Just like everyone with a little foresight - or maybe quite some butthurt after last 6 months - I have done what smarts require me to do and ~~lived the abundance life~~ explored other platforms similar to Steem. Because I truly believe that Dan Larimer was onto something with DPoS, for now my focus has been mostly on DPoS based platforms, but maybe in the future I may expand my scope beyond that governance model.

One of the most interesting elements, despite loving a good dose of #meta internal kitchen gossip and echo-chamber, was to discover how I missed niche. While when joining Steem I did say that I loved the eclectic nature of the platform, that was more a personal content creation freedom than a content consumer joy.

![920CD439-626B-4372-9271-E88F5B22DEF6.jpeg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZCTAurVnKYrJwSus5828wdtYUaX3kkBx9igyDYWyBiBw/920CD439-626B-4372-9271-E88F5B22DEF6.jpeg)

Let’s be honest about things: I love niche. I love tech, I’m also a big fan of sports and consume thousands of words created every day around those two topics. The former is obvious, as a Steemhunt mod, the latter is innate as a European citizen.

Right know when I visit Scorum, I haven’t truly discovered the level of reading quality I enjoy. But there’s no doubt that as the platform matures, authors will improve their quality - or be replaced [on trending] by more capable authors. At least, here’s believing in the organic nature of DPoS creator rewards. I know, right, gotta have some ideals.

A discovery which was less expected though was the joy found on the [Smoke.io](https://smoke.io) platform, a cannabis focused DPoS blockchain community.

Obviously, helped by previous cannabis experiences it was easy to become a part of and enjoy the vibe in a niche community, a community with passion. There’s great beauty to be found in an absolutely related and focused [trending](https://smoke.io/trending) feed.

One of the beautiful elements about Smoke so far has been how a small community, still in need to grow, can easily deliver a bird’s eye news overview with only few authors. Authors who contribute regularly, but without resorting to typical news blogger pace of 4-10 articles daily.

Thanks to cannabis author, blogger, and even recipe master [@kiefpreston](https://smoke.io/@kiefpreston) and the seemingly still new [@alibi](https://smoke.io/@alibi), I have found an easy way to stay updated about the most important cannabis industry news in recent weeks.

<center>![7B9A7510-FBFE-4501-AB18-894CC03471EF.jpeg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTiCWYSiFV5FY4AzJGu9ZcqL27pmEKgNjejyzGXjrDvqK/7B9A7510-FBFE-4501-AB18-894CC03471EF.jpeg)<br><em>Author and podcaster Kief Preston</em></center>

Interesting reads included:

### 1. [Rodrigo Duterte Supports Medical Cannabis](https://smoke.io/news/@kiefpreston/today-s-weed-news-for-december-19th-2018-philippines)
Kiefpreston, isn’t that a brilliant username, reports the news that War on Drugs lord, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, would support legalization of medical use. I don’t believe anything of the soundbite, and as per comments on Kief’s post it would be surprising if it happened.

<em>[Read more here](https://smoke.io/news/@kiefpreston/today-s-weed-news-for-december-19th-2018-philippines)</em>

<center>![](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcvePjFEBJ1wrFhtLp3WqN35PnhK68wWGFkMEQVc8dX9P/image.jpeg)</center>

### 2. [The Marlboro Weed Cigarette is Near](https://smoke.io/news/@alibi/tobacco-giant-comes-to-cannabis-with-usd1-8bn-investment)

Parent company of Marlboro and Philip Morris, Altria, invest whopping $1.8 billion (billion!) in Canadian - not Cannadian- cannabis company Cronos. When Big Lobby join big market potential and healthy scenes.

<em>[Read more here](https://smoke.io/news/@alibi/tobacco-giant-comes-to-cannabis-with-usd1-8bn-investment)</em>

### 3. [The $11,000 Cannagar](https://smoke.io/news/@alibi/the-usd11-000-cannabis-cigar-or-how-to-celebrate-new-year-in-las-vegas)

When you have too much money, blow something good. Something like a 24 grams marijuana cigar, wrapped in edible gold leaf. That’s almost an ounce of Cannabis in one cigar. Because you do know [how many grams in an ounce of cannabis](https://smoke.io/grams/@plug/how-many-grams-in-an-ounce-of-cannabis), don’t you?

<center>![33ECCB2D-D18A-4032-B0DD-F90128214F23.jpeg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWGk4mhFcfTUJ1LsH7n9gtUyASo2HER86rjBE3HS77Fzb/33ECCB2D-D18A-4032-B0DD-F90128214F23.jpeg)<br><em>Luckily it comes with cigar cutter included</em></center>

Talk about celebrating New Year’s Eve in style.

<em>[Read more here](https://smoke.io/news/@alibi/the-usd11-000-cannabis-cigar-or-how-to-celebrate-new-year-in-las-vegas)</em>.


## Niche is the Future

While there are several communities on Steem, mostly based around Discord communities, with the exception of few tags there is very little true topical niche slash community on Steem. While that fits in the “dominate longtail story”, by covering everything, it at the same time also makes Steem (and by extension similar platforms like Weku, Whaleshares, and Bearshares - lelz) an unwieldy and poorly organized platform for content consumers. Combined with the utterly poor trending/hot organization of tags, the large scope platforms are a mess, a Wild Wild West and invite niche communities to be created and develop around a central topic, offering their members the improved experience.