I'm an old fart. Been smoking cigars 42 years. My dad smoked cigars and so did his father. I couldn't wait until I was 18.
This cigar review thing is very new to me.
The marketing guys at Famous suggested I post at puff. I hadn't posted on any sites...ever.
Man, I got attacked from the left and the right. They were brutal. I may be new to blogs but not cigars. I'm a structural engineer. No work. Haven't gotten a dime from unemployment for 8 months. My wife doesn't make much. We lost everything and now live in the unfinished basement of my daughter and her boyfriend. Things are bleak.
I fell into the review writing by accident. I wrote funny short reviews on the Famous pages and they wanted someone sick like me to write more formally.
After being banned by puff a couple weeks ago because someone (someone I know) went after me and he succeeded.
I come here and everyone is warm and supportive. A lot of guys here got the same treatment at puff as I did so they're still licking their wounds as well.
Nothing like being treated unfair, to bond a group.
So I sit in my basement with my computer and enjoy the hell out of CA.
I shouldn't complain about Famous. They gave me this chance. They believed in me. But they didn't figure on over sensitive readers.
pnoon is allowing me to post my edgy reviews. Of course, he wants to read them first. LOL!
So I'm happy.
The guys at CA are clearly smarter men then at puff. It was obvious right away.
I've never gotten so much good advice...ever. The guys here are thinkers.
I have a site for my music too. www.myspace.com/pkohnbass
Just thought of a funny incident.....it was 1975. I was at the only big guitar shop in London....The Fender Sound House. I was leaving and grabbed the handle to the glass door. At that very moment, Paul McCartney was on the other side pulling the handle his way. My first bass was a Hofner. I idolized the Beatles and him especially. What a bassist!
Anyway, I froze. Paul is pulling on the door and I'm stuck, not moving, not letting go of the door. He let go and looked at me and said, "What's up, mate?"
My mouth dropped and couldn't speak. A moment later, I let go of the door and as he walked by, he said, "Cheers."
At puff, the jackals would have pounced on me for writing what I just wrote. I hope you guys don't mind. I have some wonderful road stories....I can name drop with the best of them. But I was always a fan, not a jerk.
Cheers!
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Thanks for the post, Phillip, I look forward to reading your stuff!

(Hey, how did puff make it through the p*rn filter?! :-))
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We don't filter the word "Pvff" the way the Bloated Orange Fish filters the word "Asylum". Hard to talk about the band Soul Asylum over there. :-)

We just rely on our members' good taste to avoid using it in a cigar forum type of context. :-)
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I did not know this. That word shall never cross my keyboard again.
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Only in the context of smoking a cigar, Brother. :-)
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The only people talking about Soul Asylum ANYWHERE are the VH1 "Where are they now?" people!

:-)
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They seem to have aged well.

Attached:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSt3v_tvVQA

MMMMM....Claire Danes. :-)
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Make it work Phillip? I look forward to checking out your reviews
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Please go to the review section where I've posted my reviews/stories and read my plea for mercy at the bottom of the comments.
Thank you fellas
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Phillip, we accept you here because of your differences and opinions. Thats what make this place so wonderful, everyone supports each other.
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What you can't even talk about Soul Asylum over there.....that's ridiculous! I love me some runaway train and misery! BASTAGES!

NICE! Never saw that video.

Exactly. Opinions are great, I've bought many of cigars based on reviews and recommendations here.
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Thanks Larry. I'm just not used to that mentality.
I live in fear...and fight crime at night with a can of Lysol and and a V cutter.
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Same here, and some of them were real TURDS.:-):-) Gotta love the Brotherhood.
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Ouch! Luckily that's not my fault. I only did one review. Though when it gets warmer out I've got some decently nice sticks I'll be reviewing.
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If they dont like it they wont print em
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But the goal is for a happy medium. I want the gig. They want me to write it. I have to tone it down so that nuns can read it and laugh. They have given me permission to publish the rejected ones here or on my personal blog:
http://open.salon.com/blog/katmancross

So all is well. I did not expect them to allow me to do this. I think it is very gracious of them to do so.
In the meantime, I got another writing gig because of what's been published on their site. My dander is no longer up.
Plus I just submitted a new review to them that I think is pretty good for being perfectly PC.
The problem with writing creatively is that you put your heart and soul into it and no one like's their baby rejected over seemingly petty items. It's an ego thing.
I should know better.
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Amen, Larry. These crazy bastages will smoke ANYTHING!!! :-)
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Cool! Sounds like a win win situation!!!:-)
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I just don't say it cause it makes me throw up in my mouth. There's a couple guys here with "banned pvffer" or something like that under their username, and that always causes me to make an awful curled up face, too.
Hard to believe the whole thing still smells so awful after all this time. *barf*
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