Cigar News: Crush and Roll West 2013
This was my second consecutive year attending this two day cigar and wine event. I had been looking forward to it for some time based on the experience I had the previous year. The Friday evening event started at 6PM and was sponsored by Davidoff in which they would be providing all of the cigars for the evening. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this due to their recent rebranding of Camacho and was wondering if they would be pushing those brands, but it turned out they were only providing Davidoff branded cigars. They provided the Davidoff Mille 6000, the Davidoff Nicaragua and the Davidoff Puro d’Oro to all of the event attendees.
The weather was terrific as it is typically very warm during the day, so when the event started it was cooling down and maintained a very comfortable temperature throughout the evening. During the event, there were many wineries as well as a couple of breweries pouring wine and beer. Dinner consisted of tri-tip, sausage, baked beans, salad and garlic bread. Throughout the evening, prizes were being raffled off and a live auction took place for cigar related items. The annual poker tournament also took place for those that were interested.
On Saturday, the event started at 1PM. It was a warm day, but not something that was unbearable as there were plenty of places with shade and they had brought out Port-A-Cool units to add some cooler areas of the event. There was plenty of bottled water available as they prepared well since the event the previous year was very hot and they were doing whatever they could to help mitigate that if the weather went in that direction again.
There was no single sponsor for the Saturday event as it is setup with multiple cigar vendors attending and handing out cigars. I believe the count was 21 cigar vendors. There were also even more wineries and breweries on the second day as well as other “lifestyle” vendors that ranged from humidors, furniture and even food spices. There were educational seminars available as well. I attended the Davidoff tasting seminar that was led by Davidoff‘s North American Ambassador and it was done very well. There were more raffles going on throughout the day as well as a silent auction going on for multiple items.
The event was terrific. The weather worked out better than expected and I have to say that the value for attending the event is phenomenal. Most everything is included in your entrance fee outside of items such as extra raffle tickets, auction items, poker tournament entry and items for purchase by the “lifestyle” vendors.
I’m already looking forward to the event next year. They mentioned that they will be opening up ticket sales shortly with a very early bird special, so if you are interested in attending, I’d recommend checking out their website to see when tickets go on sale and get them early.
Description
For the 5th year in a row, cigar connoisseurs and wine enthusiasts will gather in Paso Robles for the Central California Coast’s premiere festival, Crush & Roll West. This celebration of premium cigars, premium wine and the
good life, takes place Sept. 6-7, 2013 in the heart of the Central Coast wine country. In addition to sampling world-class cigars and wines, attendees will learn the finer points of both from expert vintners and cigar manufacturers.
This year once again, both the Friday evening and Saturday events will be held at the Paso Robles Event Center, which is home to hundreds of events throughout the year, including the yearly California Mid-State Fair. The Event Center is right off the 101 freeway and is easily accessible from any of the fine Paso Robles hotels and motels. Cost for the two-day event is $140 and there are separate prices for Friday-only, Saturday-only and an Early-bird special. Activities include complimentary cigar and wine tasting, cigar rolling demonstrations, seminars, raffles, auctions, poker tourney, music, and much more.