Camacho

I've heard all over that Oscar parties are supposed to be a big deal this year. While you're donning your formals and schlepping over to someone's house to see who walks home with glory, think for a few moments about what will be going on at the Academy Awards Style Lounge at the Intercontinental Hotel in Beverly Hills. One thing will be certain: the guests will be cutting and lighting Camacho Cigars. At the party on March 6, 2010, Camacho will be the lounge's official cigar.

Says Dylan Austin, Director of Marketing for Camacho, "Camacho Cigars is proud to be a part of the Academy Awards Style Lounge," continuing, "We are excited to be aligning Camacho Cigars with the Oscars, and to be part of this grand celebration in honor of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards."

And the Emmy Award goes to ... Camacho Cigars!

Camacho has announced that it will be the official cigar for the HBO Luxury Lounge® at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. The lounge will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, From September 18 – 20, 2009. At the event, Camacho cigars will feature its top-end 10th Anniversary Robusto cigar, contributing to an already elegant affair.

"Camacho Cigars is proud to be a part of the HBO Luxury Lounge," said Dylan Austin, marketing director of Camacho Cigars. "We are excited to be aligning Camacho Cigars with HBO, the premiere name in cable television, to honor The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards."

[Photo via Camacho Cigars]

I saw Camacho Connecticut's wrapper and was immediately suspicious. It was incredibly light, which could only foreshadow the entire experience to come. So, I cut, and I lit, fully expecting to spend the 45 minutes to follow smoking little more than air. As the final ash fell, I was only too happy to admit to myself that I was wrong.

Without a doubt, the Camacho Connecticut is a light cigar, and it's unlikely to become the mainstay for smokers who prefer full-bodied sticks. That being said, it does have a place in even the hefty Nicaraguan devotee's humidor. A bit of variety isn't a bad idea, and the rich flavor in this cigar will keep smokers of medium and heavy cigars engaged from foot to cap. At the same time, cigar smokers who gravitate toward lighter alternatives will find complexity (and overall enjoyment) in the Camacho Connecticut, making this cigar appealing to a broad and diverse constituency.

Matt Booth has kicked his style to a new level, releasing Room101 Cigars, a new line developed with Camacho. This addition joins Room101's clothing, jewelry and accessories product lines. The result of the Room101/Camacho partnership is a medium-bodied cigar which uses tobaccos from Honduras and the Dominican Republic. The wrapper is a Semilla 101 was grown exclusively for this cigar.

The new cigar is available in six sizes, which are named for area codes: 213 (44×5.5), 305 (50×5), 323 (50×6), 404 (54×52x6), 702 (48×54x48×6), and 808 (60×6). To my chagrin, 212 is not listed.

"We are very excited to launch this line of cigars with Room101," said Dylan Austin, marketing director of Camacho Cigars. "This project has been a year in the making and it really great to see it come to fruition."

Matt Booth calls the new cigar "first of its kind in many ways." He says "I am honored to be working with the Camacho family on this project. No other combination could have possibly done this concept justice."

If you're heading to the ESPY Awards pre-party at the Playboy Mansion tomorrow night, be ready to clip and light a Camacho. The cigar company has been selected as the official cigar of the event. So, while you're hobnobbing with the wealthy and beautiful – athletes and other celebrities will be there – pick up a Camacho Select, Triple Maduro (a great, full-bodied smoke), Diploma or 10th Anniversary.

"Camacho Cigars is proud to be a part of the pre-ESPY festivities," said Dylan Austin, marketing director of Camacho Cigars. "The Playboy Mansion is an iconic location that every man dreams of visiting at least once in his life. This only adds to our excitement in being involved in this illustrious event."

The night will include dancing, entertainment, a few poker games and just about everything else you'd expect from a party at the Playboy Mansion. If there's a better way to smoke a Camacho, my imagination can't come up with it.

To look at this small Manhattan eatery, you'd never make the connection. Tucked in the atrium of the IBM building on the corner of Madison Avenue and E 56th Street, Obika seems like just another dine-and-dash joint to service the suited masses within a three-block radius. To judge this shop on a glance alone, however, would be a grievous error. In reality, its clientele consists of a mix of ardent regulars and tourists (mostly from Europe) who are committed to the magic made at this mozzarella bar. The customers' zeal was evident by their presence alone on May 21, 2009, when Obika catered the latest De La Concha cigar dinner.

Anthony Fauci, a partner in the restaurant, represented Obika at the cigar event, held in the store where he and his brother, James, have been regulars for as long as anyone can remember. In a new twist on what has become a regular occurrence for the Manhattan tobacconist, Obika provided a mozzarella and pasta tasting menu designed to complement the Camacho cigars featured.

The event was standing room only, as Obika took over the shop – lining the counters for food preparation and consumption. Instead of opting for traditional sit-down meals, store general manager Ron Melendi opted for a more fluid approach, in which guests could stand, sit at a boardroom style table at the front of the store or eat on available counters.

Remember when you'd walk into a restaurant and be asked, "Smoking or non?" If you answered the former, you'd be escorted to a dedicated portion of the floor where you could light up before, during or after your meal. This ritual is disappearing in the physical world, but it's springing up online, where a "virtual smoking section" is taking form, connecting cigar smokers from around the world.

Obviously, there are plenty of resources on the web for the cigar community. The major industry publications, such as Smoke and Cigar Aficionado publish to the web, even with some exclusive content. Retailers – both brick-and-mortar and online pure-play – are numerous, and there are too many cigar blogs to count. The growth of social media has taken the online cigar community to a new level, though. The same utilities that enable 140-character conversations and elaborate digital friendship interconnections have emerged around the "fellowship of the leaf."

It may look as though the real world banishment imposed on smokers – first to smoking sections and then to cigar shops only ... or not at all – may be moving onto the internet. After all, everyone on Twitter can smell @DylanAustin's Camacho Select, right? Well, nobody wants to see or hear cigar chatter, even if it is self-selecting.

But, I wouldn't rush to celebrate or lament an online smokers' quarantine. Instead, we're contributing to venues that focus exclusively on our interests. We're opting in, not being forced out.

Two sites are particularly interesting: Social Cigar and CigarShout.

If you are looking for value, it's hard to beat anything from Camacho. For an extremely reasonable price, you'll smoke a well-constructed cigar that has both plenty of flavor and a complexity that will hold your attention until the cigar is nothing but ash. The Camacho Select exemplifies the high quality-to-cost ratio of the Camacho brand.

There are certain basics you assume when you cut and light a Camacho. A rich, bold flavor is the norm, along with an easy, voluminous draw. In these regards, the Camacho Select does not disappoint. With every pull, you'll experience a mouthful of smoke with a texture found only among the top-shelf brands in any respectable cigar shop. The scrunched-up faces desperately pulling for even the slightest taste ... they do not have Camacho Select cigars in their mouths.

What are you doing on April 24? If you're a golfer, you're about to get a new answer to that question. That's the first day of the Famous 2009 Golf Tour, sponsored by Famous Smoke Shop and ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley. So, clean your clubs and get ready to head out to the Riverview Golf & Country Club in Easton, PA in a few weeks.

The golf tour itself stretches all the way to the Championship Round on October 9, so if you have a decent swing, you could spend close to six months chasing a little white ball around a carefully manicured lawn.

"Each match will be a two-man 'Best Ball Scramble,'" according to Famous Smoke Shop store manager, Tim Carr. "If a player doesn't have a partner, we will assign them one. Players' handicaps will also be used as a guide for creating the foursomes and pairing-up singles, but not for scoring of the rounds, which will be based on a points system," he added.

If, like me, you don't play golf, Famous Smoke Shop has a few other events planned for the summer, so you'll have no shortage of reasons to light up a cigar (as if you need one).

• Golf Round 1, April 25: Classic Car Show
• Golf Round 2, May 29: Motorcycle Show
• Golf Round 3, June 27: Cigar Expo 2009
• Golf Round 4, July 25: Classic Car Show
• Golf Round 5, August 29: Motorcycle Show
• Golf Round 6, September 19: TBD
  

The events will be held at the Famous Smoke Shop store in Easton, PA.

If you're planning to enter the tournament, the cost is $89.99 per round, and there are pro-rated discounts available for volume. A Happy Hour follows each event, where food and drinks will be served ... with featured cigars from event sponsors Drew Estate (ACID), CAO, Camacho, Cusano, Rocky Patel and Los Blancos.

I'm not surprised that Playboy Golf selected Camacho to be the official cigar for The Playboy Golf VIP Players Party. Camacho's a strong brand, has great name recognition ... and its sticks do tend to smoke well.

The event will take place on Friday, March 27, 2009, and athletes, executives, bunnies and other celebrities will be invited to smoke the Camacho Select Lonsdale. Cigars will be cut and lit at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, CA. As if the great smokes aren't enough, the night's festivities will include dancing, entertainment and the body painting for which Playboy has become (in)famous.

Dylan Austin, marketing director of Camacho Cigars, says, "Playboy is one of the most iconic brands for gentleman worldwide, and we at Camacho Cigars are honored to be selected as the official cigar for The Playboy Golf VIP Players Party."

Golfers will be pleased to find an extra treat – a few Camacho cigars in the gift bags.

Tickets for Cigar Expo 2009 are now on sale. The event takes place on Saturday, June 27 – starting at 2 PM. If you pony up for a VIP ticket, you'll also get to attend a dinner with the cigar manufacturers the night before. So, if you're in Easton, PA and have $150 to burn ($225 for the VIP level), this is an event to check out.

Famous Smoke Shop, the operation behind the festivities, will celebrate its 70th anniversary this year – as guests are likely to notice. "We're going to give this year's attendees the royal treatment," said Famous Smoke Shop Retail Store manager, Tim Carr ... and he gives some pretty compelling examples. "Not only will every guest receive at least 50 cigars, but we'll have plenty of entertainment, waitress service, a cigar menu, fantastic food, and some amazing raffle prizes."

The list of vendors participating this year is long and distinguished, including Altadis, Avo, CAO, Camacho, Davidoff, Joya De Nicaragua, Rocky Patel and General Cigar – along with many others. There's a good chance you'll find something you'll like.

Sigmund Freud thought that sometimes -- just sometimes -- a cigar could be just that, a cigar. Well, I doubt he never envisioned a Camacho Select between Harmony's lips. What's this mean? A new year is upon us, and Camacho's latest calendar is on the market. The "making of" video has followed quickly. Now, you can get a feel for how the tobacco hotties wound up on the pages that adorn the walls of your favorite cigar lounges (or possibly your apartment).

Now, all Camacho needs is a cure for all the new cigar taxes that ail us.

[Thanks, @DylanAustin]