South Carolina Sit Down No. 4!!!!! (April 22, 2006)

Wow! Unbelievable! Fantastic! Over the top!!!!

Those are just some of the adjectives that describe the SC Sit Down No. 4. This event turned out to be bigger than anything I could have hoped for. We held the event at the Wild Hare Sports Bar in Irmo, SC. We had a total of 57 attendees! Everyone was greeted at the door with a zip lock bag full of 10 cigars!!! Then, after signing in they went to an adjacent table where Dickson Ware, representative of the Altadis cigar group was sitting with 2 more cigars; Juan Lopez and Trinidad maduro! That's 12 cigars for walking in the door!!!!

We also had 2 charity raffles; one for SisterCare http://www.sistercare.com/index.html and The Cigar Family Charitable Foundation http://www.cf-cf.com/, both worthwhile causes. There were 2 different charity raffles because the Cigar Family had sent us a Kensington humidor to raffle for their particular charity. The SisterCare raffle was full of various prizes ranging from lighters to another humidor provided by CigarBid.com. The total raised for SisterCare was $520! The humidor provided by Cigar Family raised $400! Both great amounts! This was our first raffle but I'd say it was a success!!! We raised a total of $920 for the 2 charities!!!!

The list of vendors is tremendous! I only hope that we can count on these companies next year!

The complete list follows. Vendors and manufacturers highlighted also donated raffle items:

Humidpack

United Tobacco

Lil Brown Smoke Shop

Mike's Cigars

Caribe Imported Cigar

General Cigar Holdings

Altadis

TBS-Cigar.com

Torano Cigars

CigarBid.com

Cigar Aficianado

Alec Bradley

Modern Age Tobacco

Top Shelf Cigar Co.

Vegas Santiago Cigars

J. C. Newman Cigar Co.

Padilla Cigar Co.

Cigars International

J. M. Tobacco Company

Lianos Dos Palmas Cigars

CAO

Holts

Cuban Crafters

S.A. G. Imports, Inc.

Camino Viejo Tabacos

Oliveros

Puros Indios Cigars

Nick's Cigar World

PUROS de Armando Ramos

29 companies!!!!!

That's quite an impressive list! Thanks to all the above companies for helping make the SC Sit Down No. 4 such a tremendous success!!!!

The day started at 10:45 with the set up. There were dozens of items to set up to raffle off. The crowd started arriving before noon! The afternoon was a blur of people arriving, smoking great cigars, chatting, laughing, eating, smoking some more, raffling off all those great prizes, then taking a multitude of pictures, then more socializing. Whew!!!! I was pooped! But it was so much fun. I actually left the Wild Hare at about 9pm!

The night before the Sit Down gathering at my house is becomming a tradition. I had 4 people join Connie and I at the house for a mini-smoke; Jim Massengale, Jim (Alchemist) and Rose, Mark (Cheeze) and Connie and I.

Here's a couple pics from the night before the Sit Down:

Mark (Cheeze)

Jim (Alchemist) and Rose:

And now to the Big Day:

Dickson Ware, Altadis rep and me at the sign in table:

Of course, there were hot babes with their cigars!

The waitresses got in on the act, too!

Lorax and Smokum from North Carolina:

Terry (Tel) from Charleston, SC

The 2006 version of Bildo792 (Bill Bovett)Mark, George and "Twig"

Ol' Bup:

Ol' Bup and buddies:

The Red Neck Bastids (RNB's) in attendance:

Obviously the raffle ticket table was well supervised!!! Connie looks on as Jim and Jim (Alchemist) take up money for the 2 raffles:

Now, time for the raffle!!! Here's yours truely getting ready to "Bark"!

Of course, I need a lovely assistant!!!! That's Kelly!!!!
Torano hat and ashtray winners:

CAO hat winners:

John Stier, CigarBid humidor winner!

Clyde Jordan, Ashton churchill box of cigars winner:

Charlie Ruffalo (Stogiesandhoagies); Cigar Family humidor winner:

There were a total of 37 items raffled off! Although I couldn't get a pic of everyone, rest assured all winners went home happy!!!!!

Tiny Tim, Connie, and Stogiesandhoagies:

The place really cleared out after the raffles, but we managed to get a partial group shot of everyone who stayed late!

Again, to sum it up, a GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!!!!

Today, Monday, April 24th, I was pleased to present the SisterCare organization with the proceeds from our raffle; a check for $520!

The other check for $400 is on it's way via US Mail to the Cigar Family in Tampa, Florida; home of Cuesta Rey Cigars!

Thanks again to all the wonderful vendors and manufacturers who helped with this event! Our next S C Sit Down is in October 14th, however this is a vendor free event! I look forward to seeing everyone in October, and again next April for the SC Sit Down!!!!

Stogiesandhoagies SURPRISE 50th birthday party!!!

This was fun! For the past 2 months this event has been in the planning stages and this past weekend it all fell into place! First of all, back in January JJ PM'd me to say "if there's anything planned for Charlie's 50th birthday this year, let me know". Well, I didn't even know it was his 50th this year, so I immediately started investigating. I sent an email to Charlie's brother, who is also with the Sub Station II empire. He notified Jan, Charlie's wife. I had to go "around the world to find out Jan's cell number" because I've never called her and couldn't get in touch with her any other way. Of course, I didn't want to tip off Charlie of any possible party plans, so I couldn't call him!!! Well, I got the number and gave her a call to find out if anything was planned. She told me that she "was thinking about that" herself. I told her that JJ and myself wanted to be included if anything was planned. One thing quickly led to another and the party date was selected! I PM'd JJ about it and she made her airline reservations! I told her that if she REALLY wanted to surprise Charlie she should fly into Columbia on Friday and stay with us at Casa de Tiny. Then we'd all drive up together on Saturday to suprise him. She agreed! So...on Friday April 7th at 3:45 pm I picked up JJ from the airport! Just in case she didn't recognize me (yeah, right!), I decided to give her a little hint:

I think she "might" have found me anyway, but here we are immediately after she and I met:

After a quick tour of downtown Columbia, we headed out to Casa de Tiny. We met up with Outfield Jack and another buddy, Jim, at the world famous Wild Hare for some supper and a cigar. The weather was very nice that night, so we went back to the house to sit in the "cigar room". I opened a bottle of 20 year old Tawny port for JJ and me! Here's some pics from that good time:

JJ talking with Outfield Jack:

JJ in the "Cigar Room":

The plan was to surprise Charlie, and I think we did. He didn't even know Connie and I were coming! When we got there Charlie was not even there! Good! We had a chance to be in the house when he got there! He drove up a little later and was surprised, or scared, when he saw me! He knew that Jan, his wife, had planned a little bigger party than she let on. She had told him that she was having a "few friends over" on Saturday for his birthday. Once the initial shock of seeing me was over, I quickly told him that we had to give JJ a call on the cell phone because she knew all about this and wanted to be a part of it. He thought that was a crazy idea since it was 9am on the west coast! While his back was turned trying to make the call, JJ appears from behind him and he was "SHOCKED"!!!!!

Notice that he is clutching his chest!!!! Well, needless to say, the party really started then! Charlie was typical "Charlie", being extremely generous with everything and smiling from ear to ear. Per his mandate, no N/C's were to be smoked that day! He graciously handed out Habano's from his stash. Of course, he showed JJ his cigar room that also doubles as his bedroom! Her 2 humidors she made him were proudly displayed, of course, full of only the best!We all enjoyed the day and great bar-b-que. The day was a little wet but it did not dampen our good time. Here Charlie tells "war stories" around the albums that had pics from his recent aircraft carrier trip:

Of course, what's a birthday party without cake?

I consider Charlie to be one of my good friends, so only the best present for him; a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 20 year Reserve bourbon from Connie, Jim and I:

One final surprise that we had forgotten to tell Charlie about...JJ was staying at his house until Monday!!!! I'm sure that was the icing on the cake for him. How many Habano's do you think they went through over the past 3 days? LOLThe entire time was a blast! I had a great time meeting JJ and I'm so glad she decided to fly into Columbia!!!! Thanks for everything you gifted me JJ! Please come back again! You always have a room at Casa de Tiny!Here's our happy group:

L-R: Jan, Charlie, Tim, JJ, Connie, Jim

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE!!!!!!!!

Benji Menendez meets Tiny Tim

I was fortunate to meet a true icon of the cigar industry last night. Benji Menendez dropped by the Tobacco Merchant in Irmo, SC for a chat session/cigar tasting. Mr. Menendez is on a national tour for Partagas Cigars. More info here: http://www.cigarwise.com/artman/publish/printer_312.shtml. He was extremely patient and loved talking about his beloved Dominican Republic, Brazil, home in Miami, and his lifelong cigar experiences.

Mr. Menendez discussing his love of cigars:

Tiny Tim with Mr. Benji Menendez