedly, it's nowhere as big a deal as it would have been when we were "the only" source for smoking fetish news, publishing thousands of copies of the print magazine back in the 1990s - but we still felt extremely badly to have broken a 20+ year streak.

And we apologize.

However, the two months between the missed deadline and now raised a very important question for us.

Did you miss us?

We expected to receive at least a few inquiries about the missing issue, but not a single person emailed to ask about the missing issue.

We know that people read the Magazine. Obviously we can see the web stats, which show that thousands of people read some or all of our new articles after they're published.

But with so much other free stuff now available (even though much of it is available illegally) on the web, we have to wonder whether Smoke Signals Magazine is actually important to people, or whether they've just got it on their bookmarks list, reading it if it's there and not caring if it's not.

If the latter is truly the case, perhaps we should spend the hours required to publish each month (not to mention the hours that our contributors spend writing their material) at our jobs, or with our families, instead. Admittedly, publishing the print magazine required days and not hours - but it's still a good chunk of time to be spending on a bi-monthly project.

So the purpose of this column is to request readers to take 30 seconds and let us know how you feel.

We know you're out there reading. But is Smoke Signals Magazine (we're talking about this website, not Smoke Signals Online) important enough to you for us to continue publishing? Or should we just say "It was a great 20+ years but the time has come to let it go."

Email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to let us know your thoughts.

We've always thought of our readers as our partners. We'll think of your emails as a potential suitcase full of money for the purposes of closing this piece - so to borrow the words Of Hyman Roth (The Godfather, Part II): "When I wake, if the money's on the table, I'll know I have a partner. If it isn't, I'll know I don't."

Enjoy the May-June issue!