Originally Posted by
AndyCAYP
Way back when I signed up for the site I introduced myself on the cigar side, but with most of my energy spent here in the pipe section I figured another introduction was appropriate.
Hi! My name's Andy. Back when this was the other site, and on other other sites and Twitter, I go/went by "szyzk".
I live in the hamlet of Warren, PA, tucked into the semi-NW corner of the state near the NY state line. I am a Certified Retail Tobacconist at Nice Ash Cigars. I handle all web work, some customer service, some graphic design, and a good portion of the order fulfillment, for niceashcigars.com, cigarsatyourprice.com, and egars.com. I've been married now for 8 years, have a few cats, and our first little one is on the way. I'm a diehard Bills fan. My family emigrated from Poland to Buffalo and most of my relatives still live there, so I consider it a second home. I alos have a soft spot for the Lake Erie rust belt - next to Buffalo on my list of favorite places is Cleveland. It doesn't hurt that I've been a Cavs fan since I was young. I'm a sucker for Sherlock Holmes, I deceloped a soft spot for Shel Silverstein when I was a kid, and I have a huge foreign film collection on blu-ray, anything from early Japanese samurai to artsy fartsy French New Wave to the current detective stories coming from Hong Kong.
I'm one of those annoying foodies. I live about 10 minutes from a phenomenal free range farm so I stuff myself with incredible beef, chicken, pork, lamb, and goat, and I make regular trips to Cleveland's West Side Market when our farmer's market is closed. I love artisan bread. The stinkier and runnier the cheese the better. I eat my beef extremely rare. I'm really happy to suck down oysters, tripe, and foie gras. I'll eat truffles with shaved truffles on top. I love right bank wines, especially St. Emilion, I'm nuts for rye whiskey, I enjoy Havana Club rum, my local brewery is Southern Tier so that's awesome, and I'm a coffee & tea snob.
I have been smoking cigars for 17 years now, although I wasn't serious about them until 2006 or so. Despite being online back when there was no internet per se, just dial-in BBS's, I didn't realize there was a cigar community online until 2008 or 2009 when I found the other site. I read it daily but didn't sign up for an account until 2010, mostly because although I talk a lot I rarely have anything to say.
Not for nothing, I think Cuban tobacco, and then Dominican, is tops. My favorite wrapper is the true Cameroon, Meerapfel.
Anyway, participating online really forced my enjoyment of cigars to become a more passionate endeavor and that lead to me working with tobacco all day.
It was shortly after I signed up for that site that I was introduced to piping. I skipped the aro phase and went straight into English, Balkans, and Orientals, which I still enjoy although in much more moderation. As with others, it took me a while to learn how to appreciate VAs but I'm hooked now.
As I wrote elsewhere, I have a few favorite blends that I couldn't live without. Ennerdale (anything stinky from G&W, honestly), Royal Yacht, Capstan, Hamborger Veermaster, Lancer's Slices/Bengal, FVF, 1792, Grousemoore, Irish Flake, anything Lat from GLP... I'm also a huge fan of Condor, Walnut Flake, Warrior Plug, Parsons' Pleasure, Digger Flake, St. Bruno, McQuaid, Punchbowle, etc. Our UK brothers have it made with their OTCs; I've come to enjoy Carter Hall but I'd gladly give it up for their selection.
Anyway, as I said above, lots of words but rarely anything to say.
