Saturday, September 17 marked the long awaited fifth annual Delaware Cigar Festival, organized and hosted by Gary Griffith, the Premium Cigar Manager of Delaware Cigars and the creator of Emilio and Grimalkin Cigars. The event took place at Delaware Park, which is already one of our favorite places in the area to go and waste some money on the ponies, or drop some pennies in the slots. The event was unique, as it is a big herf disguised as a charity event, although Gary won’t use the charity aspect to promote it. The format is that the manufacturers and reps sell their samples for $3 each, with all of the proceeds going to charity, which this time benefited the family of a slain police officer (news report here), this was just in the last few days and quite tragic.
Photo Courtesy of Charlie Greenbacker
For your entrance price you got a bag with about 20 or 25 cigars (nice stuff too, I looked!) and assorted swag, a nice picnic buffet with burgers, dogs, chicken, ribs and beans, and the opportunity to talk with the assorted cigar makers and reps who were there. Brands represented were: Inked Magazine, Rocky Patel, Arturo Fuente/JC Newman, Emilio Cigars with brand creator Gary Griffith, Drew Estate, Altadis USA, Oliva, Perdomo, La Sirena with Brand Ambassador Arielle Ditkowich, La Flor Dominicana, Cigar Rights of America, EO Brands with Eddie Ortega, Miami Cigar, General Cigar, 262 Cigars, Kristoff Cigars, El Primer Mundo with Sean Williams, Veritas Cigar Co., and The Cigar Agency. Keith Park from Prometheous was also there. All of these companies donated TONS of stuff, either cigars that were sold for $3 each, or stuff to be raffled off (we bought 10 tickets didn’t win a darned thing!). The attendance was capped at 300 people, including staff, press and exhibitors, so it was a nice sized crowd. It was rarely a problem to have a chat with the vendors.
In addition to getting to schmooze with some of my friends on the manufacturers side, I was able to hang out a bit with some fellow blogger types such as Barry from ACigarSmoker.com, Walt from StogieReview.com and Michael from CigarEvents.com. I also had the great pleasure of meeting one of my readers, Charlie, who won big in the raffle give-aways! These events are always about the people, and you just don’t meet nicer folks that those associated with cigars for some reason!
What a wonderful event that I would recommend highly next year if you are within a 3 or 4 hour drive. Gary is a fine gentleman and I appreciate him welcoming myself and my wife for the afternoon. It’s refreshing to see a retailer put on a “not for profit” event, and to have so many people there enjoying cigars and camaraderie. I’d love to see more manufacturers participate in the future as the event is for good causes and shows the cigar business in a positive light. The only downside was that the weather could have been a little nicer, it was overcast and under 70 until we drove off the premises, then the sun came out and it was nice! Hardly anyone’s fault. I managed to win about $4 on the ponies over the course of the day too!
In honor of the event, I’m going to have another quick give-away! I know, I JUST had one that ended this week, but we got a couple Rosie Napravnik Bobbleheads at the park for Racing Fan Appreciation Day and I thought I’d combine it with a beautiful Veritas Connecticut Salamone that I purchased from the Delaware based Veritas Cigar Co. at the event. So leave a comment to enter, and I’ll pick a winner next Sunday, September 25th.
That’s about it for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Photo Courtesy of Charlie Greenbacker
I still have a couple videos left over from last July’s IPCPR show so tonight I’ll feature a couple cigars from 262 Cigars. These crazy guys are making some great cigars. Sunday evening my eldest son and I took a walk, he with an Oliva O Robusto and me with the 262 Paradigm Short Robusto. At 4”x 52, this is a nice sized cigar for a one mile walk. It’s a tasty smoke, it made me wish it was longer. I’ve smoked this cigar before, actually a little over a year ago, when I posted the video of my talk with Clint Aaron at the 2012 show. Have I had this cigar for that long? I seem to remember picking this up at an event at Ned’s in Newtown, PA last winter where I hung out with Clint and smoked a lancero. Wherever this one came from, I liked it. The size is handy and fun and the smoke is tasty. Smooth and sweet.
Monday I finally smoked the 262 Ideology Corona that was a sample from the 2012 show. This 5½”x 42 corona is the perfect size. It’s on the mild side, but I think the smaller format ratchets up the intensity of the flavor so it doesn’t seem so mild. Super smooth flavor with a sweetness similar to the Paradigm. While I enjoyed the heck out of this on my evening walk, this would be a great cigar in the morning with a hot mug of coffee. Both this and the Paradigm smoked well with a V-cut, burned straight and drew perfectly. If you haven’t tried the 262 line, give them a look.
