Beer, Motorcycles and Cigars — Beer, Bikes and Butts

Thinking of going to one of the Big Smoke events sponsored by Cigar Aficionado? A few days ago I attended The Big Smoke in Las Vegas, and here are my impressions. I attended only the night portion of the event, not the day seminars or whatever it is they do, so keep that in mind. That portion could be much better organized than what I experienced, but let me walk you through the experience of the evening function.

I arrived about 15 minutes after the hall opened, which I later discovered was a good idea.  Most waited in line with a thousand others as their tickets were taken, but there is no advantage to going through that process.  So, first tip, arrive late.

When you enter, you are given the usual trade show bag for all the cigars and other goodies you will be receiving, along with a ticket book.  You then go to each of the 25 or so booths in the hall and present your ticket for a cigar.  Other booths are for booze, cigar accessories and the like, and usually offer a sample.  (If you click on the picture below, and zoom in on the map, you can see all the vendors that were present.)  Inexplicably, the number of the coupon was not posted on most of the booths, so as each person approached with his book, he’d have to ask which coupon he needed, and then dig for it.  Thankfully most of the booths quickly spotted the problem and put up impromptu signs displaying the coupon number.  Some of the smarter attendees split up the coupons among their group, with one person taking all the number one to five coupons to those booths, another taking six to ten, etc.

This treasure hunt is unnecessary and should be eliminated.  In theory, the point is to force you to go to each booth to collect your cigar, where you can then meet the company representative and hear their spiel or ask them questions.  In practice, that doesn’t happen.  Instead, lines form at every booth and taking the time to talk about the cigar would be rude to all the people behind you.  I had my cigar angel with me, so she received cigars and marriage proposals with none of the line nonsense, but most were not so lucky.

Making matters worse, people like Rocky Patel very nicely make themselves available for pictures, but no differentiation was made between the photo line and the cigar line.  I did a quick poll of the people waiting in the hour-long Rocky Patel line, and with no slight to the star power of Rocky, most just wanted their cigar.  If you knew how to work the system, you could get your cigar and be on your way, but the people in line didn’t know that.  Strangely, while everyone else was waiting an hour in line to be photographed with Tom Ozgener, the President of CAO, my cigar angel somehow had me up front, shaking his hand and smiling for the camera in two minutes flat.  I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.  Tip two: Bring your own cigar angel.  Everyone bends over backwards to help an angel.

Here’s the way it should work (take note Cigar Aficionado).  You enter the hall and are handed a bag already filled with all the sample cigars.  You then take a leisurely stroll around the hall, talking to any cigar representatives you choose.  You could meet the representatives and discuss the cigars, without delaying anyone.  I’m sure the counter-argument from the cigar vendors will be that with the coupon system, people are getting only the cigars they want, so none are “wasted”, but if you are so unsure of your product that you don’t want to include it in a bag that is being handed to die-hard cigar fans, you have issues.

The event is three hours long, and I estimate it would take an hour to an hour and a half to hit all the booths and collect your cigars with no assistance.  After that amount of time, with their cigars in hand, people starting drifting from the hall and it became less crowded.  I didn’t stay to the bitter end, but I imagine if you did so, you would then have a better ability to visit the booths in a more leisurely manner.  Tip three:  After arriving late, stay late.  The YouTube video above was apparently shot late in the show, because there is no line at the Oliva booth.

I made the mistake of eating not long before the event, thinking that the food would be limited to small samples at the end of long lines.  That was not true.  Food, good but not great, was provided buffet style, and there were a number of food stations with free samples from local restaurants (most or all of them at the Venetian/Pallazo).  Tip four: Be hungry.  There was also no shortage of free drinks, with a number of distilleries offering samples. 

Bottom line?  Am I glad I went to The Big Smoke?  Yes, for the experience.  Would I do it again?  No, not unless I read that they have changed the system in the way I’ve suggested.  But to me, the experience was more than what went on at the Big Smoke.  Rather, Las Vegas becomes a cigar town and you see your cigar-smoking brethren everywhere.  The two cigar lounges I visited – Casa Fuente at the Forum Shops at Caesars and Rhumbar at the Mirage next door – were packed with other cigar afficionados.  (I’ll review these places later.)  I didn’t want to risk taking a lighter on the flight to Vegas, so once there I stepped into a Davidoff shop at the Pallazo and found Tim Ozgener holding an impromptu cigar seminar.  I bought a shirt at Tommy Bahama’s and received a free commemorative Big Smoke ashtray.  I had a great weekend in Vegas, and may well return when the Big Smoke is in town just for the cigar friendly transformation, but I’ll skip the event and spend the $240 on cigars of my own choosing.

Posted on November 18th, 2009 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Cigar Facts, Cigar Lounge, Cigars, News, Reviews