Cigarino

About Cigarino

Cette page existe aussi en français.

Cigarino is built and published by Menhiris Group.

Where Cigarino comes from

There are two of us, both developers — and both cigar smokers.

Like many aficionados, we kept notes on paper: what we had smoked, what we made of it, what we meant to buy again. A notebook cannot be searched. It cannot be sorted by strength or origin, it does not remind you that you tried that shape last year and were not convinced, and it stays at home on the day you find yourself in front of a display case. So we built the tool we wanted to own.

Fourteen and a half months went into it: first commit at the end of May 2025, shipped in August 2026. One of us writes most of the code, the other shapes the product and writes just as much of it. It is the same pair behind all four of our apps.

Building a cigar app from France

This is the constraint that shaped Cigarino most, and it deserves explaining.

French law — the loi Évin — bans any direct or indirect advertising or promotion in favour of tobacco. The reading is broad: the Cour de cassation has held that publishing a magazine devoted to cigars is itself unlawful advertising, despite a small print run and a readership of connoisseurs.

Which means we built a cigar app in one of the countries where it is hardest to talk about cigars. That closes doors our American counterparts walk through without a second thought: no paid advertising, no retail partnerships, no depiction of smoking.

We could have treated that as a handicap. We made it a rule of conduct instead. Cigarino is a personal tracking tool: it sells nothing, pushes you to no shop, takes no commission, and checks your age by country. Elsewhere those choices read as posturing; here they are simply what the work requires.

We wanted to serve aficionados like ourselves first. Not to generate leads for retailers.

The publisher

Menhiris Group publishes a small number of independent mobile apps. The principle is to treat one subject properly rather than several approximately: Cigarino for cigars, Vinyl Spin for records, Chrono Lab for watches and pH Snap for pH calculation.

We are not a platform and we do not live off advertising. Each app is funded by the people who use it, which spares us from having to monetise anyone’s attention or data.

What we hold to

What that means in Cigarino

Getting in touch

For a question, a bug or a request about your data: cigarino@menhiris.com. We read everything.

More about the publisher: menhiris.com.

Writing about Cigarino? Everything you need is in the press kit.