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Home > What's New > A 10-Year Las Vegas Big Smoke Retrospective
A 10-Year Las Vegas Big Smoke Retrospective
Posted: Monday, November 14, 2005
By Gordon Mott
When something new begins, you never can be sure how it's going to turn out. But when Marvin R. Shanken, the editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado, has a gut feeling about something, he's usually right.
The Big Smoke was just another of his wild ideas at first. As we awaited the day of the first one in New York City in May 1993, our best hope was that it was a good wild idea. When 400 people started lining up, some more than two hours before the event, it began to seem like something more than just craziness, and by the time the doors closed that night, more than 1,000 people had attended. Since that auspicious beginning, the total number of Big Smokes has exceeded 100 and more than 250,000 people have attended them. Not too bad for a wild idea.
Las Vegas seemed like the obvious extension for the Big Smoke franchise back in 1996. But then, Mr. Shanken decided he wanted to add "seminars" for his cigar-smoking readers. We all scrambled to come up with ideas for subjects. One dealt with how to shop for cigars. Another was to have Carlos Fuente Jr., the creator of Fuente Fuente OpusX, explain what goes into making great cigars. A third idea was for a panel of experts, consisting of cigar industry icons Benjamin Menendez, then of General Cigar, and Hendrik Kelner, the manufacturer of Davidoff, along with several Cigar Aficionado editors, describe the process of tasting cigars. To top it all off, Mr. Shanken decided he would moderate a panel with some of the industry's key CEOs and other top players in the cigar business, from manufacturers to retailers. Guess what? Nearly 200 people turned out for the first seminars. Once again, not bad for a wild idea.
The first year's turnout in Vegas was about 3,000. It went to 4,000, then 5,000, and this year we exceeded 6,000 people, and about 400 people attended the seminars. The attendees received three cigars prepared especially for the 10th anniversary by José Seijas, the overseer of the world's largest hand-rolled cigar factory for Altadis U.S.A. Inc.; Daniel Núñez, the president of General Cigar; and Carlos Fuente Jr. Sunday's seminars included a "breakfast seminar" prepared by cigar-loving chef Charlie Palmer, the now traditional Roll Your Own contest conducted by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo of La Gloria Cubana. To cap it off, Cigar Aficionado's senior features editor, Jack Bettridge, led everyone through a tasting of fine, aged rums.
Over the years, the panels have included nearly anybody who is somebody in the cigar business. About the only ones who haven't been up onstage are the ones who don't speak English well enough to be understood. Topics have included everything from the way to make cigars and blend cigar tobacco to how to grow tobacco and judge a cigar, and we've heard anecdotes that ranged from an executive's early days wearing out shoe leather going retail shop to retail shop to the story of how the cigar industry moved from Cuba to Central America, and then the Dominican Republic. We've had cigar-smoking celebrities, from Rush Limbaugh to Jim Belushi and George Hamilton. In short, the Big Smoke seminars have served as a history lesson, as well as a window into the world of cigar lovers from all walks of life.
It's hard not to sound like the totally biased promoter of the event. But everyone I talk to at the Big Smoke Las Vegas says the same thing, whether it's his or her first, or fifth or 10th time there. Everyone loves it. From the smiles on people's faces, you can pretty much be assured that they are telling the truth. Or maybe the proof is that when the lights go down and the announcement is made that the event is ending, there is always an audible moan, and no one wants to leave.
Come next year, and find out for yourself.
Photo by Camilla Sjodin Hadowanetz
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