Category Archives: Events

by Craig Vanderslice | March 2, 2025 · 11:06 am

Cigar Circus Grand Opening in Clearwater, Florida

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

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by Craig Vanderslice | February 2, 2025 · 9:52 am

Total Products Expo 2025 Recap

I got back yesterday from a Vegas were I had the good fortune of attending the Total Products Expo, formerly the Tobacco Products Expo. This year was a little different for me, as I spent the first two days helping out my friends at CigarMedics as a product ambassador, or evangelist, whichever works. It was interesting working that side of the table for a change, and I got to meet some new folks from around the country and educate a lot of folks on the Humidimeter and their other products. I continue to be a big fan of CigarMedics products, and watch for some new items in the future!

The TPE is a huge show, spanning two floors of the south hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Id guess that premium cigars and related items is less than 5% of the exhibitors. Most of it was vape, both nicotine and cannabis, nicotine pouches, “glassware”, and other items that are in smoke shops and convenience stores (we used to call Smoke Shops “head shops” years ago). The vape vendors seemed to have the most elaborate booths, and they seem to have incorporated digital screens and lights in to the devices for some reason. The pouches were a big thing it seemed. Lots of cannabis related stuff too, in which I’m neither familiar nor interested. I ventured off the red carpet (the cigar portion

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is designated by red carpeting) and was very uncomfortable. There were some interesting marketing tools and there was plenty of wild stuff to see. The cigar side was more traditional, although since there really weren’t a lot of premium cigar brands there (I counted around 20), there were some large lighter displays and some various accessory companies. Drew Estate’s booth was modest, J.C. Newman, Altadis , Davidoff and Perdomo had sizable booths, but the rest were reasonably simple. It didn’t seem like there were a lot of traditional cigar merchants there doing business, I ran into a few, but not like it’s been in years past that I’ve been to the TPE. Besides it being a more affordable overall trip, I’m not sure I’d go again, if I do it’ll be for one day, and the rest will be personal vacation.

I decided this year I was going to do something a little different from collecting video interviews with cigar brands, I interviewed some of the media in attendance. If you want to hear from the brands, check out these guys, they were all interviewing exhib

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itors, and no doubt, have the same content I would have gotten. My first one was with Patrick from Halfwheel. I’ve known Patrick since 2011, and I chatted with him for a few minutes. I later saw Charlie there and he passed on being interviewed say Patrick was a better interview anyway.

I also ran into Matthew Tabacco (his real name) who was there with his mother, who is also a cigar fan. Check out the Smokin Tabacco podcast and website, they have a good team and are very nice people. Keep an eye open for their annual raffle event benefiting the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation. I always enter, but never win! That’s OK, I have plenty, and the money goes to a great charity!

I met Cigar Show Tim at the 2020 TPE. and run in to him from time to time. He has the luxury of being able to drive the Vegas from California and has quite the professional rig. It’s tough doing video as a one man team, as evidenced be my own, Tim has a tripod on wheels and does a great job. Check out his YouTube channel.

I met Darrell of the Cigars Liquor and More podcast in the media lounge and found him to be a likable guy, and have subscribed to his podcast, but, admittedly, haven’t listened yet. They concentrate on pairings, and tech talk, so except for the booze part, I’m looking forward to adding this podcast into my rotation.

Finally I managed to meet Nick, the Bishop of the Burn, from the Cigar Pulpit Podcast. I’ve been enjoying this show for a few years now, and somehow managed to miss meeting Nick at previous TPE shows. Nick was joined by Noah at the show, a listener and frequent contributor to the show.

Hopefully you enjoy my slightly unusual coverage of the TPE show, thank you to CigarMedics for sponsoring this year’s coverage. If you don’t have a Humidimeter, what are you thinking? Get one! Anyway, it was fun, I’m pretty boring and was pretty much either in my hotel room, ar at the airport whenever I wasn’t on the show floor. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | November 17, 2024 · 8:50 am

A Quick Florida Trip, Part Two: The Drew Estate Florida Barn Smoker

Last Friday, after finishing up a long and excellent day at J.C. Newman, I hopped in my rented Polstar 2 and made my way to the Orlando area. Traffic sucked, and I never really got to see what that car could do. It was about the cheapest rental I could find, and I only spent about $22 charging it after driving it around all weekend. I forgot to mention in my last post about the “lunch” I got from the La Segunda Bakery a short walk from El Reloj. Not the healthiest choice, but the cinnamon rolls and apple turnovers were delicious, and filled me up for the day. The iced coffee was darned good too. I could do some damage there under different circumstances. Also notable was the park the Newmans have built across from the factory, the Cigar Workers Park. It was a beautiful place to pre-game before our tour. Now that I’m caught up, it’s on to the Barn Smoker. I left the hotel early, and got to the Florida Sun Grown Farm about two hours before the event opened, so I got a good parking spot. I managed to get in line with some folks who manage two of the CigarCigars shops in Sarasota, so we had some mutual friends. CigarCigars has a bunch of stores in my

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area. I’ve been to Barnsmokers in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, so I had an idea what to expect, and I’ve toured the FSG farm before. I went into this one to enjoy myself, and see some old friends. Amongst the friends I spent some time with were Rebecca and Jason of Ash Quarterly Magazine. I met them at the last PCA show I attended and Jason and I hit it off. I was very happy to be able to hang out with them for a while. As I’ve done in the past, I smoked the Liga Privada Serie Unico A, as I never have any faith that a cigar that long is going to survive the trip home. It was excellent, although t didn’t burn particularly well.

The grounds were set up nicely, with a lot of room to spread out. Of course, there was a big tent with tables (as per tradition, most of the ashtrays were stolen early). DJ Eli was playing music, too loud in my opinion. It always mystifies me that companies get 6-800 people together and drown out conversation with loud music. They had a live band playing later in the day. I made my way around all te activation stations early before they got crowded. There only seemed to be one educational portion, in the past it was very scheduled, with the crowd broken into several groups who rotated through several stations with various people, WIllie Herrera, Pedro Gomez, Jon Drew and usually the farm owner, giving talks on various aspects of the life cycle of a cigar. Another thing that was different from other events I’ve attended was the food. There was a buffet/food line after the educational portion in the past, this time they had several food trucks with coupons for each. This was a better way to do it, from my standpoint. Folks were free to get food at their leisure. There were also a lot of liquor stations, in which I was not interested. They did have plenty of water and soft drinks available at all times. The food was good, I sampled smash burger and some BBQ pork sliders with mac and cheese.

Only because I know somebody, I snuck in the back of the “Black Widow Saloon” for the tasting seminar that was going on. This was an inflatable, air conditioned structure for the VIPs (I was just a P). It was packed with people, and had a nice spread of cookies and brownies and assorted goodies. Rob Dietrich, the master distiller of the Blackened Whiskey, and JD were leading the tasting. Again, booze isn’t my thing, but I’m g

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lad I got to see inside the saloon. This would be a nice place to cool off if it wasn’t so crowded. The baked goods were excellent.

I stayed until the end, my flight home wasn’t until 5am Sunday, so I didn’t have anyplace else to be. Traveling alone, I sometimes get bored, this time I knew and met enough people there to occupy my time. It was a good time, people were well behaved for the most part, almost surprising given the amount of booze available. Cigars were plentiful and delicious. Everyone should go to at least one of these events, remember to bring $10 to “buy” your pack of cigars at entrance. The swag was very nice (picture above), not over the top. I did have an interesting experience with the spray can lighter going through TSA, they had never seen anything like it before and it took much examination and scrutiny to get through. I would have surrendered it rather than cause any trouble, but it got through fine (the actual working lighter in my other bag went undetected). It will probably end up in the Christmas Givaway! Thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for including me. I wish communication would have been better between some parties, that would have made the weekend a 100% success. I spent the week smoking some of the cigars I got there, it annoys me that I like the 20 Acre Farm as much as I do, and the Blackened S83 has grown on me. There wasn’t a bad cigar in the bunch.

I’ve opened up the annual CigarCraig.com Secret Santa, if you want to join in, here’s the link: CigarCraig’s Secret Santa 2024. We’ve had a small, but high quality, group in the past. Jump in, it’s a lot of fun sharing your favorite cigars with people! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | September 29, 2024 · 10:01 am

A New EPC Cigar, an Uppallant Cigar Case and a Pig Roast

I smoked

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a couple of E.P. Carrillo cigars this week, a couple of which being the newest addition to their Essence Series. This one is the Honduras, and is a collaboration between Ernesto Carrillo and he Plasencias in Honduras. This cigar has a Honduran binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers, all covered with an Olancho San Augustin wrapper, which is much darker than any OSA leaf I’ve seen. I think this is the first use of Olancho San Augustin outside of General Cigar, I honestly thought it was their proprietary leaf. It shows up on a ton of their cigars, going back to their first CAO offering, the OSA Sol back in 2010? Anyway, this cigar is VERY Honduran! It has a load of earth, some spice and strong black coffee notes. I think my samples needed some dry box time, they smoked like an over humidified cigar, although they didn’t start that way. I know that internal moisture builds up in a cigar as it heats, but these got annoying in the second half. It’s been really wet here this week (not as wet as some places, keep our friends in the South in your thoughts), but very few cigars suck up moisture that fast. Anyway, not my favorite if the Essence series so far, but a good cigar. I smoked a La Historia alo this week, which was really nice, a box pressed Churchill with some coffee and spice. I must have had one of these before, but I can’t remember!

I was approached by someone on Instagram about reviewing one of the products that they offer on Amazon. They PayPal’d me some cash, and I ordered the item, in exchange for an Amazon review. Of course, I’ll review it here first! I wouldn’t have bothered with a lighter or cutter, but this looked a little different and interesting. This is the Uppallant Travel Cigar Humidor Set (affiliate link), and includes a five cigar travel humidor, combination lighter/V-cutter, a combination punch/draw tool, and a folding cigar stand. Heaven knows that I didn’t need another cigar case, I have a half dozen or so I rarely use, most of them hold more cigars than this one does. The interesting part of this is that it’s two sided, one side holds the cigars, the other side holds the accessories. It has a handy wrist strap, the humidor side has a little humidifier and even smaller hygrometer (which has read 70% since I got it, I don’t know if it works or not. I don’t use the humidifiers that come with these things, five cigars aren’t going to dry out in there, it’s a sealed box, o-ring and all, but there’s a little pipette thing if you feel the need to add water.

I was at an event yesterday, and someone randomly asked if anyone had a draw tool, and I was able to answer to the affirmative, and it appeared to have worked, and the punch that is the other half

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of that tool is fairly large, maybe 12 or 13 mm? The lighter is a single jet that is nice and strong, and while I find using the V-cutter a bit awkward, it’s sharp, makes a nice deep V and offers a convenient option to carrying multiple tools. I’ll use it today and see how I adjust. The folding stand adequately elevates the cigar from the table, nothing new here. It’s a handy case, and it’s well priced at around $35 with all you get. Time will tell how it holds up, of course, I’m not going to go out and run it over with my car (I could do that with the Pelican case!). I haven’t dissected it, but it seems like there might be some wasted space, and adjusting to the latches working opposite of what I’m used to is a challenge. They were nice enough to label the sides so one knows which side has the tools, and which side has the cigars. It has plenty of room for stickers too. I have Prime, so it arrived the day after I ordered it. One other note: I’d take out the accessories if you plan to fly with this. Recommended.

Yesterday I stopped by the annual Wooden Indian Drew Estate Pig Roast, as I have done pretty much every year for the last dozen years. As always, they have all of the Drew Estate line as well as the Joya de Nicaragua line represented, and Calvin Zimmerman was there with Willie Herrera. Usually Pedro is at this event, but he’s off galavanting around Europe, so Willie stepped up. I don’t think Willie was impressed with the weather, unfortunately it was a dreary day, but not cold, just drizzly. The tent was set up on the front lawn, the pig was roasted by local catering company Luigi and Giovanni, who might be Italian. The food was delicious, and I smoked a Blackened S84 Shade to black and didn’t dislike it, I wasn’t a fan of the first one I smoked. The Wooden Indian staff is exceptional as always, I had some nice chats with some of the patrons, and enjoyed the afternoon. Dave Mayer runs a great shop, if you find yourself anywhere near Philly, it’s a must visit.

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‘re shopping. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | August 25, 2024 · 9:51 am

A Cigar Adventure: a Visit to Up Down Cigars and a PCA Event in Chicago

I did something wild this week, for me at least. I attended the Premium Cigar Association‘s Democratic National Convention event at Up Down Cigars in Chicago, IL. I I made the whole trip within a 24 hour window. Here’s how it went down: I flew from Philly to O’Hare on Tuesday, arriving in Chicago around 1PM local time. I walked about 22 miles from the gate to the train that would take me, eventually, to the Blue Line train into the city. The “L” train stop was about 2 miles from the shop, so instead of trying to take a bus, I figured I had time to hoof it. Said bus passed me several times. Anyway, I got to Up Down Cigars around 3:30 for the 6:00 PCA event. Rats, I’ll have to hang around a cigar shop for a couple hours. The staff at this shop is quite knowledgeable and attentive, it’s not a large shop, cabinet humidors around the perimeter (actually fronts for the walk in behind it where the backstock is

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stored), with some cabinets here and there with accessories, pipes and humidors. It’s ra

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ther cramped, by suburban store standards, but fairly typical for a city shop with a long history (The original owner, Diana Silvius, is a legend in the cigar business. Phil Ledbetter is the current owner, an instantly likable guy). I perused the humidors looking for something to fill the time. I was directed to a store exclusive, the Fausto 10/50.

I’m going to pause here to talk about the cigar, the Fausto 10/50. This was made for the 50th anniversary of the shop back in 2013, which was also Tatuaje Cigar‘s 10th anniversary. This is a 6 3/8″ x 42 lonsdale, with an Ecuador Habano Maduro wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made at the My Father Factory in Esteli. This is an exceptional cigar, I smoked two this week, one a the shop and one when I got home. Smaller ring cigars need to be smoked slowly, this is one to be savored, first because over drawing it will make it burn hot and ruin it, second because it has some strength, and in the case of the one I smoked at the shop, I was pacing myself because it had already been a long day and I had a long night ahead of me. It’s a heavy cigar with cocoa and some spice, an absolute bargain at $10.50, although with applicable Chicago taxes it was more like $13.75. I really like the Fausto line, and this was a really good version. I bought 3, smoked two, have one left to savor at a future time!

Back to the trip. Shortly after I arrived at the shop, Boston Jimmie of Stogie Press showed up and we hung out until the event at 6. The PCA hosted events at both political conventions, I was unable to attend the one in Milwaukee for the RNC. The event was held in the patio area behind the store, a maybe 30′ x 50′ tented area. Drew Estate was the cigar sponsor, so I had a Liga Privada No. 9 while there, although there were many choices available. Ben Pearson, the area rep was there. I finally met Josh Habursky who was recently appointed Executive Director after Scott Pearce left to head the Cigar Association of America. Scott was there as well and I had a chance to talk to him a bit. I also got to hang out with my friend Luigi Lucente, the man behind the Cigar Medics Humidimeter, The Baller cigar cutter, and the Guillotina de Saka cigar cutter, among other

Photo Courtesy of Boston Jimmie

clever cigar accessories. I imagine there were somewhere around 100 people there. It was a nice event with various hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer and liquor. After the event Luigi dropped me at the train and I made my way back to O’Hare to await my 6am flight.

They had issued something like 350 free tickets for this event with a waiting list of 200. If everyone had showed up it would have been a disaster. It occurs to me that they should have put a nominal fee on the tickets, which would incentivise people to attend if they really wanted to, and raise some money for the association. I don’t know that any of the Democratic legislators who are key to the cigar industry fight against taxation and regulation were there, I have to think that holding it during the convention hours (and the convention center was 7 miles away, which might take 2 hours in Chicago traffic!) might have deterred their attendance. It was a nice event, I’m glad I put myself through what I did to attend, but I can see how it could have been better. I understand that the Milwaukee event was more elaborate, given the way many in the cigar industry lean politically, I can see where more might have gone into that one. Anyway, good event, great people and a really nice shop. I discovered that walking through a deserted O’Hare was surreal, and I’m too old for pulling all nighters!

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig