S.C. Sit Down no. 14. Another record breaker!

With the threat of thunderstorms and tornadoes weighing on us the SC Sit Down 14 began at noon on Saturday, April 16th. Thankfully the thunderstorms and tornadoes did not arrive. The day was just about perfect. The attendance was down from last year. There were 148 people attend but raised a record breaking total for Sistercare! More on that later.

There were 4 reps here and one cigar owner:

Dickson Wier, Altadis
Mike Walters, Oliva
Will Woodcock, CAO and General Cigar
Rich Myberg, Monte Pascoal Berger & Argenti, and Kristoff
Wes Gensel, Monte Pascoal, managing partner

The raffle was amazing. I started raffling off hats and shirts at 1 pm. As the afternoon went on the raffle prizes grew and grew. They included cigar samplers, lighters, accessories, full boxes of cigars, humidors, a cigar themed fly fishing rod, and the Grand Prize, 2 2-day tickets to this year's Las Vegas Big Smoke!

Dwight Galloway represented Sistercare and spoke about the organization. Dwight is on the board and is one of the few men affiliated with the organization but he delivered a strong message of how Sistercare's work is sorely needed in the community. He also relayed how grateful they are for our event and the money we raise for them.

The list of donors to today's event are:

• Altadis
• Oliva
• CAO
• General Cigar
• Monte Pascoal
• Berger & Argenti
• Kristoff
• Tobacco Merchant, local shop
• Maduro Room, local shop
• Cigar Box, local shop
• Top Shelf Cigar, local shop
• Savinelli
• Cigars International
• Sandi Turnipseed
• Alec Bradley
• Eric Webster
• Camacho
• Heartfelt Industries
• Puros Indios
• Miura cigars
• 601 Cigars
• Vegas de Santiago
• Party Source
• Larry Jones
• Empire Cigars
• Holt's
• Famous Cigars
• Sag Imports
• Torano
• E.P. Carrillo
• Ashton
• Villager Stokeby
• Cuban Crafters
• Cigar Aficionado 

That is a very impressive list! Thank you all!

Here are the pics from the day.

The raffle table

Command central

Dickson Wier, Altadis rep

Mike Walters, Oliva rep

Will Woodcock, CAO and General Cigar rep

Dwight Galloway, Board member of Sistercare, speaks to the crowd

Connie draws a winning ticket for the Altadis mini-raffle

Wes Gensel, Monte Pascoal, Managing Partner

The list of contributors

Tracey Coulter of Tracey's Smokehouse, the new cigar shop in Columbia.

Now, on to the prize winners: (and the list is quite lengthy)

  

Savinelli hat winners

Savinelli Aspertif winners

Cigars International shirt winners

Alec Bradley shirt winners

Montecristo hat, Trinidad ball marker, and Montecristo cutter winner

Kristoff shirt winners

Excalibur visor winners

Camacho hat winners

Heartfelt Industries bead winners

Heartfelt Industries Herf Stand winners

Montecristo hat winners

Dale Earnhardt, Sr. torch lighters (Heartfelt Industries)

Top Shelf winners

Cigar samplers provided by Sandi Turnipseed

Puros Indios ashtray winner

Tobacco Merchant ashtray winners

General Cigar Macanudo Cru Royale shirt and hat winners

Miura Cigars sampler winners

601 sampler winners

Vegas de Santiago sampler winners

Party Source Oliva sampler winners

Kristoff sampler winners

General cigar Callaway golf balls winner

Cigars International winners

Camacho ashtray winners

Maduro Room sampler winners

Oliva ashtray winners

Fly fishing rod winner, provided by Matthew Elrod

Empire Cigars ashtray winners

Maduro Room Montecristo sampler winner; Brian Macilwinen

Maduro Room Trinidad sampler winner; Randy Fabry

Maduro Room Lito Gomez sampler with LFD ashtray winner (Zev Kaminetsky not pictured)

Maduro Room La Gloria Cubana Artesanos winner; Askia Davis

Holt's Cigars San Cristobal Assortment winner; Juan Zamora

Cigar Box Vector lighter winner; Bic Bavcom

Famous Smoke Shop Vudu winner; Clyde Jordan

Arganese Nicaraguan churchill winner; John Perry

Eric Webster Vector Perdomo lighter winner; Craig Barnes

Eric Webster Perdomo Herf-A-Dor winner; Chris Jordan

Altadis lighter winners

Sag Imports Quesada Tribute Julio winner; Spencer Whetstone

E. P. Carrillo winner no. 1; Tim Maloney

E. P. Carrillo winner no. 2; Bruce Keating

Torano Master winner; Nick Price

Ashton Magnum winner; Bob Lytle

Ashton Cabinet No. 2 winner (Robert Yon not pictured)

Berger & Argenti Classico winner; Ann Alexander

Villager Stokeby Serie Dominicana winner; Chad Hildebran

Monte Pascal Belicosos winner; Joe Desroches

Cuban Crafters Rose Humidor winner (Rick Jackson not pictured)

Ashton Savoy humidor winner; Cedric Luckey

Oliva print winners

Tobacco Merchant Montecristo golf set winner; Mitch Houston

Cigar Aficionado Big Smoke winner; Randy Fabry

Cigar Aficionado donated two 2-day tickets to this year Las Vegas Big Smoke! These are valued at $1000! Before I left the event Randy had already made plans for himself and another cigar buddy to attend the event. He was quite excited and I don't blame him!

To say this event was a success is a great understatement. Without the overwhelming support of the cigar industry this event could not take place. Plus, you! Without attendees no money is raised. The SC Sit Down attendees have really come through for a very worthwhile cause.

With the incredible outpouring of donations the raffle raised a staggering amount of money for Sistercare. The total money raised at the event was an astounding $4865 dollars! That is a 56% increase over last year with 22 less people! That is amazing! Thank you to all who attended and supported Sistercare.

Money continued to come in after the event. Someone gave $15 to Dwight Galloway of Sistercare after I left. Someone else gave $50 to me at church on Sunday, and still someone else gave an amount to round up the total donations to the $4865 total.

Since we've been sponsoring Sistercare we have raised the following:

2011   $4865
2010   $3070
2009   $2032
2008   $2335
2007   $1100
2006   $520

That's impressive increases almost each year!

Since we have been sponsoring Sistercare we have raised $13,922!

Nancy Barton, Sistercare director, was out of town the week after the event so I wanted to wait until she returned to present the checks to her. I was able to get them to her on Tuesday, April 26th. Here is a picture of Nancy and I as I presented the checks to Sistercare:

A special thanks go out to these people and companies that helped make this day a success:

• The donors, et al
• Cedric Luckey, photographer
• Hemingways Saloon for hosting today's event
• TPM Reprograhics
• Casey Mcbrair, sign in table
• Ray Wilkerson, sign in table
• Henry Richardson, raffle table
• Jack Porter, raffle table
• Jim Massengale, raffle table
• John Perry, raffle table, my assistant
• Connie Rollins, for putting up with all the cigars and prizes stored in our dining room! 

And finally, to all of the people who attended the event!

And by the way, the fall Sit Down will be Saturday, October 22nd at Hemingways. If you're hard core and don't need raffles or free stuff to draw you in, you'll love it. Just a bunch of cigar lovers who love being around each other. See you October 22nd.