differently than everyone else, my wife and cameraperson, Jenn, came up with the idea to ask everyone a question at the end of our interviews. Here is the compilation vi
Today’s IPCPR video features our visit with none other than Room 101‘s own Matt Booth. I still find it to be quite a contrast that Matt is in the Davidoff booth, but Davidoff has done a wonderful job diversifying their portfolio with the addition of the newly re-branded Camacho, Room 101 and Cusano. They seem to have all the bases covered as far as tastes and price ranges go. Room 101 falls in the middle of the pack in both price and flavor profile. I smoked a Room 101 San Andreas 808, the 6″x60 size, the other night and enjoyed the heck out of it, although I prefer the 305 (robusto) or the Papi Chulo sizes myself. When I bought this it was the only size the shop has in the San Andreas, which was disappointing. Of course, I like just about anything with the words San and Andreas together anyway, so this is a no brainer for me. It’s a rich, satisfying smoke that just about kicked my butt a little! Matt makes a lot of very enjoyable smokes, including the Namakubi Ecuador that was released over the last year, and Smoke Inn‘s Microblend Series Big Delicious (which was!). Enough of my nonsense, check out the video and see what Matt has to say.
Anytime I talk to Matt it’s an adventure, and always entertaining and informative. Many thanks to Matt for letting me drag him out of the Davidoff party bus they had parked in the
ry generous with his time and we recorded eleven or twelve minutes of video. It’s chopped up because it wasn’t until we were finished that we realized it went on for that long. In this final segment Dave talks about his Two Guys Smoke Shops in New Hampshire.
As you can see, David Garofalo has his hands in a lot of things. I’m grateful for the time he spent with us. His United Cigar Retailers booth was busy, he had one meeting after another with retailers about joining the group. After stopping back a couple times on the third day of the show we decided to see him at 9 am on the last day. Thanks to Dave and his staff there for accommodating us! Hopefully I’ll get up to New Hampshire one of these days to see the stores and maybe watch a Cigar Authority show.
I know many of my readers also listen to cigar podcasts, and I’m a big fan. Â One of the ones I’ve been listening to for a few years is The Cigar Authority. Â It took some time for me to get used to the funny accents 🙂 , but I’m constantly entertained, and have even managed to get mentioned on the show here and there! Usually it’s when I’ve e-mailed to point out some inaccuracy or something that caught me funny, like the time David had eyelid surgery and his graphic description almost made me pull the car over to evacuate my digestive tract. Â It’s not always that bad, so I listen religiously every week via the podcast version usually while walking the dog or in the car.
In this portion of the video David tells us about the show. Â It’s quite a bit shorter than yesterdays!
If your into the whole podcast thing, give these guys a listen, you can find them at TheCigarAuthority.com or on iTunes.  You can also listen and/or watch live when they broadcast the show on Saturdays from Noon to 2:00 Eastern Time.  One of these days I’ll catch a live show one way or another.
That’s all for now, watch for tomorrow’s dramatic conclusion of the Garofalo Trilogy! Â Until then,
Before we get to the video, which will be shown here in the first of three parts, I’d like to say that getting a few minutes with David Garofalo wasn’t easy. The United Cigar Retailers booth was a flurry of activity, and nailing David down for a few minutes to talk was a miracle. We actually made an appointment at 9:00 am, when the show opened, on Wednesday on the way out the door the previous evening after waiting for a half hour or so. When it was all over, I had about twelve minutes of video to edit, which explains why I’m splitting it into three parts. Too much of a good thing, you know…
David explains the United Cigar Retailers in the video, as well as some of the unique brands that they are distributing.
David wears a lot of hats, so stay tuned over the next few days to see parts two and three and see what else he has his hands in. Thank you to David and his staff at the booth for putting up with our stalking, and I am sorry for not interviewing Mr. Jonathan, but I was very happy to finally meet him face to face after listening to the Cigar Authority Radio show. I felt like I knew him already (yet I wanted to meet him anyway :-)).
In other news
My Father-In-Law received the Prostate Cancer Foundation‘s 2012 Progress Report and pointed out a couple cigar companies names listed in the Donor Roll. I took a closer look and found many more familiar names. I’d like to thank the following people and companies who’ve contributed to this organization, and many are
I’m sure there were more names in the large list of donors from the cigar industry, and I’m sorry if I missed anyone. Thank you all again for supporting this organization. It never surprises me to find cigar companies giving to charities, and there are actually charities who won’t accept donations from tobacco related donors! Imagine that?
