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02-12-2010, 04:57 AM

Last year I had a good time but the event has its faults.

Friday:
Went to the Man-O-War event with AJ Fernandez and his 3 models. Cigars were available for purchase and they had a couple barrels of Yuengling free to attendees.

From here we had to drive from the expo area to the bar where the Rocky Patel party was being held. The bar is part of the resort but not really within walking distance for a May evening in the Poconos. At the party there is probably 10x more people that the bar would handle on any given night. Parking is a mess as there are more cars than there are proper parking spots (some people had to get creative).

We wound up bailing on the party after an hour and headed back to our hotel rooms to hang out. While there we had some good laughs and several cigars (having a smoking room was excellent).

Saturday:
Made our way to the event more than an hour early to get into a massive line. Wound up having a few laughs and short conversations with the people in line in-front and behind us as we waited. Eventually got let in and got moving around. We talked to a few manufacturers and grabbed a bit of breakfast from the buffet tables.

When the next wave of people were let in it was noticeably more crowded and moving around freely became more difficult. The industrial sized fans that had been stacked to the rafters did a good job of removing the smoke from the building.

When the last wave of people was let in it was no fun at all. The mass of people turned into a single line that snaked through the booths (think cattle-drive). After being pinned in the Oliva booth for a half hour, I made my way out to the smoking lounge they had setup on the opposite side of the building. Here I listened to what sounded like ring-tone renditions of popular music while hanging out with a couple of friends and catching up online.

All in all
I had fun because of the people, not necessarily because of the event itself. I'm looking forward to going again this year but I've got a different game-plan for when the last wave of people come into the building. This time I'm going to bail out and find a nice comfortable place to hang out and smoke cigars.

02-12-2010, 04:57 AM	#42
Walt Guest Posts: n/a	Re: CigarFest Last year I had a good time but the event has its faults. Friday: Went to the Man-O-War event with AJ Fernandez and his 3 models. Cigars were available for purchase and they had a couple barrels of Yuengling free to attendees. From here we had to drive from the expo area to the bar where the Rocky Patel party was being held. The bar is part of the resort but not really within walking distance for a May evening in the Poconos. At the party there is probably 10x more people that the bar would handle on any given night. Parking is a mess as there are more cars than there are proper parking spots (some people had to get creative). We wound up bailing on the party after an hour and headed back to our hotel rooms to hang out. While there we had some good laughs and several cigars (having a smoking room was excellent). Saturday: Made our way to the event more than an hour early to get into a massive line. Wound up having a few laughs and short conversations with the people in line in-front and behind us as we waited. Eventually got let in and got moving around. We talked to a few manufacturers and grabbed a bit of breakfast from the buffet tables. When the next wave of people were let in it was noticeably more crowded and moving around freely became more difficult. The industrial sized fans that had been stacked to the rafters did a good job of removing the smoke from the building. When the last wave of people was let in it was no fun at all. The mass of people turned into a single line that snaked through the booths (think cattle-drive). After being pinned in the Oliva booth for a half hour, I made my way out to the smoking lounge they had setup on the opposite side of the building. Here I listened to what sounded like ring-tone renditions of popular music while hanging out with a couple of friends and catching up online. All in all I had fun because of the people, not necessarily because of the event itself. I'm looking forward to going again this year but I've got a different game-plan for when the last wave of people come into the building. This time I'm going to bail out and find a nice comfortable place to hang out and smoke cigars.