2009

[ashauler]

Was a good year, imo, for Cigarsmokers.com. We added several quality, participating members and had a few, uh, interesting characters stop by and give us some entertainment.

Since we added so many quality members, let's have a little contest only for them.

Participation Rules:
Must have joined in 2009
Must have at least 50 posts
One entry per participant.
Must have posted on the board within the last month, as of today, January 25, 2010 (my father's birthday btw).

Contest:
Give us a little run down on your experiences here at Csmokers, a kind of "Best of" for 2009. Things you have learned, people you have met, cigars you have smoked. Entries in the form of Haikus will be immediately disqualified, other than that, it's pretty
much wide open.

Contest will close on January 31, 2010 at midnight CST, and I'll choose the entry that I enjoy the most. Winner will receive a selection of smokes from my cooler.

[SirPuffsAlot]

Well, I joined fairly late in the year, but have already learned and applied a lot. I purchased and seasoned my first humidor in October, thanks to the guidance and information provided here. I've also greatly broadened my taste for different cigars, and plan to participate in a newbie sampler in the next month or so. Plans for a coolerdor got put on hold when business picked up, but hopefully I'll get to do that soon as well. All in all I've benefited a lot from joining this community, and enjoyed watching a few people crash and burn in the process! So far, I've followed the "read more, post less" rule, but as I learn and gain experience I will contribute more to the board. Thanks to all the main contributors, FOG's, BOTL's, etc. for making this a very beneficial and welcoming community of good honest guys (and gals )

[MemphisFred]

I've never been very good at writing out things like this but here goes nothing. After getting my first humidor, back in Nov., I started searching for all links "cigar". I found quite a few of course, several also having forums. I signed up for virtually all of them, and having lurked about for a bit, settled on here. I've never even posted on any of the other boards, I just like it here better. I'm not a newbie to forum boards in general, just new to this board. So after reading and searching about for awhile, I posted an introduction. See told ya, not my first rodeo . Everybody was very welcoming and I've strived to mix in and not be an azzhat and incur the wrath of the FOG's.

There is a wealth of information on here, from setting up coolerdors to fantastic reviews to just about any question you may have. And after searching if you have not found the answer, somebody will steer you right. I also like the cigar contests, we have some very imaginable minds here. I haven't met anyone from the board in person yet, but I have had some entertaining PM's & chat room visits with several of the BOTL. I have done a couple of trades, and I'm in the process of a couple more. As I said once before in a post, I'm here for the duration, and plan on being around until I'm a FOG.

Fred

[MemphisFred]

Oh btw, Happy B-Day to your dad

[buzz]

Thanks for the contest Jamie!

I checked out about 5 or 6 cigar forum sites and am so glad I went with cigarsmokers.com. This site stands out from the others in that it doesn't put up with the typical annoyances experienced everywhere else on the Internet. I love how the site is member-moderated; the ban polls are genius. I like how people are not just simply given answers but told to search for them first, to make an effort - and how poor spelling/grammar are frowned upon here.

I've learned a lot about the hobby in just the last couple months, almost completely due to this website. Lopaka's humidor guide is solid gold, and I'll be putting BWA's instructions to use when I set up my coolidor. I've learned how to store a cigar, how to cut it, how to light it, how to keep it burning evenly, how to purge it, how to ash it, and most importantly, how to enjoy it. Mangyrat tot me how to use the spell-check, and Paddy showed me how to correctly quote someone. Crazy Frank (who I think is locked up now), taught me to always check the date of the post before I reply to it. A whole bunch of now-banned users taught me the value of reading more, and posting less. And my good friends at the USPS taught me to use at least 5 pounds of bubble wrap to ship a glass container, especially when it is full of delicious amber liquid.

I've enjoyed many great cigars since I started the hobby; here are a few of my favorites:
A Rocky Patel Vintage 1990, which was my first "official" cigar. I had many other cigars in the past, but never paid attention to the brand, or the taste. A Camacho Triple Maduro; after I had a wicked bad day, this puppy perked me right up. The RP 1961; my wife got for me to celebrate being done with the studying for the FPE exam. A RASS, which was my first "official" ISOM. I had been given cubans before, but who knows (I didn't) if they were real or not. And coming up, a RP Decade, which I will be smoking as my celebration cigar for passing the FPE.

In addition to the wealth of information I have found on this site, there are many humorous posts I feel are worthy of putting into my top 9 quotes of 2009 list...
9. "Are you joking when saying that? I can't tell - it's the internet." -Fark
8. "You bastards done went an' ran him off before I ever got an answer to my cat question." -CoventryCat86
7. "Happy Birthday Six Pack!!! (and then the red-faced double-bird smiley) -cigarsarge
6. "Don't flinch Buzz. Ash can smell your fear." -logan37
5. "I don't want no pictures of douchnozzles!" -Shelby07
4. "Just run everything threw a spell checker." -Mangyrat
3. "Pointless? I dunno, seems to be a lesson in here somewhere." -ashauler
2. "I like the cigar shaped ones, in my mouth, burning at the opposite end. Those are my favorites." -badwhale
1. "Isn't that when a dog "farts" and "barks" at the same time?" -Roger

I've "met" a bunch of really great individuals on this website - I hope to herf with you guys in person in the coming years.

This community
Where we smoke cigars and laugh
Is an awesome place

ohh fark... I guess I even learned how to break the contest rules from da "socket wrench" jones

-Buzz

[dajones]

Thanks for the contest Jamie!

ohh fark... I guess I even learned how to break the contest rules from da "socket wrench" jones

-Buzz

Awww... Buzz you are SO sweet!

[badwhale]

<snip>

Contest:
Give us a little run down on your experiences here at Csmokers, a kind of "Best of" for 2009. Things you have learned, people you have met, cigars you have smoked. Entries in the form of Haikus will be immediately disqualified, other than that, it's pretty
much wide open.

Contest will close on January 31, 2010 at midnight CST, and I'll choose the entry that I enjoy the most. Winner will receive a selection of smokes from my cooler.

Thanks for yet another contest Jamie!

Let's see...Things I've learned:

1) My Oasis XL wasn't broken.
2) Some Consuergras are pretty GD good, others may "lick balls"
3) If I sit on chat long enough, someone will join me.

People I've met:
irish79, factoredreality, & Smoked! if we're strictly speaking in person. Lots of you guys & gals I feel we could walk right into a real life meeting, and pick up like long friends. I can add to this list after the herf coming up in Feb.

Cigars or Cigar brands I've smoked (that were new to me since I joined. I'll try to list them from memory, but seriously, this board has really, REALLY, brought me out of the cigar doldrums I was in):
Anejo, Oliva, AVO, Camacho, LFD, Famous Nic 3000s, Opus X, Padron (yeah, belive it or not, I never had a Padron prior to this board), ISOM, Tatuaje, Don Tutos, Cerberus, Taboo, Pirate's Gold, Hemmingways, Man O War. I'm sure I'm missing something, and I hope I didn't slight anyone that sent me something cool in a trade or a bomb.

A lefthand thanks to the douchecranks that join the board and give us some good entertainment while they meltdown.

Thanks to everyone who's made me feel at home, and that's what it is for me. An extension of good friends who happen to like to smoke cigars.

Will

[ndv21]

Thanks for doing this Jamie!

There is so much to say about my newfound hobby in smoking cigars. I started off smoking about 2 per year on social events without really knowing what I was smoking or how to properly smoke them for that matter. It wasn't until my wedding day that my father brought 3 boxes of cigars to the reception (one for his table, one for my father-in-law's table, and one for me and my friends). Of course, these were really good cigars that he brought straight from Honduras so I only gave them to my closest friends. Turns out I kept about 10 of those which led me to the idea of getting a humidor for safekeeping.(I promised myself to keep these cigars and smoke one on each anniversary.) That is how I got to CS.com while doing some research online.

After checking out the board for some time, I decided to create an account and join since I very much enjoy forum discussions. I am also part of another forum for my other hobby, scubadiving, and I have met some really wonderful people there. I am sure my involvement here will have the same results.

My cigar stash grew from 10 cigars to about 200 and now includes a 2nd humidor (which is about to burst as well). This is the result of the kindness of members of this board like :slcraiders, ashauler, mangyrat, memphisfred, edgeman, mailman, roger, buzz, etc. Each having their own little story: i.e. my wife hates ashauler cause he sent me an atomic bomb and I blame him for spending more time in my garage, slcraiders was extremely generous in the newbie sampler he sent me, mangyrat sent me some sticks I had been craving for a long time, memphisfred allowed me to try some cigars we suckered him into buying , mailman just wins contests and takes everyones sticks....lol..., roger sent me some sweet cigars for FREE, and edgeman and I are doing a boxsplit on some gurkhas. Buzz and I are also working on a box split of Nica Libres and he always adds entertainment to the discussions.

Things to look forward to:
-Feb. 5 2010 - I get to meet (personally) a fellow BOTL from this board, Edgeman while we Herf it up in Austin.
-Online chat sessions, planned or random, with several members here. Especially when we are having a conversation and somebody barges in asking why the place smells like sex...you know who you are, you are prone to suffer from SPS "Sleepy Pussy Syndrome" Shit, that might be my next contest, "Who can guess which BOTL suffers from SPS??" I gotta plan that one out soon
-Puro Pot Pass III. I have been training like a champ eventhough I guess I am bound to lose since Ashauler gets to send me a naked puro. Knowing you, you'd probably send me some kind of Sweedish Acid tasting blend you bastid!
-Badwhale's reviews. Always very informative and educational. Thanks for this brother, it really helps me out at picking cigars.
-The meltdowns...ahh the meltdowns...these make me appreciate the fact that I was blessed with a sense of logic and respect. I do get a kick out of them, I believe they add flare and avoid monotony.

Why I like CS aside from other cigar forums:
Aside from the fact of sharing a common interest in a specific hobby, I have to say that what really impresses me the most is the true sense of community I feel when I log on and post/chat with other members of the board. Badwhale said it right in his post about people in this board are considered your true friends and even if you have not met them in person, if you did, you could carry on like if you had known them for years. Thats very true man. But I have seen how everyone reacts to specific circumstances that for better or worse happen to other members i.e sickness in the family, family member passing away, prayers being sent, purchase of a new home, baby being born, passing exams, etc. That indeed means a lot to me and its one of the main reasons I have chosen to stay. A sense of family and belonging thanks to all you knuckleheads!

Thanks again Jamie for doing this.

Nelson

[ashauler]

Good stuff.

[badwhale]

Someone reminded me that I met funkycold5 in person too. Sorry I skipped you Andrew!

Will

[ashauler]

Alright, the contest is now closed. Thanks to all the entrants, I enjoyed reading them all, so much so that my decision will be a tough one. Maybe I won't even announce the winner and just launch the prize package.....keep some suspense going and all.