Terms of Service

You may use the Service only if all of the following are true:

• You are at least 21 years of age. There is no exception. Federal law (the Tobacco 21 Act of 2019) restricts tobacco-related products and services in the United States to adults 21 and older.
• You are a legal resident of the United States and are physically located in the United States when using the Service.
• You are of sound mind and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract.
• No court order, prior determination by us, or applicable law prohibits you from using the Service.

You represent and warrant that each of the above is true every time you access the Service.

The Doyen is a members-only community and editorial product for cigar aficionados. Members document the lounges they visit, the cigars they collect, and the pours they choose. We publish curated content, host a tasting journal, and operate a pairing engine that suggests spirit and beverage companions to cigars in our catalog.

The Doyen does not sell, distribute, ship, broker, or facilitate the sale of tobacco products. We are not a tobacco retailer. We are not affiliated with any tobacco manufacturer. Nothing in the Service is a solicitation to buy or consume tobacco. All cigars referenced in our catalog are for informational and community discussion purposes only.

The Service does not provide medical, legal, tax, or financial advice. Smoking any tobacco product carries documented health risks. Consumption of alcohol carries documented risks. You are solely responsible for your decisions. You must comply with all federal, state, and local laws applicable to you.

To create an account, you must attest to being 21 years of age or older and provide your date of birth. We use that date of birth to gate access to the Service.

We may, at our discretion, upgrade age verification for any or all accounts by requiring government-issued identification through a third-party verification vendor. Providing false information about your age is a material breach of these Terms and may result in immediate termination and legal action.

You must create an account to use most of the Service. You agree to (a) provide accurate registration information, (b) keep it current, (c) safeguard your password and login credentials, and (d) accept responsibility for all activity that occurs under your account.

Accounts are personal to you. You may not share, sell, transfer, or license your account. One person, one account. We may suspend, terminate, or refuse to create accounts at our sole discretion, particularly if we suspect fraud, age misrepresentation, or violation of these Terms.

The Service offers a free tier (“The Threshold”) and paid tiers (“The Aficionado,” “The Connoisseur,” and “The Doyen’s Circle”). Current pricing is displayed at thedoyen.club/membership. We may change pricing prospectively at any time, on notice, for new terms or new memberships.

Automatic renewal. Paid memberships renew automatically at the end of each billing period (monthly or annual) at the then-current price, until you cancel. You authorize us and our payment processor (Stripe) to charge your payment method on each renewal.

Cancellation. You may cancel at any time from your account settings or through the Stripe Customer Portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. You retain access through the end of that period.

NO REFUNDS. All fees are non-refundable. We do not issue refunds, prorations, or credits for partial billing periods, unused time, downgraded tiers, canceled subscriptions, forgotten cancellations, disabled accounts, dissatisfaction, or any other reason, except where required by applicable law. This is a bar members join and pay into; the seat is yours the whole period whether you use it or not.

Failed payments. If a payment fails, we may retry the charge, suspend access, downgrade you to the free tier, or terminate the account. You are responsible for keeping your payment method valid and current.

Taxes. Prices are exclusive of any taxes. You are responsible for all applicable sales, use, VAT, and similar taxes.

Chargebacks. Initiating a chargeback for a legitimately-billed charge is grounds for immediate account termination and may be treated as a material breach. We reserve all rights to recover chargeback fees and unpaid amounts.

The Service lets you post content: tasting journal entries, photos, comments, reactions, profile information, and messages (collectively, “Member Content”). You retain all ownership rights in your Member Content.

By posting Member Content, you grant The Doyen a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable license to host, use, reproduce, display, publish, distribute, translate, adapt, and create derivative works from that Member Content, in any media now known or later developed, for the purpose of operating and improving the Service and for our marketing and promotional purposes. You waive any moral rights in your Member Content to the fullest extent permitted by law.

You represent and warrant that (a) you own or have the necessary rights to your Member Content, (b) your Member Content and its use as permitted here does not violate any law or infringe any third party’s rights, and (c) your Member Content is not defamatory, harassing, obscene, or unlawful.

We are not obligated to store or maintain your Member Content. You are responsible for backing it up.

You agree not to:

• Use the Service if you are under 21 or outside the United States.
• Post any content that harasses, threatens, defames, or impersonates any person or entity.
• Post content that is sexually explicit, discriminatory, hateful, or that promotes violence.
• Solicit the sale of tobacco, alcohol, or any other regulated product through the Service.
• Advertise, spam, or solicit business through the Service without our prior written consent.
• Attempt to bypass, disable, or interfere with any security or access-control mechanism.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive source code from any portion of the Service.
• Scrape, crawl, or use automated tools to access the Service without our written permission.
• Use the Service to violate any law, third-party right, or these Terms.
• Use another member’s account or credentials, or share your own.

We may investigate suspected violations, remove content, and suspend or terminate accounts without notice. We may also cooperate with law enforcement or take legal action.

The Doyen, our logos, wordmarks, brand identity, the pairing engine, editorial content, curated notes, and every other element of the Service that is not Member Content are protected by copyright, trademark, trade dress, and other intellectual property laws. All rights are reserved.

The Doyen’s Table dispatches, curator commentary, catalog descriptions, pairing recommendations, and any other editorial works published by The Doyen or its contributors are proprietary works of authorship. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, adapt, translate, sell, license, or create derivative works from any portion of the Service without our prior written consent, except for personal, non-commercial use of features expressly permitted by the Service (e.g., viewing a page, adding a cigar to your personal journal).

“The Doyen,” “The Doyen’s Table,” “The Doyen Club,” and related marks are trademarks of The Doyen. You may not use our trademarks without our written permission.

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a written notice to our designated agent at support+thedoyen@creadio.com with (a) a physical or electronic signature, (b) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, (c) identification of the allegedly infringing material and its location on the Service, (d) your contact information, (e) a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law, and (f) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

We may terminate the accounts of repeat infringers in our discretion.

We rely on third-party service providers to operate the Service, including Supabase (data hosting and authentication), Stripe (payment processing), Firebase / Google (push notifications), Resend (transactional email), and Anthropic (vision-based cigar identification). Your use of features that depend on those services is subject to their respective terms. We are not responsible for third-party services and disclaim liability for them to the maximum extent permitted by law.

If you accessed the Service through the Apple App Store or Google Play, the following additional terms apply:

• These Terms are between you and The Doyen only, not with Apple or Google.
• Your use of the app must comply with the applicable App Store terms of use.
• Apple and Google are not responsible for the app or its content, and have no obligation to provide maintenance, support, refunds, or warranties.
• You represent that you are not located in a country subject to U.S. government embargo and are not on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• Apple and Google are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.
• The app does not sell, promote, market, or facilitate the sale of tobacco or nicotine products. Cigar catalog entries are informational and community-driven, describing the characteristics of products members already own.

The Service may request permission to use your device’s camera, photo library, and to send push notifications:

• Camera: To photograph cigar bands for identification and to attach photos to tasting journal entries.
• Photo library: To select existing photos to attach to journal entries, profile avatars, or curator dispatches.
• Push notifications: To notify you of new followers, curator dispatches, handle approvals, and other account-related events. You control push notifications from device settings and your account preferences.

You may grant or revoke these permissions from your device settings at any time. Revoking a permission may disable associated features.

You may terminate your account at any time from /account or by writing to us. Termination does not entitle you to a refund.

We may suspend or terminate your access at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including violation of these Terms, suspected fraud or age misrepresentation, or discontinuation of the Service. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ends immediately.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, dispute resolution, and general provisions.

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE DOYEN DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTY ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, FREE OF ERRORS, OR THAT ANY DEFECT WILL BE CORRECTED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THE ACCURACY OF ANY CONTENT, INCLUDING PAIRING RECOMMENDATIONS, PRICES, OR CATALOG INFORMATION.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE DOYEN AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, LICENSORS, AGENTS, AND AFFILIATES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE.

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS (US $100).

You will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless The Doyen and its officers, directors, employees, contractors, licensors, agents, and affiliates from any claim, loss, damage, cost, or expense (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from or related to (a) your use of the Service, (b) your Member Content, (c) your violation of these Terms, and (d) your violation of any law or third-party right.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Ohio, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles.

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights.

Informal resolution first. Before filing any claim, you agree to notify us at support+thedoyen@creadio.com with a written description of the dispute and to negotiate in good faith for at least 60 days.

Binding arbitration. Any dispute not resolved informally will be resolved by final and binding arbitration administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules, seated in Franklin County, Ohio, before a single arbitrator. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Class action waiver. You agree that any arbitration or legal action will be conducted only in your individual capacity and not as a class member. You waive any right to bring or participate in a class action.

Small claims. Either party may bring a qualifying claim in small-claims court in lieu of arbitration.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or in the Service. Your continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not accept the changes, stop using the Service.

Questions about these Terms? Write to us at support+thedoyen@creadio.com.

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and The Doyen and supersede all prior agreements. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. Our failure to enforce any right does not waive it. You may not assign these Terms; we may. Section headings are for convenience only.