Thirty Years Of Las Vegas Big Smokes
It was November 1996, nine o’clock in the morning, and we were in a ballroom at the Bally’s Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, not entirely certain what to expect. We had an ambitious agenda: a morning filled with cigar seminars, a series of educational presentations designed to show cigar lovers how to get more out of their cigars. Many of the editors from Cigar Aficionado magazine took to the stage, along with cigarmakers. The magazine was only a few years old, and we had never done anything quite like this before. Would people show? Was there a burning desire among our readers to learn more about cigars?
Three decades later, the answer remains yes—emphatically so. That first Las Vegas Big Smoke was small by our standards, with fewer than 100 people attending the seminars, but it was a rousing success, a small seed that grew into a mighty tree. Year after year, the Las Vegas Big Smoke has pulled in thousands of cigar lovers from all over the United States and all over the world. We’ve had people come from as far away as South Africa and Australia to attend our show. Our readers come and join our editors and the most famous cigarmakers in the world for a weekend of handmade cigars, artisanal spirits, entertainment and cigar education. Our Big Smokes are immensely popular, being held almost every fall. (We’ve only canceled one show in all this time, in November 2020, called off due to the pandemic.) Today, more than 500 people attend the seminars, which usually sell out, and thousands attend the weekend.
Big Smoke returns to Las Vegas on November 6 and 7. Join us.
We love anniversaries, so for this 30th anniversary Big Smoke we have something extra-special on the agenda. One of our featured seminar speakers is a man who is sure to bring down the house: Guy Fieri, the cigar-loving star of TV’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” The cigar lineup is considerably special, culminating in the No. 1 Cigar of the Year, the Padrón 60th Anniversary Perfecto. This cigar is a true rarity, retailing for $75 and made by only two cigar rollers in the Padrón factory in Nicaragua. It’s extremely hard to find. Those who attend our Las Vegas seminars will not only get one of these 97-point cigars, they’ll hear all about it from the man who made it, Jorge Padrón.
The Las Vegas Big Smoke is our biggest event of the year. It’s hard to believe we’ll be doing this for the 30th time. We hope to see you there.
