CigarProp 10th Anniversary Cigar and the Smoke-onos Festival

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending my 3rd Smoke-onos event hosted by Best Cigar Prices in Drums, PA.  But first, I want to talk about the new cigar from CigarProp celebrating their 10th anniversary. A little history:  I first heard from Kevin on February 4,  2014.  He was trying to get into the cigar tube business, having made some single cigar tubes on his lathe at home.  I recall contributing to his Indiegogo campaign, I have no idea how much he raised from that.  I’m kinda glad he moved into the prop space, as I don’t find a lot of use for a single tube, as nice as they were, I rarely travel with one cigar.  I have a pretty good collection of Cigar Prop prototypes, including a portable prop that Kevin caled the XC, with the C honoring me, for some reason!  I have spent many hours with Kevin (and Jessica), over the last dozen years.  We differ greatly in a lot of ways, but we have a kinship somehow.  The 10th Anniversary is made at Fabrica Centroamericana de Tabaco S.A., the factory that makes Cavalier Cigars.  The cigar is a toro (yay!), and is mostly Honduran with an Oscuro wrapper from Jamastrán, what I assume is a Connecticut broadleaf grown in Honduras for the binder,  Visos from Copan in Honduras and Jalapa in Nicaragua, Ligero from Jamastran and a Sumatra seco. I’ve smoked a couple, I’m smoking one as I write this rather early on a Sunday morning, and it’s a delightful cigar.  It has some sweet chocolate notes, and works very well with my black coffee (a store brand k-cup, I know, I’m a heathen). It’s silky smooth with no spice, although it will build a little spice, but what cigar doesn’t, really?  Kevin is also becoming the go-to guy fro 3D printing, and made the boxes for these, available as an add on, in 5 and ten count versions. I was talking to Coleman of Sinistro cigars yesterday about this since Keven made the boxes for their upcoming No Etiendo line.  This is a really nice cigar!  

Yesterday was the Smoke-onos cigar festival at Best Cigar Prices/Pub in Drums, PA, which is near Wilkes Barre, PA.  It’s about an hour and a half drive from my location.  The name is a bit of a misnomer, as it’s technically just outside of the Poconos region, but it’s still quite a picturesque spot.  This fest fills the void left by the Cigarfests that CI had, which I never attended , 3000 people each day for two days is more than I care to handle.  I want to say there were 1500 at this event, and it’s laid out in such a way that it never felt crowded.  I took another Craig, the Breadman, Craig Gilpin, who you may recall helped me out on these pages last year when I was otherwise occupied. I made various “two Craigs are better than one” jokes throughout the day.  As I have attended events like this solo many times, it was excellent to have a friend along.  I honestly hope that they don’t let these get any bigger, as it’s just better for attendees and vendors alike to keep it relatively intimate.  I like to go and visit with my friends in the industry, stay on the radar, and catch up. 

I had the good fortune to hang out with Terence Reilly while he ate a cheesesteak, and catch up with a ton of other folks. I think it’s kinda funny that folks like Rocky Patel can walk around, but Jonathan Drew (Sann, now) has a line of people waiting for a word and a picture.  I did see JD smoking a cigar in person, and managed a wave.  Saka was jovial, Jack Torano was grumpy, and I missed some notable folks who I’m sure would rather have been there than home recuperating from illness.  I highly recommend this event next year if you can make it.  My only complaint, as with every event, it seems, is that the music was too loud, I hate yelling at people.  The band they had, Amish Outlaws, was really quite good, and a bunch of guys dressed like the Amish playing dance music is kinda funny.  The weather was perfect and it was a great day of cigars and camaraderie. Best Cigar Prices treated us very well, and I thank them very much!  

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

CigarCraig