Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 13, 2026

Retrohale is run by one person, not a company. This policy explains what information the app collects, why, and what is done with it. It is written to be read, not to be skimmed past.

The short version: Retrohale does not sell your data. It does not share it with advertisers. It does not run ads. Your journal is yours, you can download all of it at any time, and you can delete your account and have it actually deleted.

1. Who runs Retrohale

Retrohale ("the app," "we," "I") is operated by Mark, an individual based in Kentucky, United States. Retrohale is a personal project, not a corporation.

If you have questions about this policy or about your data, contact: [email protected]

2. Who can use Retrohale

Retrohale is a cigar journal. You must be 21 years of age or older to create an account or use the app. You confirm your age when you sign up. The app is not directed to anyone under 21, and accounts belonging to anyone under 21 will be removed.

Retrohale does not sell, ship, or deliver tobacco products. It is a journaling and inventory tool.

3. What information is collected

Information you give us:

• ·Account information — your email address, and a password if you sign up with email. If you sign up with Google, we receive your email address and basic profile information from Google, and no password is stored.
• ·Profile information — a display name and, if you upload one, a profile photo.
• ·Your journal content — the cigars you log, your notes, ratings, flavor tags, the humidors you create, your inventory and purchase dates and prices, the names of guests you enter, and any photos you upload.
• ·Age confirmation — the fact that you confirmed you are 21 or older.

Information collected automatically:

• ·Basic technical information — the kind of information web servers ordinarily log, such as IP address, browser type, and the pages requested. This is used to keep the app running and secure.
• ·Cookies and similar technology — see Section 7.

Information we do not collect:

• ·We do not collect payment information. Retrohale is free and does not process payments.
• ·We do not track your location.
• ·We do not run advertising trackers or third-party ad networks.

4. How your information is used

Your information is used only to operate the app:

• ·To create and secure your account and sign you in
• ·To store and display your journal, humidors, inventory, and photos back to you
• ·To compute your Palate — your personal flavor fingerprint — which is calculated entirely from your own logged sessions and is shown only to you
• ·To keep the app working, fix problems, and prevent abuse
• ·To communicate with you about your account when necessary (for example, a password reset)

Your journal content is not used to advertise to you and is not shared with anyone.

5. What is never done with your data

To be explicit, because this is the whole point of the app:

• ·Your data is never sold. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to anyone, under any circumstances.
• ·Your data is never rented, traded, or licensed.
• ·Your journal content is not shared publicly. It is private to your account.
• ·Retrohale does not show you ads and does not share your information with advertising networks.

6. Who your information is shared with

Your information is not shared with anyone except the service providers required to run the app, and only to the extent needed to run it:

• ·DigitalOcean — hosting, database, and file storage (the servers the app runs on and where your photos are stored)
• ·Google — only if you choose to sign in with Google, for authentication
• ·An email service provider — to send account-related email such as password resets
• ·Sentry — crash reporting, so that when the app breaks it can be found and fixed

These providers process data on our behalf and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes.

About Sentry, specifically. When the app crashes, a report is sent to Sentry describing the crash itself — the error message, the line of code it happened on, and the page it happened on. It is deliberately not a copy of what you were doing. Your journal entries, tasting notes, session notes, flavor tags, cigar and humidor names, guest names, photos, and email address are stripped out of these reports before they are sent, and your account is not identified in them. Sentry sees that something broke; it does not see what you were smoking or what you wrote about it.

Retrohale does not use Sentry's session replay, performance tracing, or user-analytics features. They are turned off. Nothing records your screen or your activity.

We may also disclose information if required to do so by law, such as in response to a valid subpoena or court order, or to protect the safety or rights of users.

If Retrohale were ever transferred to someone else, you would be notified before any transfer of user data, and the never-sell commitment in this policy would go with it.

7. Affiliate links and cookies

Retrohale is free and carries no ads or subscriptions. Hosting is paid for by affiliate links.

What that means in plain terms: some links in the app — particularly in the Gear section and in cigar price listings — go to outside retailers such as Amazon and cigar retailers. If you click one and buy something, Retrohale may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

As an Amazon Associate, Retrohale earns from qualifying purchases.

When you click one of these links, the retailer may place a cookie on your browser so that any purchase you make is credited to Retrohale. That cookie is set by the retailer, not by Retrohale, and is governed by that retailer's privacy policy. Retrohale does not see your purchase details, payment information, or shopping activity on those sites.

Retrohale itself uses cookies only for essential functions — chiefly keeping you signed in.

8. Your rights over your data

You own your journal. Concretely:

• ·Export. You can download a complete copy of your data — your profile, humidors, inventory, and all of your sessions — at any time, from your profile. This is not a summary; it is everything.
• ·Delete. You can delete your account from within the app. This is a real deletion, not a hidden flag: your account, your humidors, your inventory, your sessions, and your uploaded photos are removed. It cannot be undone.
• ·Correct. You can edit your profile and journal content at any time within the app.
• ·Ask. If you want to know what is held about you, email the address in Section 1.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act or the GDPR. Retrohale honors export and deletion requests from anyone who asks, regardless of where they live, because that is the right thing to do rather than a legal minimum.

Note that Retrohale does not sell personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of on that front.

9. How long data is kept

Your data is kept for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account, it is removed. Ordinary server logs and backups may persist for a short period as part of normal operation before aging out.

10. Security

Passwords are stored hashed, never in plain text. If you sign in with Google, no password is stored at all. Data is transmitted over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Photos are stored in access-controlled cloud storage.

No system is perfectly secure, and it would be dishonest to claim otherwise. Reasonable measures are taken to protect your information, but no absolute guarantee can be made.

11. Children

Retrohale is for adults aged 21 and over. It is not directed to children, and information is not knowingly collected from anyone under 21. If you believe someone under 21 has created an account, contact the email in Section 1 and it will be removed.

12. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the "Last updated" date at the top will change, and material changes will be communicated in the app. The core promises — no ads, no data sales, real export, real delete — are commitments, not marketing, and are not intended to change.

13. Governing law

This policy and your use of Retrohale are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles.

14. Contact

Questions, concerns, or data requests: [email protected]

Retrohale is one person's passion project. If something here seems wrong or unclear, say so and it will be fixed.