I thought it might be a neat idea to honor botl's that have been responsible for pushing us farther down the slope than we ever intended to go.

Back when I was a whee young whipper snapper (and posted as tecnorobo at another place), there were two fellas that went by the name of coppertop and IHT.

These guys thought itd be a good idea to give me a very large kick in the pants. I made my way over to their neck of the woods empty handed, and I left with a humidor, and two large assortments of habanos. I can remember a plpc and boli rc very fondly- these two sticks found me "Hooked".

Not long after this, a number of posters found it appropriate to kick blast me even harder. PaulMac and Virtualsmitty were my two largest harassers. In fact, at one point, I believe Joe sent me an assortment of sticks that I could've bought a used car with.

Icehog, the floydps and motheman also thought it appropriate to bludgeon me to death with great varieties of cigars. I'm sure I'm missing other folks, as that was nearly 10 years ago!

I'm thankful for these people; if it were not for them, I would not have tried the many cigars I've gotten to over the years. If it were not for them, I would have never worked at two brick and mortar stores, I would have never sent out my first "bombs", and I would have never found my way into this place we call the asylum.

So, in short, in a way, I'm thankful for all of you. Each of you have probably had a hand in giving that someone a nudge down the hill. So, who pushed you down the slope?
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For me simple.

My very first CC (after only smoking cigars for a month or so) was a Monsdale in a PPP via Angel, he then gifted me a '05 Party Short to take home.. it was all down hill from there.

ArgusP2 (Angel)
Pnoon (Peter)

Honorable mention to:
SD Beerman (Larry)
GoatLocker (Eric)

Then shoves from the S.H.I.T. crew and a couple big herfs didn't hurt / help.
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If I remember correctly Tom (icehog3) was the first BOTL to send me a sampler of my first Cubans a BBF, PsD4, and another one I can't remember right now. After that I went to my first Herf and every BOTL that showed up that night kept shoving cigars in my face all night so that pretty much sold me. My second herf I showed up with my first Cuban box purchase (Punch Punch) and enjoyed handing out some smokes of my own but the guys still clobbered me with more amazing smokes.

Before that I enjoyed cigars but I think I enjoyed the idea of them more and the culture that is a part of our hobby but after getting mugged into the dark side that turned me into a true believer ever since and I couldn't be more happier with how it all turned out. Many thanks to all the BOTL who were so nice to a young smoker and "helping" me out
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Shilala. First he slapped me with a very well aged Shark, then hid a huge amount of a combination of CCs and NCs in my saddlebags. From that point on, all of the cigars I had at home tasted like ****. I am still hooked on PLs.
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DBall - he was in the area for business and we met up with another for a smoke. He gifted me a Punch of some sort, and I was on my way.
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NeuRon...after only 4-5 months into the hobby, I smoked a Cohiba Especial, Rafael Gonzales Perla, and HdM du Dieux with him. Needless to say, I threw the Gurkhas away the next day and ordered a bigger humidor shortly thereafter.
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"Doc" (Lynn C.), an older guy at my local lounge, he gave me a Parti Lusi and his sources, that was the beginning of the end!!
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I cant really recall who got me started on Cigars. I do recall my first cigar and how badly it kicked my arse. To think something as mild as a Macanudo blew me away just seems impossible nowadays. I also know that there are some friends and family that may have influenced me in this direction. These include Dad, my neighbor Norman, and Dick the Bruiser.
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galaga (Rick aka Slappy) was the one who got me hooked.
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Both of you trouble makers. I showed up to a cigar bar, you guys looked at my humi and said "we're gonna need to get some empty boxes from inside to hold all these"
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BlakSmyth aka Shane
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A long time Reviewer named Walt White (www.Waltinpa.com) (www.stogiereview.com) a local friend active shooter and cigar lover.
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Mac Daddy himself. I didn't know one maduro from the next until seeing his posts on here. Now I'd say 99% of my smokes are maddies. Thanks brother!
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Scott (Shilala) I sold my wife's Kindle DX to him and as payment he sent many a glourious stick. Included were many CC's and I had never had one. These piqued my interest and it's been a sheer cliff since. I'd say 90% of what I've bought since then have been from the darkside.
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I guess the biggest push I got was from the first herf I ever went to, before hand I was a one stick a week at most kind of guy, now I'm to the point where a day doesn't go by without at least one stick. The most notable two guys who got me hooked from there being Patrick(bigswol2) the host, and man who gave me my first taste of the dark side, and Dan(MrMoo) for getting me started on the pipe route(though this was at the second NC Herf).

My biggest push to the dark side has to go to David(bazookajoe) for giving me what is still my all time favorite cigar, an HdM Epi 2.

Honorable mention goes to George of Pipes by George, for getting me started the right way. He sold me a Hemingway Classic as my first ever cigar(or any form of tobacco for that matter) and its what got me hooked. He even got me to try a PAM64 Principe for my 3rd stick ever, which is still one of my favorite sticks, though now I'm a slightly bigger fan of the Diplomaticos.
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My father-in-law. Back in Naples, FL he had access to CCs. My first one was a Partagas Luistiania, and I nearly puked. He laughed like hell but still let me marry his daughter, so it was win-win. The bonus is my wife now blames him for my cigar madness, so I'm forever off the hook for that!
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It was blaksmyth (shane) that pushed me a 100%
CC, the thought of even smoking an NC's nowadays will now make me vomit. :-)
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One of my labmates brought me back a VR from London for my bachelor party. That is what got me started on his hobby. I had tried some NC Partagas back in college, but never really enjoyed them.

Then Nick (kingcat) got me going on Tats, Padrons and VSGs... the rest is history.
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RWhisenand. He's the one that told me to sign up here. It's been a downhill slide since that day :-)
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Scott (sofaman) kept me excited about cigars and turned me into a monster.
Danny (Dball) and Clayton (akumushi) are the brothers who gifted me cc's that really blew my mind and made me want to explore that side of the fence.
I couldn't even begin to name all the guys who shoved, pushed, and kicked me downhill.
It was a conspiracy, for sure. :-)
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