2011 Big Smoke Evenings, Las Vegas
- November 1, 2011 |
- By Andrew Nagy
The
doors to the Venetian Palazzo Ballroom opened and the throng of eager
cigar enthusiasts who had lined up early cheered as they swarmed into
the Friday night evening party, kicking off Cigar Aficionado’s 16th
annual Big Smoke Las Vegas weekend.
For
the first time ever, the largest cigar celebration in the world
coincided with Halloween, so it was fitting to see thousands of smokers
asking for and receiving premium cigars from more than 30 cigar brand
booths. Call it trick or treating, Big Smoke style.
There
were two nights of Big Smokes, Friday and Saturday held in the Venetian Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. While there weren’t
many costumed attendees, there were some. Among the more creative was
two men sporting fake mustaches and bushy eyebrows, a la legendary
cigarman Groucho Marx. A couple opted to channel the 1930s, the man
dressed in a bright red gangster suit while his date looked swell in a
black flapper dress with matching boa. Two men in kilts had also
affixed some very real-looking devil horns to their foreheads.
With
canvas bags in one hand and cigar booklets in the other, attendees
rushed to get their fill of smokes. Like recent Big Smokes, the line for
Rocky Patel was perhaps the longest on both nights, the prize for
patience a bag of goodies that included his Sun Grown cigar or the 1961
blend.
Not to be outdone was the Alec Bradley booth. Manned by brand owner Alan Rubin, the team at Alec Bradley not only gave out the new Black Market cigar, but also samples of The Dalmore Cigar Malt whiskey, their new co-branding partner. In addition, Rubin collected names for a raffle to be held after the Big Smoke New York that includes two grand prize winners who will receive a year’s worth of Alec Bradley cigars and a year’s worth of The Dalmore whiskey.
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Carlos Fuente Jr. led the Fuente crew at the Arturo Fuente booth, which also featured the trumpet of Arturo Sandoval. The Room 101 booth, decorated in the style of a hotel room trashed by an angry rock star, was manned by ambassador Matt Booth, seen giving out cigars. Litto Gomez passed out samples of his La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Churchill Especial; Manuel Quesada gave out his famed Casa Magna; Pete Johnson handed out La Riqueza smokes; Rafael Nodal oversaw the distribution of his Oliveros’ Swag and Barrel Aged lines; Eduadro Fernandez gave out Miami-made Casa Fernandez smokes; Mike Giannini was one of many on hand at the General Cigar booths, which included Macanudo, Partagas, Hoyo de Monterrey and C.A.O. OSA Sols; Eric and Bobby Newman handed out Diamond Crowns; Janny Garcia manned the La Reloba booth; A.J. Fernandez was on hand with his new San Lotano Ovals; Altadis was passing out Vega Finas and H. Upmanns; J.T. Guagliardo manned the Cusano booth; and there were also booths for Ashton, La Aroma de Cuba, Oliva Serie O, Padrón, Studio Tobac, Villiger and Zino.
Master
Roller Leo Peraza of Team La Gloria continued his Big Smoke tradition
of putting attendees through a cigar rolling crash course at the La
Gloria Cubana booth, which also doubled as a nice seating area. The
Davidoff lounge provided a seating area as well, and Casa Fuente again
offered an impressive smoking lounge setup, complete with a bar serving
Gentleman Jack and Old No. 7. One attendee named Dennis Burke, who hails
from Minnetonka, Minnesota, was seen enjoying himself there and wearing
a retro CCCP hockey jersey.
“I
played goalie, so that’s why I have the Tretiak jersey,” Burke said,
referring to Russian goalie Vladislav Tretiak, the man who was in net
for the famous “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey game. Burke said it was
his 13th time attending the Big Smoke in Sin City.
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To keep attendees palates’ fresh, more than a dozen adult beverage makers manned booths and poured away.
Scotch
whisky Glenmorangie was distributing four expressions, as was Canadian
whiskey Crown Royal; tequila brand Patrón served and offered attendees
the chance to get their picture taken with spokesmodels. Appleton,
Zacapa, Zaya and Don Q poured rum samples for all who came while vodka
distillers Crystal Head (with a bar made of ice) and Ultimat rounded out
the spirits being given away. Caymus Vineyards poured its
nontraditional Conundrum white wine as well as its new red, while
Sledgehammer Wines provided a red as well. Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale
provided beer.
This
year, event-goers could also find seating at the Chevrolet booth, which
showed off its Chevy Volt car. Next to the all-electric car was a
charging station the company had set up for those who needed to recharge
their electronic devices.
Cadillac displayed a diamond white colored CTS that caught the eyes of many attendees, as well as a xenon blue SRX.
While premium smokes and spirits may be enough for most, there was also a slew of cigars accessories makers at the parties.
Les
Mann of Colibri could be seen educating folks about his company’s
lighters and cutters, Humidipak gave away large bags with its Bóveda
humidification devices inside, Liebherr was displaying its refrigerated
cigar humidors, Rabbit Air showed off its Minus A2 air purifier, and
Lotus, Black Label and Vertigo shared a booth while showing off their
respective cutters and lighters.
In
addition, humidor maker Daniel Marshall showed off some of his gorgeous
cigar humidors, while Diamond Crown had a few of its own humidors on
display.
Rounding
out the booths were good life product makers BIGHORN golf, which
featured a putting green, and watchmakers Carl F. Bucherer, Oris, Tutima, Ulysse Nardin
and Bulova.
Food
also played a major role at the parties, with nine of Las Vegas’ most
well-known restaurants offering samples to hungry revelers.
Carnevino
was serving up housemade pastrami that was topped with arugula salad
and butternut squash. Tao brought a taste of the Orient with a ginger
broth that had lobster and shrimp dumplings with shittake mushrooms in
it.
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Lavo
was sampling an almond and parmigiagno-reggiano with stuffed medjool
dates, serrano prosciutto covered in a pomegranate balsamic. Texas de
Brazil served churrasco-style flank steak with horseradish mashed potato
in a chimichuri sauce.
Attendees
visiting Valentino were served a sample of polpettona tacchino with
polenta and marinara gravy, and for dessert, gelato flavors white
chocolate, strawberry and mango on a cone.
French
cafe Morels served cups of four-cheese macaroni with chopped smoked
country ham, and Charlie Palmer’s steakhouse offered braised short ribs
with creamy polenta in a confit of tomato and black olive relish.
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