Yesterday I took a little day trip to Florida! I left the house around 4:30 am and got a flight out of BWI in Maryland because I couldn’t get the flight I wanted out of Philly. Got to Tampa around 11 and had a Diamond Crown Robusto No. 4 while I waited for Kevin (CigarProp, Trash Panda) and Jessica, to pick me up. Many thanks to them for the ride and friendship! Additional thanks to Keith for the ride to the airport and keeping me company! Cigar Circus is a new business in Clearwater, Florida. It’s spearheaded by Ryan Gallimore, formerly of Drew Estate and before that Swinger Cigars. This is a Cigar Distribution operation, E-Commerce operation with a large retail showroom and a lounge. Yesterday they held their grand opening celebration, which is why I flew down. In addition to the 150 or so attendees, there were 20 or more cigar company representatives, none of whom were there selling, they were there interacting with the attendees. Generally at multi vendor events there are lines and not a lot of time to just hang out with the, in many cases, faces of companies. This was one of my favorite parts of this event. Every attendee got a cool bag with an ashtray, mug, lighter, cap and a bunch of cigars. Ryan used to buy the swag for Drew Estate, so it was all top notch. There were a bunch of circus performers on hand. Ironically (or maybe not), that part of Florida has a rich circus history. They also had food! Brisket, pulled pork, two different sausages, slaw and potato salad, and there were more than enough coolers with water and soft drinks, and a substantial bottle collection (don’t drink, didn’t look into it any further). This was a really well done event, although one thing Ryan learned from Drew Estate was to have a very loud DJ. I’m old, I don’t want to have to yell at people, unless they deserve it!
I smoked a few cigars over the course of the day, I didn’t smoke anything I hadn’t smoked before because at this kind of event one doesn’t have a chance to think too much about what one’s smoking! I had an AJ Fernandez New World Dorado Corona and a Diesel Vintage, both very satisfying! After the event I met up with my friend Keith and we went over to Corona for a quick little Tatuaje Cojonu before he dropped me a the airport. It was a great day, glad to see a lot of old friends and meet some new ones.
I have two months left on my Frontier Go-Pass, so if anyone has a suggestion on where I can go for a quick visit, within a couple hours flight from Philadelphia, let me know! That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
