In my most recent trip to Nicaragua I was fortunate to attend Puro Sabor 2018. Puro Sabor is a celebration of the Nicaraguan cigar industry and the people who make it so wonderful. I had previously been to Nicaragua once before, in the fall of 2015, and I was so grateful to be able to go back again. Since there's so much to cover about this trip I'll break it into a series of different articles each covering different aspects of the trip itself. One theme that I hope you'll notice in all of these articles is the people. The people are the most important aspect of every piece of the cigar industry in Nicaragua. Nothing is more important to the industry than its people and it's the relationships that make the cigar industry in Nicaragua so beautiful and so wonderful.
This year, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival put on their 10th Annual event. Blind Man's Puff has been to almost all of them. We've seen it go from a festival with just a few booths from big manufacturers to one of the largest cigar events in the country with booths from all types of cigar companies.
At the end of August, just over two weeks ago, Smoker Friendly Hosted the 13th Annual Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival...
Something fascinating about mankind… We have the capacity to make things. Of course we also have the capacity to destroy or cause problems, but we hope to strive for the good. When we see craftsmanship or creativity many of us are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. In our past, creativity was a kind of survival skill. We had to create new things like shelter and tools in order to survive or improve quality of life. Since civilization emerged, our creativity has morphed into the aesthetic and the artistic. In some cases, it can even take on a competitive facet. We want to know if we can do it better than the other guy, or we want to know if we can do it at all, thereby competing with ourselves. We want to experiment with our own creative nature. We want to know if we can make what we see others make. We want to know if we can make it better. This has always been a part of our nature, and this trait is responsible for some of the most wonderful things that we still enjoy today.
Then there's something called Ristefari. Don't worry if you've never heard of it. By the end of this article you will probably want to go. Ristefari is the brainchild of Riste Ristevski, owner and founder of Jas Sum Kral Cigars (JSK). In a nutshell Ristefari is like a cigar event, a cigar festival and a family reunion combined into a weekend. In early March of 2018 I was fortunate enough to attend Ristefari 2018. Here's a rundown of some of the best points of Ristefari.
As we close out our series on Puro Sabor 2018, let's take a look at the events that made the week special. In all honesty, even the everyday lunches were special events. It seemed like every time we gathered for a meal, the organizers pulled out all the stops and made it a grand occasion instead of just another meal. One of my favorite things about all of these events was the reality of being able to sit down with people from all over the world, all walks of life, and all manner of experience in the cigar industry. We were all the same at these events. It was just an enormous group of friends gathering for a meal, some drinks, and great conversation.
ear marked the 12th Annual Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival. Unfortunately last years event was not held in person so we were not able to do our Blind Tasting Event. In 2019 we did the first ever Blind Cigar Tasting Event for every attendee of the festival and it was a huge success. You can read about it here. This year, we went bigger and the event did not disappoint.
Smoker Friendly Hosted the 14th Annual Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival at the end of August, just over two weeks ago. This also meant the fourth annual Blind Man's Puff Blind Cigar Tasting Event. In 2019 we did the first ever Blind Cigar Tasting Event for every attendee of the festival and we have done it every year since, except 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, we handed out more cigars and had more reviews submitted than any previous year.
As I did last year, I thought I would take an opportunity to put down some of my thoughts and observations from the IPCRPR 2015 show that was held in New Orleans this past week. Just to be clear, these are my thoughts and opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of Blind Man's Puff or any other member of the team here.
Following our attendance to the IPCPR 2015 trade show this past week, we gathered all of the Blind Man's Puff team that was there so that we could do a recap of the event. We cover things we were excited about going into the show, things we were excited about coming out of the show, cigars we smoked and our overall thoughts about the event and products.