Site Review
SMOKE SIGNALS ONLINE
I recently joined Smoke Signals Online , probably the most heralded and longest running smoking fetish paysite on the 'net. Smoke Signals needs no real introduction to anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the smoking niche online, so I won't waste much space on background other than to say they have been around since 1994-almost like the beginning of time in internet terms-have a print and online magazine as well as two other sites (www.smokingflicks.com and smokingfetishvideo.com)
I must say that I was somewhat disappointed in the video material available in the member's area. That could be just because my expectations were so high, but I think its fair to say that the amount of content available is probably not what one would expect, given how long they have been around. They claimed, and accurately so, to have done an update with regard to new video. They did have some recently added clips, Krista I think the model's name was, and there was approximately 30 minutes of new clips featuring her. In fact, brwosing through the last three months of recently added video, its clear that most all of the clips range from 50 seconds to a minute and a half. I saw none two minutes or longer, although I did not go through their video archive, which contains their video updates back to 2002. The clips are available for playing in WMV and MPEG.
There are a lot of pics, however, seveal galleries of the same models and more models than seem to be there for the video portion. This includes some high resolution pics. the pics, like the videos are fairly well described, mainly with a movie-like rating of PG, R, X. It seems like th evast majority of the pics, like the video clips, fall into the PG/R camp.
Membership also gives you access to the online edition of their magazine, Smoke Signals, which I learned will only be published online after the June/July issue. The magazine also carries a "Dark Side" column for those who like the edgier side of the niche as well as a very good movie review section and smoking fiction column. The magazine itself will be worth the price of membership for some. After all, aside from smoking message boards with guys posting things like "who was that babe smoking a cork in that one scene of that one Colight video that came out about 5 years ago?" and "anyone know where I can find free nude pictures of Anna Kournikova doing a combo nostril/mouth exhale?", there is relatively little fresh and entertaining dialogue about the smoking fetish out there. Smoke Signals is easily the best in this regard, which is evidenced by the fact that they have been publishing so long both online and offline with a very loyal readership.
One thing that I must say bothered me was getting my membership, logging in that first time and seeing all the links of where I could go now that I was a full fledged member of the site. My eyes immediately went to the link that said "Full Length Videos" and I clicked there only to find that I was now at smokingfetishvideos.com, obviously run by the same folks, but...you guessed it, my $18.95 didn't get me into smokingfetishvideos.com, where, apparently, all of the full length videos are (or at smokingflicks.com, a pay-per-view site owned by smoke signals with a large library of content) That was something that I would have liked to have been clear on before I joined, as the advertising on the page definitely indicates members get access to all of the huge library of content Smoke Signals has amassed over the years. I could have missed it, but since their home page and Online store landing page have, literally, been the same for years-not even a pic swapped out-I don't think so. I'm not saying I felt deceived, just disappointed. I'm the kind of guy who feels you should get the whole shebang with membership or, if not, then it should be made crystal clear that joining one area or club won't get you this or that, yada, yada, yada.
I think this site is a must for those who really enjoy pics and would enjoy reading interviews with smoking models and directors, as well as smoking fiction. For video/clip fans, I have to say that the content is just nediocre. Most of Smoke Signals video content is material made by outside producers, and I think there is some fresher, more imaginative stuff out there than what I saw in the member's area. However, for the money, and if you're really into the fetish, you know, can't get enough, you need to check this membership out, even if its just for a couple of months. My overall grade: B
