Cigars international,one of the largest on line cigar retailers,runs this festival every year. In prior years it was a one day event (usually on Saturday)with events beginning on Wednesday and leading up to the "big one". The tickets are limited to 3000 and sell out quicker than a New York second. This year however they bowed to the demand of thousands of herfing vikings who demanded more tickets and more herfing. The team at C.I. listened to the BOTL and SOTL and added another day (Friday). Which was fine for me as it increased my chances of getting "the golden ticket charlie"; to the wonka-fest of cigars! I pre-registered to pre-buy my ticket and get a shot at getting one by waking up pre-dawn (4 a.m. to be exact). Man was I lucky!!
So on the lucky "golden ticket day" I slept on the couch so as not wake my wife and engender the wrath of Stygia. "I got up,got out of bed and ran a comb across my head" logging on at 4:45 a.m. (and no later the e-mail admonished) When the time arrived I got my tickets to go.I decided to go all out and get the V.I.H. (very important herfer. hey I write and review. I'm impotant' ) and my wife was just as charged about getting away for 4 days. My wife (always a bargain hunter) said to get the shirt and hat for extra stuff that you get. With that taking all of 4 minutes to complete I went back to sleep dreaming of 6x60 cigars and swirling smoke rings dancing about my head like it was Christmas eve.
My in laws took my two boys for the extended week end and two other friends of mine had scored tickets. So we all went in on renting a lake house that was less than two football fields away from split rock(the place of the main event).The drive up to split rock took me back to my childhood days.I'm an army brat and grew up on bases here and abroad.Often times playing hours out in the woods. The real woods like up state New york and and Illinois on the Canadian border. having gone through both cub scouts and boy scouts. It had been far to long for me to be able to go hiking and fishing freshwater.The Pocono region of P.A. was a nice shot of down home and country fun.
It had been a long day but it was time to kick back with a new cigar from oliva called inferno. A spicy jolt of pepper and cocoa that went well with my crown royal reserve I had poured. The night was cool but the inferno lived up to its band by warming my pallet with pepper and notes of toasted almonds and cocoa.The smoke swirling and intermingling with the fog that would coalesce and dissipate. Between the inferno and the crown it was settling in to be a good evening on the porch over looking the lake.Tomorrow I had planed to meet none other than Nick Perdomo himself and attend the man o war event; where hopefully I would also meet Shorty Rossi. I got 50% of that right, but that's for next time and we will have to leave me with my wife and friends at the lake house,where I'm enjoying that Inferno robusto and crown. ALLTHE BEST-smokinjoe
1 comment:
I attended in '08, '09 and '11. First and third time were with my wife, and since she doesn't smoke (don't ask me why she still wanted to go...it's not to keep an eye on me...I'm too old for those games, as I don't drink and don't cheat), so I got double the bill each time, but double the smokes. '08 was great, because with the top-line tickets, you got a sit-down buffet brunch inside, in a warm room, and then an orderly and short walk to the hall for cigar. PA smoking laws changed about July of '08, IIRC. We walked into a Denny's late one night, and when the hostess asked us "smoking or non", it literally took a second to register, and I might have cried a little. I live about an hour north of Seattle, and aside from having to go some 3000 miles to get to Bethlehem, PA, WA is one of the worst tightass anti-smoking states in the nation.
I could bore you for hours on Cfest, but I won't. Just a few bits of advice from someone who has been there. (1) CI works hard (i.e., the lower-paid minions, and a few of the mucky-mucks), so be kind to them if you attend. (2) Get the high-end tickets. When I last attended, you had to decide whether to get food or smokes first. Get food. Smokes don't go cold or get pulled by hotel waitstaff. The expensive tickets are worth it, since you can sit and smoke all day while the folks with the cheap tix stand in line for hours. And hours. (3) Finally, after having stayed once in the Poconos, and twice in Bethlehem, the latter is, without a doubt, the better way to go. Now this assumes that most of the events still take place at the CI stores. With a 2 day festival, that might be different. Bethlehem is closer to Philly, NJ, and just about everything else on the planet of any consequence unless you intend to do all of your fun stuff in the Poconos.
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