Susie Mooney:
Hey, this is Susie, founder of the Lit Torch App, and you’re watching Sean Johnson with Cigar Conversations.
Seãn Johnson:
Hey, everybody. This is Sean Johnson with Cigar Conversations, and I’m actually here at the PCA. This weekend has just been phenomenal. And this is one of the things that I like because I’m a gadget freak, and I’m here with a gorgeous Susie. Listen, let me ask you a question. Are you a cigar smoker? What do you have to do with cigars? Because normally, I interview manufacturers. This is completely different, and this is near and dear to my heart. Tell me, what do you do?
Susie Mooney:
So, yes, I’m a smoker. I’ve been smoking since 2005. My first cigar was when I was deployed in Iraq and we were on our way back.
Seãn Johnson:
Thank you for your service. Thank you.
Susie Mooney:
Thank you. That was my celebratory smoke. And so I likened my cigar experience as therapy, because my first experience was therapeutic. So, that’s what I do. That’s therapy for me.
Seãn Johnson:
Now, you didn’t just become a cigar smoker and just another sister of the leaf. You are a thinker. You’re a creator like myself.
Susie Mooney:
Yes.
Seãn Johnson:
You’re very creative.
Susie Mooney:
Yes.
Seãn Johnson:
And you did what? Because … Come on and tell me. Tell the people, what do you do?
Susie Mooney:
Okay. So I’m an entrepreneur.
Seãn Johnson:
Okay.
Susie Mooney:
Right? And entrepreneurs, when you discover problems, you try and figure out what’s the solution. And so I try to create a solution for a problem and …
Seãn Johnson:
Several solutions.
Susie Mooney:
Yes, which evolved into several solutions. So I created an app, it’s called the Lit Torch app.
Seãn Johnson:
Yes. Now, you showed it to me, and let me tell you this. When she told me she created an app called Lit Torch, I’m thinking it’s going to be an app that has a few features on it, all that good stuff, but it’s way more than that. Do me a favor. As a matter of fact, I’m going to do a rapid fire.
Susie Mooney:
Okay.
Seãn Johnson:
All right? I wrote some stuff down.
Susie Mooney:
Okay.
Seãn Johnson:
So here we go. Now I know automatically everything has to be monetized.
Susie Mooney:
Yes.
Seãn Johnson:
We’re doing this, not just to educate, but to also stay afloat.
Susie Mooney:
Yes.
Seãn Johnson:
So you definitely do have ad space.
Susie Mooney:
Yes.
Seãn Johnson:
So whether it be a manufacturer, accessory company letter, you do have that?
Susie Mooney:
Yes.
Seãn Johnson:
So that’s going to be there. That’s going to be one of the first thing that I’m going to see when I go there.
Susie Mooney:
Yes.
Seãn Johnson:
And where can we download the app?
Susie Mooney:
So you can download the app on Google Play or Apple, and you just type in Lit Torch app or Lit Torch and it’ll pop up.
Seãn Johnson:
It was a setup question because first thing they usually do, they make the app specifically for iPhone. I’m an Android guy. So if you said Apple and stopped there, I was just going to walk away. I was just going to walk away. Okay.
Susie Mooney:
No, I did my homework. I did.
Seãn Johnson:
Okay. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate it. So, okay, rapid fire. Can we find reviews on that website on the app for cigars?
Susie Mooney:
Absolutely. So I have a section. I have many features in the app, so there’s a section called reviews. And what I normally tell people or ask people is if you remember MTV Cribs, where people will walk into the celebrity houses and highlight the houses and talk to the owner, I do that for lounges. In my travels, I go and I visit a lounge and I will highlight the parts of the lounge that some people can’t travel to, so they can virtually visit a lounge via the app.
Seãn Johnson:
And if they get a chance to be in that neighborhood, that town, that city, now they say, oh, that’s where I went. I’m going to go ahead and go check that out.
Susie Mooney:
Absolutely. So my first one was tobacco leaf in Jessup, Maryland, and I highlighted it and got a lot of reviews on it. Dang, I got to visit that spot. And it was a spot that just moved, so everybody knew the tobacco leaf, the old tobacco leaf. But when I released it, it was like, man, I got to go back there.
Seãn Johnson:
Ah, okay.
Susie Mooney:
And that’s what it’s about. It’s about informing the community.
Seãn Johnson:
There we go. Next one, blogs.
Susie Mooney:
So what I did was I created [crosstalk 00:04:52].
Seãn Johnson:
So you have blogs?
Susie Mooney:
I do. Yeah, it’s called Cigar Talk and Such.
Seãn Johnson:
Okay, okay. Tell me about that.
Susie Mooney:
It’s a space on the app.
Seãn Johnson:
I see it.
Susie Mooney:
Yeah, and it just shows … So what I do is I try and push the breaking news, FDA, the stuff that we’re dealing with right now.
Seãn Johnson:
Right.
Susie Mooney:
And there’s a lot of ad space within there as well. But I pushed the information, so some people might not otherwise get the information. Or you might find it on Facebook, but if you get it from the Lit Torch app, you get a notification about something in the Cigar Talk and Such or any notification, you know it’s cigar related. It’s not saturated with Facebook posts or Instagram posts. It is cigar related.
Seãn Johnson:
All right, next one. All right, you ready for the curve ball?
Susie Mooney:
Yes.
Seãn Johnson:
Now, if you have brothers of the leaf, you’re going to have sisters of the leaf. So do you have something for a brother off the leaf to meet a sister off the leaf?
Susie Mooney:
Yes, actually, that was the initial concept. I wanted to create a dating app, right? But I didn’t want the app to be specifically for singles. I wanted the whole community, the whole industry to use the app. So it is really a social app for cigar smokers, but there is a space for singles to meet and greet. It’s a subscription only. And so if you are in that space, then you’re agreeing to meet with other people. It’s not like you’re going in the IGDM, Hey, how you doing? Or Tinder or match.com. You’re trying to figure out a way to match.
Seãn Johnson:
So, there’s no swipe right or …
Susie Mooney:
No.
Seãn Johnson:
Okay, okay.
Susie Mooney:
You’re in that space, and it’s color coded for … if you’re bi or you’re single, hetero, it’s all there. And you pick who you want to talk to, which eventually will evolve into speed dating events at lounges, or meet and greets at lounges for certain zip codes of single.
Seãn Johnson:
There you go. Now, the reason why I asked that question, and I thought it was going to be a curve ball for you, a lot of time, you will meet someone and everything is going great, dah, dah, dah, dah. And then two weeks later, they go, what are you doing? Oh, I’m [inaudible 00:07:07] back, smoking a cigar. Oh, you smoke? And the next thing you know, the whole two weeks of communicating is down the drain, [crosstalk 00:07:17] which is understandable because you don’t want to go ahead and invest in that, because now he’s going to want to change you. She’s going to want to change you.
Susie Mooney:
Right.
Seãn Johnson:
No, that’s my Zen.
Susie Mooney:
Exactly. Or that first kiss and you taste that the cigar taste and you’re like, do you smoke? And it’s like, damn, we really should have talked about that first.
Seãn Johnson:
Right.
Susie Mooney:
You don’t have that problem, right?
Seãn Johnson:
There you go.
Susie Mooney:
You go to the Lit Torch dating piece and you already have something in common.
Seãn Johnson:
Ladies and gentlemen, I really think we have a winner, but I got one more for you.
Susie Mooney:
Okay.
Seãn Johnson:
So I go ahead and I pull up in Vegas. I have a business meeting, I finished about two o’clock, and I’m at a hotel. It’s a no smoking hotel. So can I go to your app and see where I can go and find a lounge to go smoke?
Susie Mooney:
So there is a lounge locator, and it is currently being updated and it will be released very soon. And so what will happen is you can find lounges nearby.
Seãn Johnson:
Right.
Susie Mooney:
Or you could de-select. There’s a selection part, a filter part. You can de-select and select a certain state that you want to go to. So let’s say we’re going to Vegas, right? You click Vegas and you see all the lounges there.
Seãn Johnson:
Wow. All right.
Susie Mooney:
And it’s recommended lounges, so it’s not all lounges across, and there’s some internationally as well.
Seãn Johnson:
Honestly, I’m done. I’m done. What else am I missing? Tell me the rest because I thought I had all the questions down. She has a dating part to the app. Go ahead, please.
Susie Mooney:
So one of the biggest components is the notifications. So there are events going on. There are specials going on, and brands or event organizers want to push the information. Right? Currently I have over 4100 downloads. And so we’re reaching a large mass of people. And so right here, I have two events that are going on upcoming. And so what the organizer does is say, Hey, you need to download the app and you need to subscribe to this notification group, because I will be sending out information. Right before you come in, I’ll send a welcome or safe travels, make sure you pack your torch and your poker in your check bag.
Seãn Johnson:
In your check bag, not in your carry-on because you know those aren’t cheap.
Susie Mooney:
Right. Or let’s say there’s a venue change. You get an instant notification. You can get a Facebook notification, but who’s going to say, oh, let me see if that’s from the event? If you’re getting it from Lit Torch, you’re getting cigar specific. And if you’re at the event, you want to check and see if it’s something. Or let’s say free parking, tonight is free parking on Eighth street. Make sure you park on eighth street, and once that’s closed, you got to go to paid parking.
Seãn Johnson:
That’s a lot of information you’re putting in that app. That’s a very powerful app.
Susie Mooney:
Yeah, thank you.
Seãn Johnson:
That’s a very powerful app. Listen, hats off to this wonderful lady. And I know for a fact, you’re going to be coming up with more updates and it’s going to be added. So don’t just register on the app. What do you call it? Login and make sure you check that you want the notification, because as it updates, you’ll be able to get that. If there’s an event in your city, you’ll be able to get that update real time, so definitely stay tuned. And it’s called Lit Torch App.
Susie Mooney:
Lit Torch.
Seãn Johnson:
And it’s in not just Google Play.
Susie Mooney:
It’s in Apple.
Seãn Johnson:
The other company. I think they call them Apple.
Susie Mooney:
Yeah.
Seãn Johnson:
You can get it there, too.
Susie Mooney:
Yeah, yeah.
Seãn Johnson:
Okay? That’s all I got to say. Listen, thank you.
Susie Mooney:
Thank you.
Seãn Johnson:
Thank you so much. And as you see it, I’m a gadget freak, so I already have this. Until next time, have great cigar conversations.
Seãn Johnson:
Thank you for watching another episode of Cigar Conversations. For more information or to comment on previous shows, visit us at cigarconversations.com. Or if you’d like to appear on a future show or advertise with cigar conversations, send us an email request at ads@cigarconversations.com.
