Seattle Cigar Expo 8/20/11

[Andrew E]

Hey everyone, seeing as we have such a large port lover showing in the Seattle area I was thinking people might want to know about this.
Seems there is going to be a Seattle Cigar Expo next month and the price of entry gets you at least 1 free cigar from every manufacturer making an appearance (about 25 so far), some free food, and seminars. Anyhow, it looks like a great event; the only thing holding me back is cost of entry at about $160 for buying early, and $190 at the door (VIP is about $300). Also seems like many local winemakers/vendors and restaurants will be in attendance too.

http://www.seattlecigarexpo.com/

I wouldn't mind getting to know some FTLOP'ers at this event seeing as I'm missing the 6th Anniversary get together.

Also, this might be late notice, but maybe FTLOP can somehow get a booth here or something and spread the word about the site seeing how well Port and Madeira go with a good cigar. It does seem though that they are consistently adding new seminars/manufacturers/etc. as they get closer to the event so it might not be too late.

I'm envisioning a port/madeira seminar seeing as it's loaded up with all other types of spirits, but it's probably too late to get anything going.

[Andrew E]

Apparently here are some more details from a local retailer about what comes from going VIP:

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showpost. ... stcount=12

[Andy Velebil]

A bit pricey, but not to bad if you get that many cigars and some spirit samplers. The wine they're touting on the other hand, Goose Ridge, doesn't get very good ratings on Cellartracker. The 2007 was the highest average score at 91 points. Considering it's $45 (average) not exactly cheap. So I'd stick to the spirits or even better take your own Port/Madeira

[Roy Hersh]

Sounds like fun but at that time of year it would be very hard to participate in an event like that. Now if they did it after mid-Oct., I'd seriously be considering it right now.

[Andrew E]

Yeah, I figured as much, one of these days I'll be able to get something done around here, haha.

There is an event I learned about shortly after this one that does take place in October, but I know much less about that one. It seems a bit smaller and takes place at the Snoqualmie Casino. Apparently some seminars there too, but they seem to be focused on scotches for the beverage portion.

Washington Cigar & Spirits Festival
http://kirklandcigarclub.blogspot.com/2 ... ly-25.html
Poster:
http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/8003/wcsfflyer2up.jpg

Anyways, I think any cigar fest can help broaden FTLOP's reach.

[Andrew E]

I found a coupon online that gives anyone $50 off either the VIP or regular tickets. Simply enter Weekly2011 in the discount code section.

So that's $100 for a bunch of cigars, food, wine, and liquor. If anyone has a free Saturday, this could be a good way to spend it.

[Andy Velebil]

I found a coupon online that gives anyone $50 off either the VIP or regular tickets. Simply enter Weekly2011 in the discount code section.

So that's $100 for a bunch of cigars, food, wine, and liquor. If anyone has a free Saturday, this could be a good way to spend it.

That's a good deal, if I was up there I'd go.

[Roy Hersh]

Had to work all day today. Details please, Andrew!

[Andrew E]

It was actually quite worth it, especially with the great weather we had that day.
Scoth and liquor tastings were generous, raffles were many, quality free cigars, great free food, and did I mention scotch tastings were plentiful

I'm not even sure where to start because I was doing so much that day. The event went from 1-8pm for non-vip ticket buyers at the Fisher Pavilion in Seattle Center near the fountain There was good industry representation as well as many local vendors with specials for buying that day. Also, for every cigar you bought you were given a ticket into the raffle of which I picked up some limited editions that are hard to find. There were probably more incentives for buying boxes but I have to put more of a dent into my current collection before I buy anymore boxes.

Good music from a guy who could sound like Elvis & Johnny Cash, followed by some national Burlesque troupe of dancers (I wasn't expecting them to go as far as they did considering the they were on an open stage that was visible above the fence they had blocking the event off from the fountain next door with kids playing.

Local restaurants included El Gaucho and Crush (They roasted a pig for the event) and a couple of others I just never got to, along with sweets from 3.14 (Pi) Bakery and even more I didn't get to. To eat at any of the locations you were given tokens to try any variety of things they had. I had loaded up on all you can eat sushi with a friend who was leaving town for good before the expo so eating wasn't a high priority for me as we both just stuck to the scotch & wine for the first half until he had to go to the airport. Luckily I had grabbed a pork sandwich from the Crush booth because I filled out an info card that later won me a $200 Gift Certificate to use at the actual Crush restaurant.

Along with food tokens we were also given punch cards for wine, beer, & liquor tastings. I almost question why we had the cards as tastings seemed unlimited. I think for a 7 hour event the booth people weren't expecting to keep track of anything and were more than happy to finish off whatever supply they had brought with them. What I would have done for a tawny "tasting" station.

Oh, back to the raffles. They were giving away trips to Nicaragua and such to visit cigar maker factories along with gift certificates like the one I won.

The atmosphere was generally happy and relaxed. If people weren't smiling, they were lounging in leather sofas placed under tents facing the stage. There was lots of eye candy (I didn't notice, I was told ) making the rounds either replacing ashtrays or simply stopping to make conversation with the expo goers. I went with some friends that still had to be places during the 8 hours so I stayed behind and made friends with other people that were watching the show and enjoying a cigar. The atmosphere was definitely social and going around from standing table to table and saying hi was just as fun as the cigar I was smoking for the first time. Some of us even agreed to look for each other at the Washington Cigar & Spirits Festival coming in October to the Snoqualmie Casino-Ballroom, and some of us even to get together for a cigar in between then (A fellow tawny lover no less).

After it was all said and done, I would've paid even more for such a fun event. I think you were given 5 food tokens (3 for food, 2 for sweets), but many of the people had leftover tokens and would just give them away when they were full. So far all the cigars, the food, the liquor, the beer, the wine, the sweets, free booth goodies, and raffles, I highly recommend a visit to the 2012 Seattle Cigar Expo.

[Andy Velebil]

Andrew
Thanks for the recap on what sounds like an excellent event! Hope you have fun at the next one coming up.