Stars Of The Cigar World Coming To Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest
In less than two weeks, the biggest stars in the cigar world will be joined by many of the top whisky brands at Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. People who attend the event will stuff their bags with 30 handmade, premium cigars and sample more than 100 spirits, most of them whiskies. It’s a cigar-friendly event, where you can puff away indoors (as well as outside). Tickets are still available.
“It’s a show unlike any other,” said Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado and Whisky Advocate magazines. “You not only get the chance to smoke some of the world’s finest cigars and drink some of the world’s most amazing whiskies, you also get to meet many of the people who make these award-winning products. I like to call it adult Disneyland.”
The cigar brand list is a long one: Aging Room, Alec Bradley, Arturo Fuente, CAO, Cuba Aliados, Drew Estate, E.P. Carrillo, Espinosa, H. Upmann, J.C. Newman, Joya de Nicaragua, La Aroma de Cuba, La Aurora, La Flor Dominicana, La Gloria Cubana, La Palina, Luciano, Montecristo, My Father, Nub, Oliva, Ozgener, Padrón, Plasencia, Rocky Patel, Romeo y Julieta, Serino, Tatuaje, Toscano and Warped.
In many cases, the person handing you a cigar (or pouring your whisky) will be the person behind the brand. Scheduled to attend are some of the most famous names in the world of handmade cigars, including Carlos Fuente Jr. of Arturo Fuente; Jorge Padrón of Padrón Cigars; Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana; Rocky Patel of Rocky Patel Premium Cigars; Ernesto Perez-Carrillo of E.P. Carrillo; Rafael Nodal of Aging Room and Altadis; Alan Rubin of Alec Bradley; Pete Johnson of Tatuaje; Kyle Gellis of Warped Cigars; Sam Phillips and Clay Roberts of La Palina; Manuel Inoa of La Aurora; Cory Bappert of Oliva Cigar Co.; Bobby Newman of J.C. Newman; Tim Ozgener of Ozgener Family Cigars; Erik Espinosa of Espinosa Cigars and Luciano Meirelles of Luciano Cigars, among many others.
The vast whisky list includes such names as Bardstown Bourbon, Benromach, Bird Dog, Blackened, Bulleit, Crown Royal, Calumet Farm, Dewar’s, Edradour, FEW Spirits, George Dickel, Glen Moray, Gordon & MacPhail, Heaven’s Door, Jack Daniel’s, Johnnie Walker, Keeper’s Heart, Kentucky Owl, Larceny, Lindores Abbey, Middle West Spirits, Sagamore Spirit, Sugarlands Distilling Co., Teeling, Uncle Nearest, Virginia Distillery Company, Westward American and Widow Jane.
The show also offers cigar seminars, and for the first time the seminars are starting at 1 pm, rather than first thing in the morning. The seminars are cigar heavy, and offer the audience a chance to smoke hard-to-find cigars, including two that are commercially unavailable. The Rocky Patel Sixty Sixty (No. 2 Cigar of 2022, 96 points) will be paired with the Whisky of the Year (97 points), the Jack Daniel’s Bonded. Three rare Japanese whiskies will be poured and sampled: Hibiki Harmony, Hakushu 12 and Yamazaki 12, and an all-star panel of cigar industry veterans will speak about the past, present and future of the cigar world.
The Padrón and Fuente families are providing our seminar guests with two cigars that have never been sold, prototypes of their joint project, with Padrón making a cigar for Fuente, and Fuente making a cigar for Padrón. The seminar audience will be among the only people in the world to ever try these cigars.
Limited tickets for the entire show, including the seminars, are still available. For a complete list of cigars and spirits, and to purchase tickets, visit bigsmokewhiskyfest.com
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