We keep things simple. Here’s what we collect, why we collect it, and how you can tell us to stop.
Effective: January 1, 2024 | CigarNews.ca
Who We Are
CigarNews.ca is a Canadian publication covering the cigar industry — reviews, news, events, and the occasional opinion piece about what’s worth lighting up. We’re based in Canada and operate under applicable Canadian privacy law, including PIPEDA.
This policy covers the website at cigarnews.ca and any newsletters or communications sent directly from us. If you reach us through a third-party platform, their own privacy terms apply there.02
What We Collect
We don’t harvest data for sport. Here’s what actually comes in when you use the site:
Things you give us directly
- Your name and email address when you subscribe to our newsletter
- Any comments or messages you send through contact forms
- Account details if you register on the site (username, email, optional display name)
Things collected automatically
- Basic analytics — pages visited, time on site, general geographic region (country or province level, not your street)
- Your browser type and operating system
- Referring URL (where you came from before landing here)
- IP address, logged temporarily for security purposes
Cookies
We use cookies to keep the site functioning properly and to understand aggregate traffic patterns. We don’t use cookies to build advertising profiles or track you across other websites. You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings — the site still works, though some preferences may not be saved between visits.03
Why We Use It
Everything collected has a specific reason:
- Email and name — to send you newsletters you asked for, and to respond to messages
- Analytics — to understand which content readers actually find useful
- IP addresses — short-term logging for spam filtering and security; not used for profiling
- Comment data — to publish your contributions and moderate for spam
We don’t sell your information. We don’t rent it. We’re a niche publication, not an advertising network.04
Who Sees Your Data
A few categories of third parties handle data on our behalf:
Service providers
- Email platform — our newsletter provider stores subscriber lists on their infrastructure
- Web host — server logs pass through hosting infrastructure in Canada or the US
- Analytics — we use a privacy-focused analytics tool that does not sell user data
Legal disclosure
We’ll share information with law enforcement or other authorities if we’re legally required to do so, or if we believe it’s genuinely necessary to prevent serious harm. Beyond that, no.
Business changes
If CigarNews.ca is ever sold or transferred, subscriber data would be part of that transition. We’d notify you before it happened and give you the option to unsubscribe.05
How Long We Keep It
- Newsletter subscriber data — as long as you’re subscribed; deleted within 30 days of unsubscribing
- Contact form submissions — kept for up to 12 months, then deleted
- Server logs — typically 30–90 days, then overwritten
- Published comments — kept as long as the article is live; removed on request
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Your Rights
Under PIPEDA, you have the right to know what we hold about you, correct it if it’s wrong, and request that we delete it. To exercise any of these:
- Email us at the address below — we’ll respond within 30 days
- To unsubscribe from the newsletter, use the unsubscribe link in any issue
- To request full data deletion, contact us directly and specify what you want removed
We don’t charge for these requests and we don’t make them difficult. If your request is outside what we can do, we’ll explain why.07
External Links
We link to other websites — retailers, review platforms, industry associations. Once you leave cigarnews.ca, this policy doesn’t apply. We can’t control what those sites do, and we’re not responsible for them. Worth checking their own policies if you’re sharing anything sensitive.08
Children
This site covers tobacco products and is intended for adults of legal smoking age. We don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 19 (or the applicable age of majority in their province). If you believe a minor has submitted information to us, please get in touch and we’ll remove it promptly.09
Changes to This Policy
If we update this policy in a meaningful way — new data types, new third parties, changed retention periods — we’ll note it at the top with a revised effective date. For major changes, we’ll notify subscribers directly. Minor tweaks (fixing a typo, clarifying wording) won’t get a separate announcement.
The current version always lives at cigarnews.ca/privacy.10
Get in Touch
Questions, requests, or concerns — we’re reachable:
CigarNews.ca — Privacy Inquiries
Email: privacy@cigarnews.ca
Response time: within 30 days. For urgent matters related to data deletion or a potential breach, mark your subject line accordingly and we’ll prioritize it.