The “Little Puff” is Draper’s signature fundraiser, an intimate gathering of cigar lovers (limited to 300 people). Proceeds from ticket sales and the auction benefit three local academic scholarships (The Erik Kristensen Memorial Scholarship in honor of a Navy SEAL killed in action; The Pat Krimm Scholarship & The Anne Berman Memorial Scholarship).

 

Attendees can interact with representatives from the best names in cigars (i.e., Ashton, Fuente, Padron, La Flor Dominicana, La Aurora, CAO, Carlos Torano, Rocky Patel, Camacho, Davidoff, Zino Platinum, Cuesta-Rey, Gran Habano, Hoyo de Monterrey). Past attendees have included: Carlito Fuente, Arturo Fuente; Arielle Ditkowitch, La Sirena Cigars; Janny Garcia & Jose Ortega, My Father Cigars; Nestor Miranda, Miami Cigar & Co.; Pete Johnson, Tatuaje Cigars and Jorge Padron, Padron Cigars among many others.

 

Well, there’s an event called “Breakfast at Drapers” tomorrow, Wednesday, August 10 at Drapers DC & Bethesda! This is where you can be the first to get your little puff tickets! The two different locations have different operating hours: Drapers DC opens at 9:30 AM; Drapers Bethesda opens at 10:00 AM

So it looks like the first 25 walk-in customers to either Drapers DC (640 14th Street NW) or Drapers Bethesda (4916 Del Ray Avenue) will be among the first to get their tickets to the coveted 12th Annual Drapers Little Puff. Gee, I wonder if there will be a line out the door, Apple store style…

Tickets for “Breakfast at Drapers,” are $225.00 and customers are limited to two tickets per customer.

The Breakfast includes:

• a Smoker’s Ticket to The 12th Annual Drapers Little Puff
• a light breakfast and
• cigars courtesy of The Ashton Family of Cigars.

Via W.Curtis Draper Tobacconist

TEE UP FOR GOLF PROMOTION

Richmond, VA—Macanudo® and Excalibur® are teaming up to make hitting the links even more enticing during spring golf season with the “Pick Your Favorite Foursome Promotion.”

Consumers of legal smoking age who visit participating tobacco shops are encouraged to “pick their favorite foursome” by purchasing their choice of any three Macanudo or Excalibur cigars. With the three-cigar purchase, consumers will receive a complimentary Macanudo Cru Royale cigar, plus a premium Excalibur-branded scorecard wallet/cigar holder containing special golf and cigar accessories, while supplies last.

To sweeten the deal, General Cigar, parent company of Macanudo and Excalibur, is also giving consumers an opportunity to win the ultimate, custom cigar golf bag by Callaway Golf®. Two custom golf bags will be given away each week between now and May 31, 2011. No purchase necessary. For more information, visit www.cigarworld.com/golf.

According to Rick Chandler, director of marketing for Excalibur, “We created the ‘Pick Your Favorite Foursome’ promotion to answer the golf lover’s need for a convenient and portable way to access their favorite cigars on the course. By pairing Macanudo with Excalibur and in allowing consumers to customize the cigars in the pack, cigar smokers have a wide variety of tastes to choose from while they indulge in their passion for cigars and golf. And in giving consumers a complimentary Macanudo Cru Royale cigar in the four pack, we’re making it easy for them to sample one of our best-selling new blends.”

The joint promotion between Macanudo and Excalibur will continue through the summer, with in-store putting events and sponsorship of national and regional golf events such as the Phoenix Open. A complete event listing can be found on cigarworld.com/golf.

Macanudo and Excalibur cigars are produced by General Cigar Co. Inc., a division of Scandinavian Tobacco Group, which manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar’s skilled artisans also produce Cohiba®, La Gloria Cubana, Punch®, CAO, Partagas® and Hoyo de Monterrey®, and several other leading premium brands in the company’s Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan factories. In addition, the company cultivates proprietary tobacco which is used exclusively in its blends. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through tobacconists nationwide and also exports select products to 62 countries. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com.

® Macanudo, Excalibur, Cohiba, La Gloria Cubana, Punch, Partagas, Hoyo de Monterrey and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co. Inc.

® Callaway Golf is a registered trademark of Callaway Golf Company.

PUNCH RARE COROJO RETURNS WITH NEW FRONTMARK

Richmond, VA—The highly-anticipated 10^th anniversary edition of Punch Rare Corojo is about to be made even more exciting with the release of a new, limited edition frontmark which will debut at tobacconists nationwide beginning in late March.

Called Rare Corojo 10^th Anniversary, the 5” x 50 frontmark is unique in that it will feature a proprietary Connecticut Corojo wrapper. The new cigar will begin selling in late March for a suggested retail price of $6.50 per cigar until the limited supply is depleted. The cigars will be packed in eye catching cabinet style red wooden boxes and can be easily identified by a secondary red-and-gold band that bears the Rare Corojo distinction.

Punch Rare Corojo 10th Anniversary

Rick Chandler, director of marketing for Punch cigars commented, “For ten years, cigar enthusiasts have looked forward to the annual return of Rare Corojo, a brand that features a unique reddish-brown wrapper and epitomizes the best of what Punch cigars offer – a spicy no-nonsense blend at a reasonable price. This year, we’re pleased to have upped the ante by offering the classic Punch Rare Corojo along with the standout new taste of the 10^th Anniversary frontmark.”

Punch Rare Corojo 10^th Anniversary joins the seven existing Rare Corojo frontmarks, which made their annual  return to tobacco retail shops across the country earlier this month.

Punch Rare Corojo® are produced by General Cigar Co. Inc., which manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar also produces Macanudo®, Cohiba®, Partagas® Hoyo de Monterrey®, Excalibur®, La Gloria Cubana® and several other leading premium brands. In addition, the company grows its own premium Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through tobacconists nationwide. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com.

® Punch Rare Corojo, Macanudo, Cohiba, Partagas, Hoyo de Monterrey, Excalibur and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co. Inc.

EP Carrillo - I went out with a few of my fellow bloggers for lunch. Upon walking in I noticed Ernesto and his family sitting and having lunch. After a quick hello so has not to disturb their lunch I sat down in the back of the restaurant and enjoyed some Aligator. During the course of our meal Ernesto had the waiter come over and buy us a round of drinks which was totally classy. I got to hang out on the trade show floor with the Carrillo family and I sampled the Core line plus I was also gifted a 2010 Special Edition. I am sure I will have a review before long on this stick.

Pinar Del Rio  – While there was nothing completely new from the Pinar Del Rio family I spent a lot of time at Don Leoncio which is a great cigar shop on Canal Street just off of Magazine in New Orleans. While there I sampled the PDR 1878 and was amazed at how good this cigar was for its price ($5.00 MSRP). I sipped on some Abita Amber and got to speak with Abe Flores for a while. Look for an interview with him and if you haven’t tried his cigars in a while I suggest you do as they have definitely gone up a few notches.

La Flor Dominicana – Sadly I never saw the booth overly crowded despite the strong sales they have reported with the Air Bender. On display was the new Air Bender Chisel and the new Maduro Salomon. There should be a new small batch coming soon as well as a new Vintage cigar so keep an eye out for those.

General Cigar – Normally I wouldn’t be so enthralled with them but I was really impressed with how Victoria took the time to give us a tour of the new lines which include two new Macanudo’s one of which has a metal band limited to the furst 75K sticks. The idea for the band was to keep the name on the cigar as most people discard the bands and they wanted the brand to be recognized for the duration of the smoke. Also on top was 2 new La Gloria Cubana’s one of which is shaped like a Monument and looks very tasty. The other is the Series N utilizes Nicaraguan tobacco. The first batch will have a Shade wrapper N on the stick offering nice contrast. The brand manager is very into bling and this this fits his style. Lastly there is a new Hoyo De Monterrey coming out as well. Look for a future posting showcasing these new lines.

7-20-4 – The brand out of New Hampshire by Kurt Kendall has two new sizes coming one called the Dog Walker and the other a Londres. Kurt also shared with me that he would have a new brand coming out soon that features a Brazillian Mata Fina wrapper which is amongst my favorite.

Avo Cigars – Sorry to the rest of those at the show but for me the best “new” cigar was the Avo Herritage. While some others might be giving it a run for its money I had sampled them before and was even gifted a box of the other sticks about a month ago. But the Herritage was totally new to me and for that reason I am awarding it Best New Cigar at the show. The wrapper is the same as the Campanero 09, and it consists of Ligero tobacco from the Dominican Republic and Peruvian tobacco which is my favorite filler.

Tatuaje – We all know about the new items coming out thanks to this video shot by Tom of cigarreader.com and myself but one thing I saw that piqued my interest was the Scraeders line which Pete has taken over distribution for and the new release for Halloween called “The Face”. When these are released I will definitely be purchasing them for review.

Altadis – Our local sales rep Dennis took the time to give us a tour of the new releases from their lines. Included are the Don Diego Fuerte, H. Upmann Sungrown and the A. Turrent Triple Play which  utilizes some Maduro wrappers avid cigar smokers might be familiar with but I can say no more. Also coming is the new Warlock which they are billing as a boutique cigar. I am not sure how a company as big as Altadis can label something boutique but it has piqued my curiousity to say the least.

Davidoff – Sadly I did not stop by the Davidoff booth and I know my good friend Michael Herklots who heads up the New York shops will give me hell for that. But a highlight of the show was the Davidoff tasting hosted by Henke Kelner. While it got off to a slow start it got better with each passing moment. We smoked the tobaccos that when put together created the Grand Cru #3 but as a treat we got to taste the same cigar with a Yamasa wrapper and one from Indonesia and its mind blowing how much the wrapper change totally altered the cigar.

Greycliff – Lastly the company which really wanted no part of a blogger did take the time to show me the new Greycliff line which to compliment the Red White, Blue & Purple. The new Maroon is slightly stronger then the red and should come out soon. I was told this was the first post Avalina Lara stick to come out. I am sure I will try one but to be honest despite the booth being quiet being blown off kind of left a sour taste in my mouth.

If there is anyone I forgot please leave a comment and I will address it there.

Tomorrow the Sunday Links.. and Monday the first review of a new cigar debuted at IPCPR.

Your thoughts?

The Sunday Links…

• Cigar In Hand smokes one of my favorites the Casa Fuente Double Robusto.
• Cigar Obsession is a great sight with outstanding cigar photography & reviews.
• Fire Up That Cigar reviews the budget friendly Tatuaje Serie P.
• The Stogie Guys share thoughts on the Cuban Hoyo De Monterrey Double Corona.
• Toms Cigars who was one of the first friends of this site tackles the Carolos Torano 50 Years

Until next time!