MangoMike

Sorry I'm so late responding. Although I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked, it was still a great experience getting to meet everyone and enjoy a smoke with you. I'm honored that my bike is the first picture in the series. Maybe some of us can meet in Ybor again in November when they have the Cigar Celebration and many vendors set up tents and cigars are everywhere. Not Cubans, but still a fun event. Hope we can meet again, and maybe next time I will be able to stay longer. Cheers

Thanks for all the suggestions. My Aristocrat is cooled and temp is not a problem. I'm fighting humidity. I bought the Aristocrat after fighting the humidity problem with a wine cooler. Some fellow Floridians swear by Kitty Litter, and as soon as I can find the right kind I'll give that a try.

Although I wasn't able to stay very long, it was great meeting everyone this morning at King Corona. Chuck and Bill get together frequently and it would be nice if more of us joined them, at least occasionally. Hope to run into y'all again, soon. Bill, thanks for the unique cigar, it's resting comfortably in my humidor along with Rob's gift. Chuck, great job putting everything together. Thanks for you efforts. I tried to find Exquisicat without the blue beads today, no luck, but I'll keep looking. Mike (the guy with the black Victory Vision motorcycle)

It's summer in Tampa and the humidity is at it's normal high, and this is playing havoc with my humidor. I have an Aristocrat End Table size humi, with both temp and humidity controls. The problem is the humi control only adds humidity, there is no internal way to reduce it. So I buy beads, 2 lbs worth, but that doesn't help much, so I add 3 containers of Damp Rid. That worked pretty well in the Spring, but now that summer is in full bloom, it isn't enough either. Chuck (Tampa1257) suggested I go to a pet store and buy some kitty liter to help reduce the humidity. Trouble with that is, I have so much humidity control stuff in the humi that if I add anymore I'll have to take cigars out. Kinda defeats the purpose. I then bought a small window a/c with sits right next to the humi. When that is running I open the humi door and the a/c sucks the humidity right out and drops it back into the 60's where I like it. Problem is, it gets so cold in the room that I turn it off, close the door, and bam, the humidity is right back up in the mid 70's! Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Chuck, Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you set this up. Mike

Chuck, Thought I'd posted this last night, but don't see anything in the list, so I must have suffered another Senior Moment. I will certainly be there for the Ybor portion, at the very least, more if time permits. Please add me to the list... Mike Denson

Chuck, I plan to join y'all in Ybor (at least) so count me in for the first portion. Mike

Bingo, you've got it... » In honor of today's Pennsylvania Primaries: » » We in Denmark cannot figure out why you are even bothering to hold an » election. » » On one side, you have a ***** who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer, and a » lawyer who is married to a ***** who is a lawyer. » » On the other side, you have a true war hero married to a lovely woman with » a lovely chest who owns a beer distributorship. » » Is there a contest here? » »

Tom, welcome to FOH. There are a few of us from the Tampa area on the forum (including a Chuck, one of the moderators and a real expert on CC's, so you should feel right at home. Tell us some more about yourself.

Between the Monte #1 and Bolivar Gold Medal from Tampa1257, and the Trinidad Reyes from Professor Twain (I haven't found the courage to try the RyJ Cazador yet) I've been spoiled beyond repair. Today, while roasting a half pound of Zambian Terranova coffee in my garage I fired up a nice Sancho Panza that's been resting in my humi for about a year. Once I got the roast going, I sat back to enjoy my cigar. But there was a problem, and it wasn't with the Sancho Panza, it was me! I've always enjoyed the Sancho Panza, but somehow, this one just didn't taste the same to me. I wasn't eating or drinking anything, so that wasn't the problem. Then it dawned on me. Chuck and Bill had shown me how good a cigar can taste. I think I'm hooked. Sure glad I found Cigar Czar, and you folks on FOH. Now I just have to figure out how to pay for my new found love. Thanks guys, I think...

Welcome, from Tampa. Good to have you here.

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd had a chance to spend a couple of hours with Tampa1257 and Professor Twain a couple of weeks ago. As I was leaving, Chuck handed me a nice Bolivar Gold Medal. I put it in my humidor when I got home, thinking I'd save it for awhile. Well, today seemed like just the day to sit a relax with the Bolivar. So I did my normal routine, made an espresso, got a good book, and pulled the GM out of the humi. Took all this out to my porch and sat down to enjoy life. Took my Palio and neatly cut the head, toasted the foot, then fired her up. Made sure I had a good fire going, and sat the cigar down and opened my book, took a sip of espresso and started reading. Reached over, picked up the cigar and took a puff. WOW, what a sweet taste. I didn't want to rush it, but I just had to take a couple more quick hits. This was special. While the stick was from 2006 it tasted like a much older cigar. And how many ways can one say smooth? I put the book down, took off my glasses, and just sat back with a an ever growing smile. It was 75 degrees, bright, sunny, just a perfect day. And it quickly became a little more perfect as I slowly puffed on this wonder cigar. My taste buds are not at all refined, but I tried exhaling a little through my nose, and discovered a whole new dimension to cigars. Even I could detect an earthy taste, couple with leather (for some reason, I had a mental image of very light colored leather), and some pepper. For me this was a new found treat. Everything else about the cigar (feel, room aroma, burn) was just as one would expect from Bolivar. So, an extremely nice day was made a whole lot better by a fine gift from Chuck.

Thanks Tampa, and Prof. I hope to join you again, and sooner rather than later. You are the first guys I've met who have and share a passion for fine cigars, and I walked away from our meeting overwhelmed. I hope someday to contribute something to the conversation, but for now please don't mind my sitting back and rapidly scribbling notes as I try to learn about these great sticks. Mike

Last night I had a chance to meet, and share smokes with Tampa1257 (Chuck) and Professor Twain (Bill) at a local (for them) Sports Bar. What a great night. Bill has kindly answered a number of questions that I've had since joining the fine group, and he invited me to join them for one of their frequent Thursday get-togethers. The Sports Bar is about an hour from my house, but it took me almost 90 minutes to find the place. At one point I was about the give up, but gave it one more shot, and managed to stumble on Norton's Sports Bar. Bill had said they'd probably be the only two guys smoking cigars, and sure enough they were. I introduced myself, sat down, and my education began. I've only been smoking cigars for about 2 years now, and have never had the opportunity to share with others, let alone two as knowledgeable as these guys. As soon as I sat down chuck opened his cigar caddy and handed me a fine, 7 year old Monte #3. What a sweet cigar, smooth as only a properly aged CC can be, and while my palate is not very refined, it was very, very tasteful. I soon wished I'd been taking notes. At 65 my memory is all but shot. And there was so much wonderful information, it's hard to relay, or even remember much of it. But some things stuck, like the joy of thin ring gauge cigars. Chuck has made me a believer in the superiority of thin ring gauges, and the Monte he'd given me proved it beyond a doubt. I'm not ready to throw out my Robustos, but I will certainly look harder at the thinner cigars from here on out. Two hours just flew by, and since I had about an hours drive to get home, I had to leave. Bill handed me an 03 RyJ Cazador and a nice un-banded cigar, the name of which eludes me (see, notes are important at my age ;-) ). He then warned me about the RyJ being a very strong cigar and to only attempt it after a large meal). Chuck, after having given me the Monte, handed me a gold wrapped Bolivar, which he said was only available through one source, whose name I also forget. But these are very special smokes, and I really appreciate their immense generosity to someone they'd never met. I guess all they needed to know was that I was a member of FOH. Thanks for a great night guys. Mike

Lisa, as a new member you've been a great help, and I really appreciate it. I hope you have a wonderful birthday and a long life filled with love and happiness. Cheers, Mike

» Matt just dropped off my new Avallo 1000. It is beautiful. The » craftsmanship is top rate. He is such a great guy.I can not wait to set it » up tonight. » » As soon as I put the few boxes I have in the humidor I will take a few » pictures. My collection is very small compared to some I have seen here, » but I am slowly working my way up. » » Thank you You're going to love having a "real" humi. My life became a lot easier when I got rid of my coolador and got a real humidor, one that seals properly and keeps your cigars happy. Mike

» Well it is Valentines Day here and I wanted to wish all my boys happy » Valentines Thanks for being great » » Lisa Thanks Lisa. As a very new member I am very impressed with the service and care you provide. It's good to be part of the family. Mike

God bless 'em. It takes guts to stand up for what you believe, especially when could possibly have a negative effect on your life. But, then again, it could have a very positive effect by attracting new customers who support their position. Mike

After a long break I recently re-found FOH and I'm damn glad I did. What a fantastic forum; extremelly well moderated with very helpful and friendly members. Congratulations on reaching 2500, glad to be a member of the family. Mike

» Yo Mike, great to have you... we will get together for a smoke well before » July. Sounds great, looking forward to meeting you...

I originally signed on back in July 06, but must have lost the link and subsequently forgot about FOH. A BOTL on another board mentioned y'all (sorry, I'm from Florida), and I got to looking around. Boy did I miss the boat. What a great looking forum, hope I can lend a little to the discussions. But I've only been smoking cigars for a couple of years so don't know how much I can offer, but we'll see. Since I live in Tampa I'm looking forward to the Gathering in July. Glad to be back... Mike

» Tampa » » Saturday 19th of July 12 noon at a place to be specified. Chuck and » Professor can give some thought and nominate the location. Set the day » and date aside and we will flesh out the details by end March. » » Post on this thread when you know you can make it. It will assist us in » getting the logistics right. » » I have a soft spot for Tampa and am looking forward to getting back! Sounds great, I've got it on my calendar. Looking forward to meeting everyone. Mike

As a member of some other cigar forums I've seen several postings discussing FOH. It's good to be here. Although I'm new to both CC's and NC's I am looking forward to reading the posts and sharing what I can. Cheers, Mike