JC Newman

April 16, 2012

South Carolina Sit Down no. 16 - Yet another record breaker!



It's fun breaking records especially when you SMASH them! We did just that today (April 14, 2012) at S.C. Sit Down no. 16, both in attendance, prizes awarded, and money raised for SisterCare, Inc. I thought last year was good but it cannot compare to today.

People started arriving early, as usual. by noon when we planned on people arriving we already had nearly 100 people! And it just kept growing from there. The final attendance total for the day was 207!!! That's a lot of people!

Plus, the donors were quite generous. This year's event was very heavy on cigars with plenty of samplers and the most full boxes of cigars I've ever seen at our Sit Down.

Speaking of donors, here is the event poster that was displayed and you will see in most of the winners pictures. Take a look at those names. 44 total contributors this year; another record!




One of the new sponsors this year was Boveda, Inc. They made some nice cigar bags with the event name on them complete with humidification.



I had a great group of people helping me too. We modeled this year's event after last year's and it really moved smoothly. People signed in, got their raffle tickets, then got their cigars from me and the reps. It all flowed nicely.

The event is best told with pictures so here are plenty to tell the whole story.
Will Woodcock, rep for General Cigar, has his supply of cigars for the patrons



Jim Massengale, Henry Richardson, and John Perry manning the raffle table.
The raffle ticket table

Now for some pics of the patrons enjoying themselves:

Matt Elrod and his brother helped me hand out cigars



Jack Porter, one of the original Sit Down members and one of the photographers with me



Let's take a look at the raffle tables:









Believe it or not, these pics were taken early so the raffle table actually got much fuller! The reps and other patrons brought even more prizes to add. The tables were quite full by the time we started the raffle!


Here we see some of the bags of cigars the patrons got for entering the raffle.




The line for entering the raffle kept growing as people arrived.



Now, back to the attendees...see anyone you know?













Here is Herbie and Sandi (left), who drove from New York City to be here today. Sandi and Herbie were also here 2 years ago. They are seated with Joe Edmonston and his wife, Tassie (right), who are from Atlanta.









Eric Webster with Casey McBrair who manned the sign in table. They kept quite busy!









One nice addition this year was from Joyce Larkins, owner of LashesandMustashes, a mobile cigar lounge. She offered her lounge for 2  hours including travel to Columbia. We decided to auction this item instead of raffling it. The lounge is quite nice as you'll see.




Joyce, in the hat, with a couple visitors checking out the lounge.


Yours truely, ready to start the raffle!



Now let's see the raffle winners!

Oliva hat winners


Oliva shirt winners


Oliva ashtray winners


Craftsman Bench cigar case from Fuente/J.C. Newman


Montecristo hats winners


Joya de Nicaragua crystal ashtray winner



SAG Imports ashtray winners


Xikar winners


Tracey's Smoke Shop winner, Dustin Pike


Heartfelt Industries winners, group one



Heartfelt Industries winners, group two


Montecristo ashtray winner


Some patrons enjoying Reinado Cigars


J. Fuego lighter winner


Modern Age Tobacco Shop gift certificate winners


Eric Webster, faithful attendee donated some prizes again this year. Here is the winner of the Xikar Ash Can he donated.


Diamond Crown digital hygrometer winner. Prize donated by Fuente/J.C. Newman


Cuban Crafters winners, Mona Sproles and Jay Austin



Drew Estates Liga Privada #9 ashtray winner, Micah Norman




East End Cigars humidor winners



Villager Stokkebye winner, Brian Corrigan



Arganese Cigars winners, John Senese and Bic Baucom




Pride Cigars winner, Chad Hildebran



Famous Smoke Shop winner, Henry Richardson



Perdomo Exhibicion Sun Grown winner, supplied by Eric Webster, Mitch Houston



My Uzi Weighs a Ton mazo supplied by Eric Webster, Joe Lumpkin



E. P. Carrillo winners, Twig Gray and Rubin Salas



Vegas de Santiago winners



Partagas Decatis travel humidor winner, John Gunther



LashesandMustashes auction winner, Mike Johnson with a bid of $200



Monte Pascoal winner, Malcolm Graham



Lil Brown Smoke Shop winner, Tyler Spencer



SAG Imports winner, Bob Manganello



La Herencia de Cuba winner, Bobby Scott



Top Shelf Cigars winner, Bob Lytle



Torano Cigars winner, Malcom  Rentz (accepting Allen Francis)



Holt's Cigars winner, Jim Van Dyke (accepting Brian Corrigan)




La Gloria Cubana Retro Especiale Club winner, Greg Marsh



Camacho winner, Bennett Garner



CigarsDirect.com winner, Phyllis Perry



Cuban Crafters  humidor winner, Joey Desroches



Graycliff winners, yours truely and Bob Connors



Fuente/J.C. Newman humidor winner, Dave Kenealy



Fuente/J.C. Newman 8-5-8 winner, Joe Edmonston



Fuente/J.C. Newman Hemingway Work of Art winner, Bic Baucom



Fuente/J.C. Newman Magnum R winner, Tassie Edmonston



Another Vegas de Santiago winner



Grand Prize winner, John Perry
Winner of Big Smoke tickets



Mike Johnson with Joyce Larkins, owner of LashesandMustashes mobile cigar lounge



Me with Sandi Turnipseed and John Perry
Sandi traveled from New York City to be here today.



So, the event comes to a close. About 45 minutes before the end of the event Jim took a count of the raffle proceeds. He came back with an amazing total!


Actually, money kept coming in after this total was announced. Final raffle total; $7300!!!! The largest raffle total to date. That is a 50% increase over last year's total of $4865!!!!!!

Now, all I have to do is take the proceeds to SisterCare. Dwight Galloway, SisterCare board member, attended the event so he knew what the total was. I hoped he would not tell the SisterCare home office the total before I got there. No matter, they will appreciate it.


Here are the checks presented to SisterCare, Inc.




And here I am with Nancy Barton, Director of SisterCare, Inc. presenting the checks to her.



That's if for this year! We'll do it all again next year...hopefully! As long as the cigar industry is willing to help we'll continue to have the event and raise money for SisterCare, Inc.

I would like to thank Hemingways Saloon in Irmo, SC for allowing us to host our events. The layout of the bar is perfect for our event. Thank you very much!

FYI, the small fall event will be Saturday, November 3, 2012 at Hemingways Saloon.

The 2013 S.C. Sit Down (the BIG one) will be Saturday, April 20th. Make plans to be here!

6 comments:

M. Kittner said...

Tim,

Thank you for a sensational event. All of us at Long Ashes Cigar Club appreciate your hard work. Well done.

See you next year, my friend!

Michael Kittner
Long Ashes Cigar Club | Winston-Salem, NC

Anonymous said...

Nice pictures Lumpy! See ya next year!

Tabacos Mata Fina USA - Monte Pascoal Cigars said...

FROM MONTE PASCOAL:

Great Pictures and we were glad to support such a wonderful cause. Over $7,000.00....YES!

Anonymous said...

I had a wonderful time, thanks for the invite. I'll see you next year.

John Scott said...

Wow, wonderful event and thanks to all the people who made this event possible.

Anonymous said...

Really a shame that Patel won't support this event. That is the sort of thing that affects my purchasing decisions.