| smoking is the most social of pleasures. And with | | | | Attendees sometimes pick up an empty tote bag |
| bans on public smoking enacted in almost thirty | | | | near the door, which is gradually filled with promos |
| states, covering half the United States population, | | | | from some of the most prestigious makers of cigars, |
| cigar smokers must be feeling more and more like an | | | | accessories, and gadgets. The magazine has tended |
| embattled minority. So what could make more sense | | | | to promote premium cigar makers, since its inception, |
| than a gathering aimed at, and intended for, cigar | | | | and it tends to be the cream of these that show up: |
| smokers? | | | | Arturo Fuente, Tarno, CAO, Montecristo, etc. Luxury |
| How about several? | | | | automakers tend to be out in force as well, perhaps |
| The calendar year is actually dotted with cigar-related | | | | reflecting the magazine's well-heeled subscriber base. |
| events, some of them years or even a decade or | | | | The tradition of having twin "Big Smokes" in Las |
| more old. The modern wave of cigar conventions and | | | | Vegas and New York city continues, despite those |
| festivals has its nearest origins in the so-called "cigar | | | | cities' recent flirtation with anti-smoking laws. (New |
| boom" of the 1990s - the sudden spiking of interest | | | | York has passed tougher smoking restrictions in the |
| in cigars that began in 1992 after decades of declining | | | | past few years, and so has Las Vegas, though the |
| sales, a (sometimes little) dying customer base and | | | | all-important smoking venue in that city-the game |
| little new interest. | | | | rooms of casinos-continues to be exempt from any |
| Fittingly enough, the most famous of these events is | | | | public-smoking bans.) The "Big Smoke" in Las Vegas |
| hosted by Cigar Aficionado - the magazine many | | | | will dominate the weekend of November 9-11, 2008, |
| credit with crucially supporting, if not downright | | | | with two evenings and daytime seminars. Saturday |
| inaugurating, the cigar boom itself. The magazine | | | | seminars include taste-tests, cigar-rolling |
| started publishing the same year (1992) that cigar | | | | demonstrations, and what's sure to be a very |
| sales suddenly, sharply increased, and it likely added | | | | enlightening look at premium tequilas, among other |
| to that new energy with its advocacy of cigar | | | | things. The "Big Smoke" evenings will include, as usual, |
| smoking as a perfect pastime for the stressed-out, | | | | sample tables, fine liquor (included in the price of the |
| go-go,-no-time-to-pause-and-reflect 1990s (remember | | | | ticket), and premium food (ditto). The New York "Big |
| the abrupt surge of interest in coffeeshops around | | | | Smoke" follows on November 20. |
| the same time?). | | | | But maybe you'd rather visit warmer climes-especially |
| Cigar Aficionado's "Big Smoke Weekend" was | | | | in November. If so, you're in luck, because Ybor City's |
| inaugurated in 1993, only a year after the magazine | | | | Cigar Heritage Festival goes down November 15, |
| itself began publication. At first it was a New | | | | 2008 in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, the neighborhood |
| York-in-November thing - for its first New York bow, | | | | that was built around Tampa's great |
| in long-ago 1993, it attracted over a thousand guests, | | | | late-nineteenth-century cigar factories. This is more |
| who flocked to the a hotel in Times Square, to | | | | of a populist celebration, with free admission, but you |
| dance, talk, and sample new cigars, drinks, food, and | | | | still have a chance to buy premium cigars (from |
| accessories, among other things. By 1996 Cigar | | | | Rocky Patel, Arturo Fuente, and Camacho, among |
| Aficionado had added a second event in Las Vegas, | | | | others), enjoy tours of the historic neighborhood |
| which included panelists and educational seminars for | | | | (officially a US Historic Site), sample ethnic food, and |
| the first time. "Big Smokes" have multiplied since then | | | | learn how a cigar is rolled. Among many other things. |
| - over a hundred have been held, in various places, | | | | One way or another, then, US cigar fans who love to |
| with a total head count of approximately two | | | | travel have every reason to be thankful for |
| hundred fifty thousand, including visitors from as far | | | | November. |
| away as Iceland and Russia. | | | | |