Connecticut River Valley Barn Smoker

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by Craig Vanderslice | August 14, 2022 · 11:33 am

2022 Connecticut Barnsmoker and Pre-Party

I got back late last night from another great Drew Estate Event, the Connecticut Barnsmoker. I would have just gone to the PA Barnsmoker last month, but testing positive for Covid after the PCA show made that sound like a bad idea. Fortunately Connecticut is only 4½ hours away (6 with traffic), so we drove up Friday to go to the VIP Pre-event event. I can tell you, and my wife, who accompanied me and took a lot of the pictures will attest, this event alone would have been worth the trip! First, the SWAG and cigars are ridiculous. Great food and a band from Minnesota called Viva Knievel who played all the hits! The event was held at the New England Air Museum, and we were treated to a walk through two hangars loaded with vintage aircraft. There were large planes outside which provided an amazing backdrop. The food was very good (I passed on the alligator), and many fine cigars were smoked. I ran into a bunch of old friends, and we had a great time!

As if all of this wasn’t enough, Saturday we arrive bright and early at the Foster Farm for the first of the two day event. I’m guessing that they split it up over two days because of the number of attendees, as the group there was smaller than I remember from past Barnsmokers. The day started with presentations at three stations, with Jonathan Drew, Pedro Gomez and Willie Herrera, accompanied by the principles of the farm, telling us about the planting, cultivating and processing of the various tobaccos grown on the farm. The backdrop here, among several curing barns, was a large field of tobacco destined to me Liga Privada T52 wrapper. After this was another great meal of barbecue, there was chicken and pork, as well as brisket, slaw and mac and cheese, and apple crisp. All very delicious! Then there were all of the activation stations! This was a bit of a Trick or Treat, with coupons for each station and activities, in some cases revolving around the brand. Besides the ten great DE cigars we got upon entry, along with more neat SWAG, we collected more cigars. I also got a haircut at one of the two barbers there, I got a new look from the Barber and Cigar Company (@the_barber_and_cigar_company on IG) and nobody seemed to notice! I passed on the cigar rolling at the Undercrown activation, although I wish I had dragged my wife there to see how she’d do! 🙂 (she took a lot of the great pictures here). I’ve done it plenty of times and wanted to give others a chance! The event ended with raffle prizes, one dude won BOTH of the barrel shaped bars! I hope he didn’t fly in, but he was very excited about it. I got the spend some time with some great friends who I hadn’t seen much, and I’m sure I missed a few people. I think Op: Cigars For Warriors raised about $32k over the three day event!

The Barnsmokers are events I heartily recommend, you certainly get a lot out of it, in education, in cigars and SWAG, and in joining friends for a great time! I really missed the PA event in my backyard, but this one was well worth the trip. Thanks to Joe and the whole DE crew for a great experience!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Trip Report

Tagged as Barnsmoker, cigar, cigars, Connecticut River Valley Barn Smoker, drew estate, Foster Farm, New England Air Museum

by CigarCraig | August 13, 2017 · 7:36 pm

Drew Estate Connecticut River Valley Barn Smoker 2017

Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining about 650 folks at Drew Estate‘s annual Connecticut River Valley Barn Smoker. This takes place at the Foster Family Farm in South Windsor, Connecticut. This is one of the farms where the Liga Privada T-52 wrapper leaf is grown. The event was from 10am to 5pm, and included a four station educational tour which included the curing barn, where Jonathan Drew talked about the differences between processing the stalk cut tobacco in Connecticut and the way they do it in Nicaragua. Another station had Pedro Gomez talking about the seeds and seedlings, the third had Willy Herrera and Henry talking about blending, and the fourth had the owners of the farm discussing the crop in the field there, and the sad fact that once in a while a hail storm comes through and ruins the whole crop. Videos and photos are included below. After the tour, it was time to eat, and a very nice lunch was catered by Bears’s Smokehouse which consisted of Barbecue pork and beef brisket, slaw, beans, mac and cheese and rolls which was delicious. There was also craft beer on hand, I don’t drink, so I didn’t take notice of the details, and samplings of John Drew Brands spirits. After the food was served, they had raffle drawings and an auction with proceeds going to Operation: Cigars For Warriors, for which they raised over $16,000! This was a great event, with your admission you were able to purchase a pack of ten cigars, which cost $10 at the door, since FDA regulations say they can’t “give away” cigars, clever work around. The cigars included a Liga Privada “A”, a Liga Privada Velvet Rat, a Liga Privada No. 9, a Liga Privada T52, a Nica Rustica El Brujito, an Undercrown toro, a FSG toro, a Kentucky Fire Cured Flying Pig, a Herrera Estali, and a Pappy Van Winkle. I took a few of my own and enjoyed an Undercrown toro and a Nica Rustica El Brujito at the event. Afterwards some folks met up at Puros Cigar Shop in East Hartford where some more fraternization occurred. I had the pleasure of hanging out with my friends Brian and Vince from BnB Cigars in Chestnut Hill, PA, and I also so several people I knew from the Philadelphia area. A good time was had by all, the weather was great, and the event was well done! Thanks to Joe at Drew Estate for inviting me, it was great seeing all my Drew Estate friends!

Check out the videos below, and the photos, and don’t forget to go back to Wednesday’s post and enter to win some cool stuff from the folks at El Artista Cigars!