It has been a long time since I posted here... A month shy of 4 years to be exact... So I figure a reintroduction is in order, along with an extensive bio which will no doubt excite you to death.
My name is Bill, and I am in the California Central Valley. Ripon to be exact, but am looking to move in the next few months, but it will probably be no farther than about 15 minutes from where I live now. If you don't know Ripon, I am very close to Modesto.
I am almost 46, and have been smoking cigars since I was about 20-21. I have also been involved with online cigar communities for quite some time as well. I started off with a cigar group back on CompuServe, which was a subforum to the wine forum. Then, I spent quite some time on the alt.smokers.cigars usenet newsgroup before all of the web based forums existed.
I have been a member of a number of forums over the years - some that are still around, and some that are long gone. I only regularly post on one other cigar forum, which I am also a Moderator on. I also Admin a forum that is connected to my podcast.
Back about 5 years ago when I was posting here, I had a cigar podcast and was posting on several other forums as well. Then a few things happened over the years. I had some oral and gum surgery that put cigars on the back burner for me, and that caused me to hang up the cigar podcast. My review process took a lot of time and I didn't have that anymore, plus I cut way back on smoking while I recovered. This is when I stopped posting here.
As things stated to heal up, I found that I didn't have the motivation to keep up with the reviews with a baby boy and such. The next "life event" was my wife at the time decided she would rather be my ex-wife. While that went as smoothly as things could have gone and we are sill friendly, it took up a lot of time and energy.
With the absence of the cigar podcast, I found that I still had the need for a creative outlet, so I rebuilt my studio and started a new podcast that has nothing to do with cigars... it is my irreverent and inappropriate take on news and pop culture. It is NSFW, and I have a lot of fun doing it - I am up to episode 54, with #55 in the works.
So fast forward to today... I'm doing well, and my 5-year old son is doing great. I have started taking more time for cigars again, and it is less like a job now, and more for enjoyment. My preference is typically Habanos, with VR Famosos always at the top of my list, along with HU Mag46, JL #1, CoRo, Dip #2, etc. I also enjoy just about anything that EPC blends, PAM 64, and Liga. I'm also enjoying branching out and trying all of the domestics that have come out in the past few years that are all new to me.
Storage wise, I have a small desktop humi and and Aristocrat Mxt that I retrofitted with a cooling unit.
Aside from cigars, I love craft beers (and want to brew someday), audio production and recording (I've done voice stuff and had a couple of bits played on the radio or other podcasts), technology, and searching for a woman that doesn't mind a middle-aged single dad that smokes cigars and drinks beer.
In my spare time, I do a fair bit with my Lodge, and I am a Shriner as well. I'm also currently house hunting, which is not so fun. Let's see... there must be more... well, if I left something out, just ask. If you made it this far, you deserve some kind of medal!
Good to see a few familiar handles here, and look forward to getting to know those that I don't know!
Bill
My name is Bill, and I am in the California Central Valley. Ripon to be exact, but am looking to move in the next few months, but it will probably be no farther than about 15 minutes from where I live now. If you don't know Ripon, I am very close to Modesto.
I am almost 46, and have been smoking cigars since I was about 20-21. I have also been involved with online cigar communities for quite some time as well. I started off with a cigar group back on CompuServe, which was a subforum to the wine forum. Then, I spent quite some time on the alt.smokers.cigars usenet newsgroup before all of the web based forums existed.
I have been a member of a number of forums over the years - some that are still around, and some that are long gone. I only regularly post on one other cigar forum, which I am also a Moderator on. I also Admin a forum that is connected to my podcast.
Back about 5 years ago when I was posting here, I had a cigar podcast and was posting on several other forums as well. Then a few things happened over the years. I had some oral and gum surgery that put cigars on the back burner for me, and that caused me to hang up the cigar podcast. My review process took a lot of time and I didn't have that anymore, plus I cut way back on smoking while I recovered. This is when I stopped posting here.
As things stated to heal up, I found that I didn't have the motivation to keep up with the reviews with a baby boy and such. The next "life event" was my wife at the time decided she would rather be my ex-wife. While that went as smoothly as things could have gone and we are sill friendly, it took up a lot of time and energy.
With the absence of the cigar podcast, I found that I still had the need for a creative outlet, so I rebuilt my studio and started a new podcast that has nothing to do with cigars... it is my irreverent and inappropriate take on news and pop culture. It is NSFW, and I have a lot of fun doing it - I am up to episode 54, with #55 in the works.
So fast forward to today... I'm doing well, and my 5-year old son is doing great. I have started taking more time for cigars again, and it is less like a job now, and more for enjoyment. My preference is typically Habanos, with VR Famosos always at the top of my list, along with HU Mag46, JL #1, CoRo, Dip #2, etc. I also enjoy just about anything that EPC blends, PAM 64, and Liga. I'm also enjoying branching out and trying all of the domestics that have come out in the past few years that are all new to me.
Storage wise, I have a small desktop humi and and Aristocrat Mxt that I retrofitted with a cooling unit.
Aside from cigars, I love craft beers (and want to brew someday), audio production and recording (I've done voice stuff and had a couple of bits played on the radio or other podcasts), technology, and searching for a woman that doesn't mind a middle-aged single dad that smokes cigars and drinks beer.
In my spare time, I do a fair bit with my Lodge, and I am a Shriner as well. I'm also currently house hunting, which is not so fun. Let's see... there must be more... well, if I left something out, just ask. If you made it this far, you deserve some kind of medal!
Good to see a few familiar handles here, and look forward to getting to know those that I don't know!
Bill
