Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Hey guys,
I'm a longtime lurker on the website and I really enjoy reading about everyone's different experiences with their SBers.
I purchased mine in October and have used it approximately 7-8 times since the beginning of the winter. It's always performed flawlessly and never given me any problems until today...
I started it up as always by setting the throttle to "max", ensuring full choke and priming three times. When I pulled the starter the engine caught on right away, but unlike every other time where I've almost immediately adjusted the choke setting until it was closed and then let it warm up for  a few minutes, this time it didn't seem to want to me to reduce the choke. It would sputter and eventually die. I tried leaving it running for a few minutes with full choke but then as soon as I changed the setting I got the same result. This went on for a good ten minutes. I left it off for a few minutes while I cleared the snow off my cars and when I tried again, hooray (!!) it worked. The problem is that I noticed that if I left it sitting for a minute or two while I used the shovel, I could hear some small backfires and hiccups. Never heard them before.

I can't think of anything I might have done since the last time I used it and am stumped. My father in law was with me last time and when he finished up the driveway he shut off the fuel flow valve and let the engine starve itself off. Was this wrong?

Can anyone help or does anyone have any suggestions?
i should mention I have the 9hp Tecumseh Snowking engine and electric ignition (which I never use). The SB was purchased at a box store the same color as the beast itself.