La Gloria Cubana BBQ and dinner
The cigar shop I work for, Old Virginia Tobacco, has been around for 37 years at this point. In that time we have built a very good relationship with many of the top manufactures in the industry. One of those is Ernesto Perez-Carrillo from La Gloria Cubana. This guy is a legend and everything he makes is a real winner. Rarely does he do public events. He is a cigar maker, not an entertainer. So when we talked to him about doing a release party for his new cigar we were shocked when he said he said yes.
I saw Ernie at this years trade show in Las Vegas and I spoke to him about his new line, the Artesanos de Miami. We spoke further during the General Cigar dinner at Aureole in the Mandalay Bay Hotel. He loves to talk about cigars and was telling me about why he came up with it, how different the tobacco is in this cigar, and how exclusive the line would be. Come to find out only 100 retailers in the country will get it and there will only be 125,000 sticks made. We were one of two shops to get it first, weeks before it would be released to everyone else.
a serious LGC fan
When the BBQ finally came on Saturday, September 20th everyone was excited. The customers had been looking forward to the event for weeks and they were not disappointed. We blocked off a large portion of the lot in front of the store for the event. Not only so people could sit and mingle, but for the large BBQ grill used to cook the food and enough space for DJ Randy to setup his rig. The weather that day could not have been better and everyone enjoyed the event immensely.
Ernie holding court
Finally about 4pm the BBQ ended and I had to run. I needed to get home, shower, and be at Alto Plaza by 6pm when cocktail hour started. It was a bit of a stretch but me and Nancy arrived right on time. In fact the only other person there was a long time customer Scott. Slowly other guests started to arrive and we all just mingled at the bar. Unfortunately the guest of honor got delayed so everything got pushed back. Finally about 7:30pm we were seated. Scott, me, Nancy, Mark, Randy, Mike, Barbara, and one other guy took a table in the back. Just like in high school all the cool kids went right for the back.
very fashionable
The dinner was fantastic. Our table had spent most of cocktail hour talking and drinking so all we did was move the whole affair to a table and continued the fun. Before any course was served Scott had ordered three bottles of wine for the table. After that it was on like Donkey Kong.
Even after dinner our group didn’t leave. We must have stuck around for another hour or so while everyone else left out. Eventually those of us left (me, Nancy, Scott, Mark, Bob, Gary, and Ernie) moved to the head table and continued to talk till almost midnight. What a wonderful evening. Not only did I get to enjoy some great food and drink, I got to enjoy it with some very good friends. What more could you ask for?
As a whole the BBQ and dinner were a smashing success. Ernie told me it was great to see so many people attend the event and smoking his cigars. Not smoking his cigars because he was the guest of honor, but smoking them because they actually enjoy them. We didn’t become the number one La Gloria retailer in the country for nothing.
I would like to thank Ernie for spending the day with us and I look forward to future events with him. I will see you at IPCPR next year in New Orleans.
