The owner (and also an IPCPR board member) Rob, David and our "new media" guy Greg are in attendance. Of course, we're having technical issues with getting the photos uploaded to our server, so right now we're dealing with wall-of-text only. Sorry!
Here's our Day 1 & 2 recap for those interested. It was what went out in the email this morning, so it's catered more towards our customers (ie, not just a general "blog" style update):
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Morning, everyone, and welcome to our first IPCPR recap from here in Orlando! We'd like to apologize for the lack of photos - we're having some technical difficulties that we hope to have worked out before our update tomorrow.
Day one was Thursday, which was filled with seminars and local parties before the show officially opened. IPCPR hosted some incredibly interesting seminars on Cigar Politics and Tobacco Taxes - again, we can't stress enough how important it is that you join CRA if you're interested in preserving your right to enjoy fine, quality tobaccos - as well as a slightly less serious scotch & cigar pairing later in the evening! The festivities were capped off with a grand Gala Opening at 6:30PM, but without a doubt all eyes were towards Friday when all of the manufacturers would be on display.
8:00AM on Friday brought us to the Annual IPCPR meeting & breakfast, and by 10AM everyone was ready to hit the trade show floor. It wasn't long before the convention center was filled with the sweet smell of burning tobacco, the air became hazy, and the buzz of all of the people filled the room. To fit in meetings with so many cigar manufacturers is quite difficult, so we had to run run run to get as much in as possible. We saw quite a few interesting things - Avo Uvezian of Avo Cigars playing a grand piano at their booth, the Drew Estate booth pumping out loud music (as always) with all of their people dancing and having a good time (as always) - but obviously the draw was all of the brand spanking new cigars!
First on our list is SAG/Matasa, and we walked away with an incredible score of cigars for you guys! We're going to be carrying the Quesada Jalapa, an update for the US-market of the incredibly popular (and incredibly hard-to-find) Quesada Espana which was pretty much only available for sale in Spain. The cigar is wrapped in an experimental hybrid leaf from the Jalapa valley in Nicaragua, and the result is a medium-bodied smoke with lots of smooth, full flavors. We're also bringing in Tres Reynas, a collaboration between Patricia and Raquel Quesada and Janny Garcia of My Father Cigars. It's going to be extremely limited, and it features a blend of Nicaraguan filler and binder tobaccos with an absolutely gorgeous Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. The Casa Magna Domus Magnus Limitada II will be arriving shortly, and the Oktoberfest is back this year with a few new sizes, and we're also happy to announce that we'll be carrying a limited run of the Quesada Q d'etat, another small-batch cigar that's a Dominican Puro but with loads of strength.
The next stop was Miami Cigar & Co. where we were able to secure a bevy of new releases for you. The Nestor Miranda Danno is being re-released this year with a tweaked blend featuring a touch more ligero and a San Andreas Maduro wrapper, as well as the 2012 version of the Nestor Miranda Grand Reserve which is by far the strongest Miranda cigar to date with a dark Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wraper over a Nicaraguan blend of binder and fillers. For you La Aurora fans we'll be carrying 1903 gift sets as well as the new Preferidos, a Connecticut Broadleaf-wrapped cigar called the "Diamond" that's in a really sleek looking black tubo. There's a new La Sirena coming to us shortly - the Merlion (the name is a mashup of the mermaid theme of La Sirena and the lion from La Aurora's family name, Leon) - which features an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper over a blend of Brazilian, Dominican and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos with a Brazilian Sumatra binder. We're also really excited to bring in the Fernando Leon from La Aurora, a Dominican-grown Corojo wrapped cigar that was the personal blend of Guillermo Leon's father, Don Fernando. Last but not least is a brand new cigar called the Anoranza, a box-pressed cigar with a really nice Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro wrapper.
We previously mentioned the music at the Drew Estate booth; they were in a partying mood (lots of hip hop was blasting from their speakers) for good reason - they had a bunch of new cigars on display! We'll be carrying two new My Uzi Weighs a Ton vitolas, the tweaked blend in the 4x44 Bait Fish (it's a POWERHOUSE of a little cigar!) and the MUWaT +11, a 5 1/2 x 52 Parejo. For fans of flavored smokes, the Natural line is finally seeing a national release of the NDB - the 7x44 lonsdale that was personally made for regional sales directors Dave Lafferty and Fabien Ziegler. These cigars were only given away at Drew Estate events over the past two years, and we know you guys are going to love them! Last but definitely not least is the Liga Privada Papas Fritas... Liga fans, go ahead and wipe the drool off your keyboard now! Available in four-count tins, the Papas Fritas is a blend of clippings from the No. 9 and T52 cigars, and it's going to change your opinions on "short filler" cigars. They draw, burn and taste like any long-filler cigar - obviously they're made with the same attention to detail as all of the high quality Liga Privada offerings - and the Connecticut Broadleaf #1 Dark wrapper, the same that's used on the No. 9, makes these have a very spicy, rich, thick and delicious flavor.
We're also really pleased to announce that we'll be carrying CLE cigars. While you might not have heard the name before, you'll surely recognize the name of the man who's in charge of CLE: Christian Eiroa, the longtime president of Camacho Cigars. Small-production with a focus on detail and quality, and limited to only select retailers, CLE cigars will be rolled at the Tabacos Ranchos Jamastran factory in Honduras. The CLE Cuarenta (celebrating Christian's 40th birthday) is medium in body, full of fine nuanced flavors, and it sports a beautiful Habano-seed wrapper. The CLE Corojo is decked out in its namesake, a spicy Corojo wrapper, and it's medium-to-full in body and will really appeal to fans of sweet & creamy flavors and cinnamon (there is LOADS of cinammon flavor in this cigar!). Rolled in Florida, the Wynwood is the third addition to Christian's new lineup, and unfortunately he isn't giving out too much informaiton on it right now - so stay tuned! Finally, Christian is also debuting the Asylum and Asylum 13 brands, Nicaraguan-rolled cigars made with Nicaraguan tobaccos, and the Schizo, a milder cigar that features a lot of great clean, smooth tobacco flavors.