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Happy Birthday, CigarPass! You just turned 20!!!

Rod

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 4, 2001
Messages
10,313
This is a very special year for CigarPass. 20 years ago this month I had an idea of starting a cigar community focused around trading. Primary goal was to create a safe and friendly platform for people to trade cigars. Having been part of many other forums (most now defunct), I was disappointed to see the constant trolling, flaming, users not being fair in trades, users being banned for no reason, admins becoming power hungry, "mods" acting like asses, etc, and decided to start something new and unique - WITHOUT MODERATION. Sounded impossible, yet the self moderation style that was developed has been truly amazing and extremely effective. This is YOUR community, not mine nor a single person. This is how CP will ALWAYS remain different from everyone else. There was never a goal to sell ads and make money. Having had many offers to sell over the years, including two recent offers, I have declined. I have no intention of selling out; we will remain independent!

I am amazed that after 20 years CP still shines strong in so many ways.

Something very interesting to me is that I started CP when I was 20 years old, not even old enough to drink (legally ;)). CP is now 20, and I'm 40. Just very strange to think of it this way.

There have been many forums who tried to directly compete with us, including coming here attempting to steal membership, trying to hack us, etc. We overcame it all, and truly shine as THE BEST CIGAR COMMUNITY!

I'm very grateful for the members who make this the best community around.

Happy Birthday CigarPass, and thank you all for making this community what it is today.

With respect and gratitude,
Rod
 
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This is a very special year for CigarPass. 20 years ago this month I had an idea of starting a cigar community focused around trading. Primary goal was to create a safe and friendly platform for people to trade cigars. Having been part of many other forums (most now defunct), I was disappointed to see the constant trolling, flaming, users not being fair in trades, users being banned for no reason, admins becoming power hungry, "mods" acting like asses, etc, and decided to start something new and unique - WITHOUT MODERATION. Sounded impossible, yet the self moderation style that was developed has been truly amazing and extremely effective. This is YOUR community, not mine nor a single person. This is how CP will ALWAYS remain different from everyone else. There was never a goal to sell ads and make money. Having had many offers to sell over the years, including two recent offers, I have declined. I have no intention of selling out; we will remain independent!

I am amazed that after 20 years CP still shines strong in so many ways.

Something very interesting to me is that I started CP when I was 20 years old, not even old enough to drink (legally ;)). CP is now 20, and I'm 40. Just very strange to think of it this way.

There have been many forums who tried to directly compete with us, including coming here attempting to steal membership, trying to hack us, etc. We overcame it all, and truly shine as THE BEST CIGAR COMMUNITY!

I'm very grateful for the members who make this the best community around.

Happy Birthday CigarPass, and thank you all for making this community what it is today.

With respect and gratitude,
Rod


Congrats Rod! You've built quite the forum here, and you've been the rock through it all. Great job, and here's to another 20 years!
 
Congrats to you and to the success of the boards!!! This place is amazing!!!!
 
Thanks for always hanging in there Rod. The site lives on because of it's members both old and new, but it exists the way it does because of you. It is a great day. 20 years is a long time to still be going strong. I'm proud to be a member and am thankful this site still functions the way it does.

Thanks again for giving us a place to go to. Happy Birthday CigarPass, and congratulations Rod.
 
Congrats Rod! You've built quite the forum here, and you've been the rock through it all. Great job, and here's to another 20 years!
Wholly crap look who showed up! How you been?


Rod thanks for all you do! Congratulations and Happy Birthday Cigar Pass.
 
Appreciate all you do Rod!
This was my first and only cigar forum and thank god after seeing/reading of all the other drama that exists in this world.
Thank you and happy bday CP!
 
Thanks Rod! As always this is a great place to call home.
 
Happy birthday! You have done an amazing job Rod. I know I haven’t been around anywhere near the other members but you have made this place super accessible, easy to navigate, and fun. I appreciate the hard work more than you know. What an awesome community to grow with!
 
Thank you for providing us all a place to call home for 20 years, Rod!
 
Happy birthday CP and congrats Rod, you built something that has sustained far longer than most and introduced thousands of people to the world of cigars. And pirates. And Neal’s pants.
 
It's unbelievable really and each of us SHOULD tell our story. Right here, right now. TWENTY YEARS? Congratulations, Ron. All you OGs and Vets.... You better get young right now... This forum needs your story and your continued participation....

I began with a very small interest in cigars about a decade ago. I had no idea that Cuba still made cigars much less Nicaragua or the Dominican Rebublic. I tried a cigar at a party and looked like a fool, I searched up "Cigars" on the world wide web and, among others, I found this disfunction of a place... Unbelievable now but this group has led me to a 3,000+ cigar humidor. Glad I joined, right? Well, not so fast... I quickly learned that my obsession for cigars costs...time and care.

This is why we have the forum we have and it's worth something. Banter, history, discussion, brotherhood. All of your questions are burried in a time capsule... But previous responses are not useless.. The same questions that I asked a decade ago are still relevant today... USE THE SEARCH, lol jk jk.

As a community we must continue to answer the obvious questions while entertaining the less obvious. Be helpful! Be enthusiastic! New cigar collectors like you and me deserve our enthusiasm!
I

I don't want to end this post with negativity so let's answer the new dumb questions! Let's pass along photos of our humidors! We owe it to the enthusiasts after us..
 
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HBD, CP! Thanks Rod for putting a solid board that has fostered this strong community.

Are CP stickers still available?
 
If only I could have been as mature and wise at 20 yrs!!!
I still act like I'm 14 half the time, and starting to feel like I'm 80...lol
 
Happy Birthday, CP! This is truly the best forum I've ever been a part of, for anything. Thank you for keeping the lights on, Rod.
 
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