CigarWeekly was invited this year to cover StogieFest 2016 event in Jacksonville, FL.  This was the fifth annual event, and we're happy to have been invited!  The adventure began (for us) on Saturday afternoon, with a long drive from Atlanta to Jacksonville. Gary (Doc) Laden, of Smooth Draws Radio show fame and I climbed into the Mustang and headed south.

A really uneventful Five and a half hours later (with the exception of one pit-stop and a ton of excessive road noise from defective Pirelli tires (which they claim are perfectly fine - and that's another subject altogether) we arrived at our hotel, just a few miles from the event.  After dropping off the bags and grabbing a quick bite, we're off to the event, hosted at Aromas Cigar and martini bar.

Locals really benefit from the VIP acess, with a couple of special events on Friday and Saturday evening. We missed Friday's (had to do the radio show on Saturday morning) but Saturday was Partigas night.  got to enjoy a very smooth Partigas 1845 while chatting with folks in the VIP lounge.

Saturday morning VIP access started at 11am, and we got there just in time to avoid the long line.  It's a mult-vendor event, and they do something quite unique.  Guests are each given a poker chip, and, with that chip they vote on the vendor who's cigar they like the most, or who's presentation/pitch about the cigars they prefer.  We spent a good part of the day visiting with these vendors - some already knew of CigarWeekly, others were introduced.  Meeting the reps from companies like Arandoza Cigars, Sindicato, Drew Estate, Rocky Patel, General Cigar and more, getting a sample of their wares, took us a good hour or so, and after that, while the non-VIP members were taking their turn under the tents, we paused for some more good conversation with other attendees and a beverage or two.

Aromas sports a full service food menu and a couple of very well stocked bars.  About 1/3 of the square footage is a night club, but today it was the location of several of the beverage vendors.  Can't forget, Sam Adams and Guinness were represented, as well as several Scotch Whiskies and good old American Bourbons.

More good conversations and friendships were made - we met a very large ladies cigar club called Stogies and Stilletos - and enjoyed smoking a few tasty cigars as the afternoon wore on. Around 4pm the raffle began - lots of cigars and accessories, beer glasses and ashtrays were given away to the attendees.  So much that they had to temporarily suspend the raffle to take care of the Bikini contest - crowning Miss Stogiefest2015.  For some, the culmination of the raffle and bikini contest marked the end of their day.  For others, well, Aromas does not close until 2am.  Your humble reporter and his cohort from Smooth draws Radio settled on something inbetween.

If you are a lover of cigars and the cigar lifestyle, stay tuned for StogieFest next year!  We will be, that's certain, and hopefully we'll be able to get the word out earlier than we did this year. If you live in the area, or want to make a weekend of it and travel down, the VIP ticket is the way to go.

Thanks to the staff and all the vendors in attendance for a really great time.

Cigarweekly.com and Smooth Draws Radio (Smoothdraws.com) ended our weekend with breakfast and a cigar, and a combined donation of cigars to the Cigars for Warriors project via Howard Gross.  Thank you StogieFest - See you next year!