The tasting cigars: a Trinidad, Ramon Allones, Davidoff Special, La Flor Dominicana Prototype and Joya de Nicaragua Antaño.

The record crowd of 500 people gathered for the start of the Saturday cigar seminars, and was welcomed by Cigar Aficionado editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken. "Last year at this seminar, we had 300. This year we have 500," he said. "Last year for the weekend we had 5,000. This year we have nearly 6,000. This is the largest Big Smoke in the history of Cigar Aficionado."

Shanken was greeted with applause. Alluding to the ever-growing number of anti-smoking regulations in the country, he took solace in the spirit of being surrounded by so many like-minded cigar smokers. "As these restrictions try to strangle us, and squeeze us, it certainly is a great feeling to know we're not alone."

Executive editor Gordon Mott and director of business development George Brightman led the tasting of cigars following Shanken's remarks. Each participant, upon entering the room, had been handed a Humidipak bag containing five cigars, one of them commercially unavailable and another sold out around the world.

Cherie Hodges, left, and Kelly Hinds get an early start during the cigar tasting seminar.

The cigars consisted of a Trinidad from the Dominican Republic, made from a hearty blend of Peruvian, Nicaraguan, Ecuadoran, Connecticut and Dominican tobaccos; a Joya de Nicaragua Antaño, a strong Nicaraguan puro; and a trio of all-Dominican cigars: a Davidoff Special, a Ramon Allones and a prototype La Flor Dominicana.

Davidoff maker Hendrik Kelner would later say that the Davidoff in the audience's bags were the last of the lot. "This is the last 500 cigars," he said.

The La Flor Dominicana was even more rare. Produced especially for the event, entirely from tobacco grown on a company-owned farm in the Dominican Republic, the Las Vegas prototype will not be headed for store shelves until 2004.

"We doing something a little different today," said Mott, describing how the cigars were going to be smoked with the bands on, rather than being tasted blind, as in previous Big Smokes.

Executive editor Gordon Mott discusses the art of cigar tasting.

It was an amazing collection of cigars, and they were full in body. Mott and Brightman described various aspects of the cigars throughout the morning, speaking of the history and special characteristics of each brand.

Brightman noted the Peruvian tobacco in the Trinidad, which isn't common in the industry. "Cigarmakers now are scouring the globe -- they're not content with the blends we've been familiar with," he said.

The Joya de Nicaragua made Mott reminisce about his days as a reporter in Nicaragua, smoking what were some of the finest cigars in the world at the time. He admired the qualities of this modern-day Joya. "The beauty of this Nicaraguan wrapper is something you all can appreciate," he said.

Brightman jokingly warned the audience against smoking all of the full-bodied cigars in such a short time, but the audience lit up with gusto, eager to enjoy this collection of fine cigars.