Great Cigar Show in Orlando

For those of you who are new to cigars, once a year the cigar manufacturers and retailers gather to do business.  This happens in the summer when the temperature is just right for cigars.  This year’s show was in Orlando last weekend and it was chock full of great people, great ideas and great cigars.  For me, it was like being a kid in a candy store. Rather than write a long post about the entire show, I’ll do a series of posts going day by day.  I arrived Friday at lunch time and stepped into a hall that was filled with the pleasant aroma of good cigars.  Friday highlights included a new Panama hat, look for a review sometime in the next month or so, and visits with a number of cigar makers.  Each maker had booth space with new offerings, some large, and some small.  I spent time talking to lots of very passionate cigar makers.  They were all concerned with insuring that the cigar smokers were well taken care of by the retailers and that we were all banding together to fight oppressive government taxation and regulation.  To that end Cigar Rights of America (CRA) whose info feed we feature in our sidebar, is an organization whose focus is to lobby for fair practices for the cigar industry.  Everyone can support CRA, just click on their banner ad on our homepage. I also spent a few minutes with an organization called International Women’s Cigar Society.  They are an organization that helps develop small local level womens cigar groups.  An interesting group of very mice women.  Find out more at their web site.

Finally, I sampled too many cigars to remember and then headed off to one of many parties that were held in the parking lot of Corona Cigar Company.  They erected a big tent that held parties every night of the show.  I met some great people and enjoyed some great cigars.

Reviews will follow over the next few months and more insights on the show in the next few weeks.