Hard to believe that today marks two years of being on the board. I've been feeling in a very generous move recently since the phillies won the world series, so in addition to sponsoring one of the holiday writing contests, I'm starting up two more here.

The first contest, eligible for members who have joined in the same month as me (Nov '06) or before: Pick my favorite starting hold em poker hand which I irrationally play regardless of the situation. No need to pick specific suits, but you can guess if it's suited or not (assuming you don't think it's a pair). If no one gets it I'll pick the closest to it (in terms of numbers from each card).

The winner will then get to pick a (reasonably priced) box of sticks to split with me and the winner of the second contest. So assuming it's a 20 stick box, they'll get 10, I'll take 5, and send 5 to the winner of the second contest. I'll also throw in a couple of crappiest sticks I can find in my cooler.

The second contest, eligible for members who have joined after me: Pick my favorite region of the world for wine. Again, if no one picks it I'll go with the closest to it (by geography I guess).

Winner will get a 5er from the box the winner of the first contest selects, plus whatever leftover crappy sticks I haven't given to the winner of the first contest.

Standard rules apply, no asshats, no editing, etc. Only one guess per member. Contest will be open until I decide to check the board sometime next friday (the 21st). If you guess the wrong category you are dumb and disqualified.

I decided to do the contest like this since my favorite part of the board is getting suggestions for new cigars to try and share. I trust the collective experience of CS much more than any magazine, cigar blog or review site. I also enjoyed the advice that I've gotten from searching the board and reading questions asked before me. So I wanted the contest to say thanks to those who have come before me, while keeping up the spirit of how they have helped me.

I'm not the most prolific poster here, but I have learned a lot and checking the board is usually one of the highlights of my day. So thanks for a good two years. Good luck.