Cigar Heritage Festival and Some West Tampa Black Cigars

Last Sunday I attended the Cigar Heritage Festival in Ybor City. As I may have said in last weeks post, it was my first visit to that area, long overdue.  I spent a disproportionate amount of time at Corona Cigar’s Tampa location, even had a great meet-up with old friends from the alt.smokers.cigars usenet group! I got to hang around a lot with Kevin and Jessica of CigarProp, many thanks to them for driving me around!  But Sunday was the day for the Cigar Heritage Festival, a brisk half a cigar walk from my hotel (2 miles, it was a beautiful day!). I wasn’t sure what to expect, a sentiment shared by several vendors and even the staff!  I somehow ended up with a VIP pass, which allowed me access to some seating areas, none of which I took advantage of. It also included about seven tickets for cigars, more on that in a bit.  The festival covered the Centennial Park and three of the streets surrounding it. There were a bunch of vendors there, many of the people who were principle and prominent “faces” of the brands were there.  I have to think that folks like Steve Saka and Tony Gomez being there meant net to nothing to 90% of the attendees, but I enjoyed catching up with some old friends, Island Jim Robinson among them. One of the highlights for me was meeting Ron Hunt, the host of the All About Wine podcast. You might think it odd that someone who hasn’t had a drink in over 30 years knows someone from the wine industry, but Ron has been a member of a weekly video chat I am involved with, and is fairly new to premium cigars. I introduced him to several people there, and had him collect on my aforementioned VIP cigar tickets. He gave a really nice description of the event on his latest episode. I also ran into my old friend Keith, who I had seen the day before, and interrupted his sleep schedule once again to hang out :-). From what I’m told, sales were brisk, Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust was selling boxes, exceeding expectations.  There was a band, food trucks, and all sorts of other lifestyle vendors.  I bought a cool t-shirt and a gift for my wife. I especially enjoyed the chickens and roosters wandering around!  I recommend the event, and a visit to “Cigar City” in general.  

While I was there I ran into my old friend Ricky Rodriguez, formerly of CAO, presently of West Tampa Tobacco Co.. It took me a while to find him, I thought he’d have his own booth, but he was set up with a local cigar store, Tobacco Depot.  Ricky was busy taking pictures with people, like the celebrity he is, I had a moment to talk with his daughter, Sara, the Brand Activation & Engagement Manager for the company. I asked her if she had smoked her first cigar yet, having heard that she had never smoked before.  Her answer surprised me, I guess, it was a no.  She said she has no interest, although she was going to spend an extended time in Esteli learning rolling and blending, so maybe she’d be inspired to try there.  I, naturally, recommended trying. I’ve never seen this young lady without a huge smile on here face, she’d certainly be a great cigar ambassador.  Ricky gave me a prototype of the Black and White in lancero size, and I smoked the Black version this week, along with a Black Robusto for comparison.  I need to go out and pick up a White so I can smoke the other one, I like to have a baseline, and I have only smoke a couple Whites.  Something odd about the Black in the lancero format, I was concerned in the first inch, it was a little rough, kind of like the coffee that’s been sitting in the pot half the day, you know, the good stuff! After the first inch though, it went someplace unexpected.  There were distinct notes of spices that I identify with Christmas baking, it really turned into something special. The coffee notes smoothed out, but that delicious spice kept going.  It was good, better than the Robusto I smoked the next day, which is still a tasty cigar!  I’m very much looking forward to the White lancero! 

That’s all for today.  Secret Santa names have been picked and distributed!  I’ll be putting a package together today!  Until the next time, 

CigarCraig