We set a new record for attendance this year with 140 total attendees! That's 14 more than last year and with today's economic conditions that's great! I met many new attendees but I'm sure they'll be back. We had 2 sets of reps; Oliva and Perdomo.
First, Oliva was represented by Nate Saab who is the former rep for our area but still attends because he is a friend of mine and loves the event. The new rep for this area was with him; Mike Walters. Nate brought 4 huge Oliva ashtrays and a box of Oliva V figurado's for the raffle. They also had a sample cigar to hand out.
We also had Nick Perdomo drop by. He was in town for an event at Lite Um Up Cigars. He and Tom Burns, owner of Lite Um Up brought some bags for evernone in attendance. Jeff Godfrey, the Perdomo rep for this area was also in attendance.
Also, I did not try to get a group this year simple because there is no way I could get 140 in one picture! Instead I offer the following pics taken throughout the day showing a lot of the attendance:
We even had an tent set up outside for overflow:
Actually, this was Matt's first "BIG" spring event. I think he had a good time. He also helped me alot by taking these pics! (well, except for the one of him) ; )
And of course there was the raffle. It was on par with previous years and maybe even better. We had a lot of cigars to raffle off this year. I didn't hear anyone complain about that. We also had 3 big Lotus lighters; 2 from CAO and one from Cigars International which was a Perdomo lighter. While Mr. Perdomo was here I had him sign it!
The sign-in/raffle ticket table:
Now for a look at the raffle prizes:
The amount of raffle items grew as the day wore on, but that's a good thing! Here's a pic taken just before the raffle began:
Nice looking table!
This year, unlike last year, I had a PA system. That made things MUCH easier calling out winner's names.
We had 2 of these monsters and they had plenty of fire power! Everyone could hear me this year! Of course, I still can't read half the names because of handwriting!
Before I start showing the winners I need to tell you the companies who donated to this year's event:
Cigars at the door:
Vegas de Santiago
Don Luis
Chaman
Cigars International
5 Vegas sampler
CI’s Kitchen Sink sampler
Lil Brown Smoke Shack
Casa Torano Casa Toro
SAG Imports
Fonseca
Cubano Viso Fuerte
Fonseca Cubano Limitado Toros
Arganese Cigars
Double wrap maduro robusto
Nicaraguan robusto
CL3 robusto
Camacho
SLR Rothschild
CAO
LX2 toro
Gold Corona Gorda
Café’ Crème cigars
Eddie Ortega
601 Habano toro (red)
601 Maduro (blue)
Cubao no. 4
Reyes Family Cigars
Premier Corona
Lianos Dos Palmas
Don Mingo Torfecto
Don Mingo Torpedo
Alec Bradley
Maxx, The Ego
Armando Ramos
AR Green Band corojo
Cusano Cigars (Brought by Tom Burns)
Oliva Cigars (Brought by Nate Saab)
Perdomo Cigars (Brought by Joe Perdomo and Tom Burns)
Raffle Prizes:
Vegas de Santiago
Samplers
Top Shelf Cigar
Samplers (5)
Heartfelt Industries
Dale Earnhardt lighters (4)
Humidification tubes (8)
Josh Ledbetter
Bolivar corona extra
The Cigar Box
Cohiba box with lighter
General Cigar
Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte Pamplona
Holt’s Cigars
La Aroma de Cuba Churchill
Modern Age Tobacco
Cohiba 3 cigar case and cigars
Eric Webster
Oliva “White label” lonsdales
CAO
“O” ashtrays, black (3)
Ashton
Ashton car ashtray, black
Maduro Room
Cohiba 3 cigar case and cigars
Pepin ashtray
Montecristo pen set
Altadis
H. Upmann Reserve Maduro robusto
Jordan Price (Tobacco Merchant)
High end samplers (3)
Palmetto State Herfers Club
High end samplers (2)
Ashton
Ashton Magnum
CAO (David Palm, rep)
Torano sampler
Torano Exodus 1959 Seleccion Exclusiva
“O” ashtrays, green (2)
Eric Webster
Oliva Connecticut Reserve robusto
Cigars International
Perdomo Thundra table lighter
Arganese Cigars
Double Wrap maduro Robusto
Nicaraguan Robusto
CL3 Robusto
The Party Source (Kentucky)
Camacho Limited Harvest torpedo
Camacho
10th Anniversary Torpedo
Oliva
Oliva large square ashtrays (4)
Serive V figurado
Lite Um Up Cigars
Pontillo Maduro Paragon
CAO sampler w/ DVD
Macanudo samplers (2)
CAO
Lotus T3 lighters (2)
Island Smoke Shop
Humidor
CAO
“O” ashtray (green)
Ashton
Savoy Rosewood humidor
The Smoking Lamp
Illusione 7
Russell the Cigarman!
Ashton ESG 21 year salute
CAO (David Palm, rep)
Cigar gambling kit
Cigar Aficianado (Grand Prize)
2 tickets to Big Smoke New York
Now, on to the winners:
(Major prizes shown.)
(shown as "winner's name", "donating company", "cigar type")
Rick Reynolds, Vegas de Santiago sampler
Bill Slicer, The Cigar Box (local), Cohiba box with lighter
Jerry Carter, General Cigar, Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte Pamplona
Janet Lawrence, CAO (David Palm), Torano Exodus 1959 Seleccion Exclusiva
Tim Rollins (me!), Cigars International, Perdomo Thundra table lighter
(signed by Nick Perdomo while he was here!!!!)
Roger Schweitzer, Arganese Cigars, Double Wrap maduro robusto
Chad Johnson, Arganese Cigars, Nicaraguan robusto
Yank Martin, Arganese Cigars, CL3 robusto
George Scott, The Party Source (Kentucky), Camacho Limited Harvest torpedo
Casey McBrair, Camacho, 10th Anniversary Torpedo
David Amick, CAO, Lotus T3 lighter
Theo Peeples, CAO, Lotus T3 lighter
Bill Carter, Island Smoke Shop, Humidor
Henry Richardson, Ashton, Savor Rosewood humidor
Robert Yon, The Smoking Lamp (Charleston, SC) Illusione 7
The Palmetto State Herfers Club provided a couple samplers too
Donna Amick won one of them!
David Brady, CAO (David Palm), Gambling kit
Ryan Richardson, Cigar Aficianado, 2 tickets to Big Smoke New York
All this fun had a purpose. We raffled off the prizes and gave the money to Sister Care, Inc., a shelter for battered women and their children. On Monday afternoon I went to the back to get the cashier's check.
Here I present the check to Belva Nagasaki of Sister Care, Inc. That's a check for $2032!
That's it for this one. I had a blast! I hope everyone else did too!
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