Who: 21 & Up
When: September 18th, 2010
Time: 2:00pm-10:00pm
Where: Beaumont Club's "The Backyard"
How much: Tickets are $45 (or $55 at the door*). Buy your tickets now! *Only 1000 tickets are available!
What do you get?: Each person will receive 4 premium hand rolled cigars, 2 drink tickets and a 1 raffle ticket. Raffle prizes will include cigars, t-shirts, ashtray trays and a signed box of cigars.
http://kccigarfest.com/

Join us on September 18th for lots of exciting activities!

* Meet Hooters Calendar Girl Brittney Fultz!
* Meet Paolo Garzaroli, Owner of the Graycliff Cigar Company
* Master Cigar Roller Abel Laura will be rolling cigars
* Music via a live DJ
* MC Herman Johansen will guide the event
* Contests all day long, including a Long Ash Contest, Smoke Ring Contest and Fastest Cigar Smoker in the Midwest Title Contest
* "Miss KC Cigar" Title Contest
* Woodyard Barbeque Cook Off

Each person attending will receive a Graycliff cigar as one of their 4 cigars. Meet Paolo Garrazoli, owner of The Graycliff Cigar Company, along with Master Cigar Roller, Abel Laura. Abel is the son of the late, Avelino Laura, once Fidel Castro's personal cigar roller and he also help create the original Cohiba cigar from Cuba. Abel will be rolling cigars throughout the event


Raffle prizes also include a box of God of Fire Cigars, Prometheus and Xikar cutters and lighters, and a limited edition humidor filled with cigars, a $600 value. We will be giving away over $40,000 worth of cigars and raffle prizes.

This was a blast and almost everyone won stuff. I left with 41 cigars and 2 scotch glasses. I am writing an article on the event and will post it here this week.

Sounds like it would have been a fun time.  Of course, I am thousands of miles from KC.  

Sounded cool!

Sounds like a great time!  That is a bit of a drive, though....

This is what I took home.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a91/jaamkrell/2010-09-18221832.jpg

Quotejsnake - 9/20/2010  1:04 PM

This is what I took home.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a91/jaamkrell/2010-09-18221832.jpg

Very nice!  Those V's are good....

Kansas City, Missouri 09/18/2010

I can't tell you guys how excited I was to learn about the 1st Annual Kansas City Cigar Fest and that was before I even saw the sponsor list. As a cigar lover you dream of having one of these large scale cigar events close enough so you can attend without having to beg the wife for permission or forking over a ton of cash for travel. I knew without a doubt this was something I wanted to support and attend. David was invited to the event but could not attend so my wife accompanied me and this was her first cigar related event and she loved it.

The 1st Annual KC Cigar Fest was held at The Beaumont Club in the Westport area of Kansas City, Missouri. The Beaumont Club has a very large outdoor area they call "The Backyard" which is where the event took place. Upon arrival we were warmly greeted and each given 2 drink tickets, 1 raffle ticket, and a 4 pack of cigars. The 4 pack of cigars featured a Graycliff Espresso, Oliva Serie O, Casa Magna Oscuro, and a Don Pepin Blue Label or Villiger. There were already many people in attendance and various booths were set up around the perimeter of the area. There was plenty of seating in the middle and the entire area was wide open so you could see everything. A stage was set up in the corner with a small area next to it set up as a contest area.

We walked around and started checking out the various booths. The first booth was Cigar Rights of America. Cigar Ambassador Christian Hutson had information about CRA and was signing up new members. Part of the event proceeds went to CRA to support their work. The next two booths were XIKAR booths. One booth had every XIKAR cigar accessory you could want and they were available and a very nice discount. The next XIKAR booth featured their HC Series Cigars in every blend and size. We got to spend some time talking with Kurt Van Keppel while smoking the fantastic new 6X60 HC Habano Colorado. We continued next to a booth featuring cigars from Alec Bradley, Don Pepin, My Father, and more. Oliva and Nub each had a booth set up next to each other and featured some really great cigars and accessories. Graycliff had a booth set up featuring a variety of their cigars. Graycliff also had a booth in the middle featuring Master Cigar Roller Abel Laura rolling cigars. Several new Graycliff watches were also on display and looked very nice. The last booth I made it to was Fidel's Cigar Shop who featured several of their cigar products.

La Cava del Mayoral Tequilas had a booth where you got to try three different tequilas and Ponak's Margaritas. There was a huge outdoor bar where you could use your 2 drink tickets for anything they had including some very great scotch. If you went for the scotch you got a very nice scotch glass that you got to take home in a box. Of course if you wanted more to drink beyond your two drink tickets the bar took cash and seemed very reasonable in price. Woodyard Bar-B-Que was offering some great Kansas City BBQ in their booth.

Every 30 minutes a drawing was held and the prizes were plentiful and it seemed like almost everyone won something. $40,000 in prizes was a sight to see. Everyone got excited as the cigar girls handed out the free prizes on the stage. I have never seen a giveaway like this before at any cigar event. You get in for $45 and get your entry fee back in cigars plus 2 drinks. On top of that you had a chance to win these great prizes. For the money this event was well worth the price. I wouldn't hesitate one second to buy tickets for next year's event.

Several contests were held including the fastest smoker, smoke rings, and longest ash. Let me tell you things got exciting during the contests. The fastest smoker contest was hilarious and these guys went to town while everyone stood around them cheering them on. I thought for sure someone would puke but no one did. The smoke rings contest had to move up next to the building due to some wind. I wasn't in attendance for the longest ash contest but I am sure it was just as fun as the other two.

Overall the event was great in my opinion. We had fun and everyone else there was having fun the entire time. The attendance was probably not as large as you would expect but for a first year event I think it was fantastic. Weather was also a factor in keeping some people from attending. The day started off with nice weather but changed in the afternoon to some strong winds and the occasional rain shower. Back up plans were in place to move the event indoors just in case. Later in the event the weather did take a turn for the worst. There is definitely room to grow and next year's event is already in the planning stages. Event organizer Tom Foster says he hopes that next year's event will include more of the great Kansas City Metro area cigar retailers. His plans are to make the event larger and an annual Kansas City event.

My hopes are to see this event become a permanent annual Kansas City cigar event that attracts people from around the Midwest. From my perspective the event was a success and has room to grow in the years to come. With all the wonderful cigar businesses in Kansas City I believe the cigar community and support for a large scale event such as this will make it happen.

Sounds like a blast, Jake!  I wish we had something like that in the Atlanta area.

Hello all, This was my first cigar event ever. I was thrilled with the prizes and met some other cigar fans while I was there, however I wish I would have gotten some numbers while I was there. I too won some great prizes! Jsnake, I think I was sitting near you And your wife. Were you sitting at a high top in the center?

I wanted to go look and see if they had posted any pictures and the site is down:(

I guess that is not a good sign for next year. If anyone happens to have some of the pics, I would love to get a copy of them. I was in 3 of the contests and won the smoke rings. Would be nice to get my pic, at least the one with the hotties!

If anyone here was sitting with the group at the center, say hello.

Nice forum, I'll be hanging around.

QuoteGruntmaN - 11/8/2010  12:55 AM

Hello all, This was my first cigar event ever. I was thrilled with the prizes and met some other cigar fans while I was there, however I wish I would have gotten some numbers while I was there. I too won some great prizes! Jsnake, I think I was sitting near you And your wife. Were you sitting at a high top in the center?

I wanted to go look and see if they had posted any pictures and the site is down:(

I guess that is not a good sign for next year. If anyone happens to have some of the pics, I would love to get a copy of them. I was in 3 of the contests and won the smoke rings. Would be nice to get my pic, at least the one with the hotties!

If anyone here was sitting with the group at the center, say hello.

Nice forum, I'll be hanging around.

Welcome. This is a great place. Make sure to go to the new members forum and introduce yourself. A great group of people here.

QuoteGruntmaN - 11/8/2010  1:55 AM

Hello all, This was my first cigar event ever. I was thrilled with the prizes and met some other cigar fans while I was there, however I wish I would have gotten some numbers while I was there. I too won some great prizes! Jsnake, I think I was sitting near you And your wife. Were you sitting at a high top in the center?

I wanted to go look and see if they had posted any pictures and the site is down:(

I guess that is not a good sign for next year. If anyone happens to have some of the pics, I would love to get a copy of them. I was in 3 of the contests and won the smoke rings. Would be nice to get my pic, at least the one with the hotties!

If anyone here was sitting with the group at the center, say hello.

Nice forum, I'll be hanging around.

Welcome to the site.  Glad you enjoyed the event!  

Sounds awesome!

QuoteGruntmaN - 11/8/2010  1:55 AM

Hello all, This was my first cigar event ever. I was thrilled with the prizes and met some other cigar fans while I was there, however I wish I would have gotten some numbers while I was there. I too won some great prizes! Jsnake, I think I was sitting near you And your wife. Were you sitting at a high top in the center?

I wanted to go look and see if they had posted any pictures and the site is down:(

I guess that is not a good sign for next year. If anyone happens to have some of the pics, I would love to get a copy of them. I was in 3 of the contests and won the smoke rings. Would be nice to get my pic, at least the one with the hotties!

If anyone here was sitting with the group at the center, say hello.

Nice forum, I'll be hanging around.

The event will be bigger next year. I did take plenty of pics and gave them to Tom. The site is down because CI had their attorneys send Tom a nasty gram claiming they own the rights to the words "Cigar Fest" So it will have a new name next year and it is supposed to include more of the local B&Ms. I will help promote it so when I get more details I will post here.