Lmao!

David

Thanks Stinger. I have followed the thread for the one you currently have going with interest. I think it is a great concept with a high potential "reward" for all participants to get to try some different and unique things. On the flip side I get minimizing the risk by including known established members only. I would also be very hesitant to rely on the successful shipment via USPS 10-20+ times without loss or damage. How many participants is a box pass normally limited to?

Blind passes are fun (bands removed), beer passes are fun, fiver passes are fun, premium passes are stressful.

The whole premium pass thing would be stressful yet fun, but also very open to interpretation of a premium wouldn't it? Unless a minimum value per takes/put was established. I only bring that up, because what I or someone else consider a premium may be more or less. Would suck to send out a bunch of $10 -$25 sticks and get dog rockets returned. Though I do see that takes and puts on Stingers thread are posted and approved before it moves on, so I assume that is the normal practice.

Hence the reason for careful selection of the participants. In the past, some participants would take high dollar smokes and replace them with cigars of lessor quality. Most of them are no longer active in the forums.

The folks in this pass all know the difference. Most have traded with each other before.

The reason for posting takes/puts is to give the participants the opportunity to reject one's trades if not up to par.

This one was originally supposed to be capped at 10, but was enlarged to make room for a few good friends. I backed off and let Stinger be the host so everyone would have the opportunity to send him a few extra smokes. Stinger just came back from serving his country in the sandbox.

Thanks for your service Stinger and all other members who serve/served!

Wonder if the wombat (Kombat96) our resident box-pass organizer, is up for another?

BTW: collectorchris, there are other opportunities beside a box-pass to exchange and try different cigars with the members here. You can do straight trades by posting a want (ISO), or by sending a trade proposal via PM to someone who appears to have a variety of stuff you would like to try. You'll have to send first, being new, and may have to go shopping to get something your trading partner wants to try.

You can also jump in on the Noob PIB thread, the non-elitist PIB thread or the PIB 2012 v3. PIB's require you to send a few wanted cigars to a member first, then someone else will respond to your wants list and so on...

By doing this you can establish a reputation for reliability here and may be included in box-pass participant lists.

At one time, there were a few PIF (pass it forward) active each year here. In a PIF some one offers up a "fiver" of good smokes, someone takes them, and then offers up his fiver and so on, until 10 or so players have sent cigars, with the last fiver going to the originator.

just add alcohol...

j/k

Something to keep in mind...or not....

I have looked askance at (and backed out of) passes that appear to have been initialized with the intent of the originator of trying to reap a windfall at conclusion. Most (all?) passers put more cigars in than just the sanctioned 'puts'. There have been more than a couple passes that I felt were begun by someone mostly hoping to receive many more, much better cigars than they sent out. I am in NO WAY suggesting you could be of that variety - I know nothing at all about you and I'm sure your intentions are good. But, I have a LOT of respect for those passes that:

-include an OPTIONAL troop bag -- participants may donate (anonymously or not) to a bag that gets sent to OPFtH (or other troop support activity) upon conclusion

-originator (or the group as a whole) strictly controls puts/takes -- I detest authority in real life -- but something with so much subjectivity (and emotion) demands control

-originator pledges to donate any number of cigars that exceeds the starting number to OPFtH

Again, not an accusation of any sort. Passes can be fun and I, too, have tipped good servers.....just not those that have their hand out before I've even gotten my entree

And namadio, you probably don't have any **** cigars anyway.

Thanks for the information, this is very good for future knowledge. I have no intention of attempting to start a box pass, it just looked like a great concept that I wanted to explore more for future reference and possible participation. Like many of you, I to have more sticks than I could possibly need over a very long period of time, mostly premiums I have picked up as a 5'er or less at a time very recently. What I find interesting about the box pass is the possibility to try something I have never heard of or seen in my area, that if another passer has (established member of course) it probably has some nice age on it and is pretty good to try. I guess very similar to a 5'er or less type trade between individuals for participants.

So, I am certainly not trying to send the wrong impression, I am just really interested in how you guys handle and set parameters for my own (or other noobs) learning purposes. It is one thing to watch one in threads, it is a totally different thing to understand the in's and outs or dynamics of all the participants expectation from each other. These sound like fun, but it is hard to enjoy something if you don't totally understand it.

Again, thanks to all for filling in the gaps, I learned alot from your information.

could maybe start with something like a "hidden gems" pass of some things at lower price points that people really enjoy. a good way to try new things without buying a whole fiver.

...just a thought.