RIP @RaiderMike

Holy crap! Such a great guy. He is certainly missed.

Hi'ya, all...

I'm Jeff. Mike's brother. He credits me with getting him into the cigar hobby/habit. Pam, Mike's widow, is continuing to take all the time she needs to thin-out Mike's personal effects. No doubt it'll be a long time for her to completely move on. I regularly stay in touch with Pam. She recently gave me first right of refusal on Mike's entire cigar collection and to help liquidate anything I didn't lay claim to. I was happy to oblige and bought his mini humidor and about half of his cigars. Mike once told me he was involved in a cigar forum, but I didn't know which one. Among the lot of cigars I received was a cigar with "Rusty Rdp77" marked on the wrapper. A quick Internet search... and that's how I found you folks, and I became a member today.

I greatly appreciate the kind words and concern from everyone. It fills a special place in my heart to read about the friendships he built with this community. It's been 15 months since Mike passed... I couldn't get through this thread without some tears, but this time they were happy tears. Thank you, everyone! I'd like to think I'm equally as personable, especially in-person (we were very much alike), though I may not be as inclined to spend as much time in online forums as my little brother. He had a knack.

Mike's cigar collection was quite elaborate; 20-25x bigger than my meager traveldor and 10-20 cigars I keep on-hand at any given time. Whether Mike bought, traded, or won the cigars that built up his collection, I paid Pam fairly to help her recover costs of the product I took over. I want to be sure that Pam is able to recover costs for the rest of the cigars I didn't claim. BTW... they are really good cigars. Quite frankly, I couldn't afford 'em all. The ones I bought were simply among my faves -- Nicaraguan Robusto Maduros. I'll soon post a new thread with what's available and how I would like to go about auctioning these off to pay back Pam and to establish a memorial fund in Mike's name to help other people in this community forum. This was his "happy place." Stay tuned!