Today we mark a big milestone on Cigar Coop, our eleventh anniversary!

As always, we go back to the beginning, our first article Worth it for an Iced Coffee? Cigar Coop’s first article wasn’t even about cigars – it was about iced coffee. It started at the 2010 IPCPR Trade Show. I joined with a group from my home base of Charlotte, North Carolina. We had registered as attendees at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. From that point, we had decided to go to the world-famous Cafe Du Monde for iced coffee. We trekked from the Convention Center in high temperature and high humidity. The walk was somehow memorable, and the iced coffee we were treated to was worth it. I was inspired to document the events of that short journey – and that would lead to the first article on Cigar Coop.

Admittedly, the first articles sucked and the photography was lousy. It’s still an important milestone for Cigar Coop as it shows the growth we have had since 2010.

Last year, I documented the history of Cigar Coop in a ten-part series commemorating our 10th anniversary.

This past year (Year 11) has also seen some big accomplishments for Cigar Coop.

• We published our 10,000th article
• We brought the Ironman Daily Publication Streak past the 3,000 day mark. For those keeping score at home, it’s now 3,331 days.
• We also crossed the nine-year mark on the Ironman Daily Publication streak
• We added a new brand with The Smoking Syndicate, including adding industry cigar media veteran Ben Lee. We also added Erron Nielsen as a contributor to Cigar Coop.
• We had our best year of PCA Trade Show coverage ever.
• The Prime Time Show celebrated its four-year anniversary, and we will hit Show #200 in September.
• Prime Time Special Edition celebrated 100 shows and a four-year anniversary
• Prime Time Jukebox celebrated its one-year anniversary.
• We participated in a 26-hour podcast marathon, marking the longest cigar podcast in history.

I’ve also continued to partner with KMA Talk Radio, and am a co-host on Smokin Tabacco’s Spare Notes Series.

Thank you to our audience, readers, sponsors, and strategic partners. Special thanks to Aaron, Bear, Dave, Ben, and Erron for being a big part of what we’ve done here. This is one of the great teams out there.