Road Trip and Nice B&M Experience - Thanks Party Source!! (Newport KY)

[StayingWarm]

So, for the moment I live in CT and work in OH (while I try to sell my house...anyone want a great bargain in Southbury CT...lol). I have friends in Ohio, and am going with them on a mini-vacation to Chicago and Milwaukee to follow our beloved Reds and play some golf as well.

Prior to leaving CT, I packed up my travel-dor (a tupperware cup with a good seal and some crystals) with a few sticks. Two of my friends don't smoke and the third is more of a dipper, but I figured I'd try to convince them to share a stick. I brought a Tatuaje Angeles VI for me, and a few nice, mild smokes for them to try (some Olivia Gs, a R&J and a Taboo Twist - figured the wrapper would be a hit).

While sitting at work today I get a call from one of the non-smokers on the trip. "What's a decent cigar?" he said..."I want to bring some for our trip." Of course, I sprung into action, told him I'd meet him at the Party Source across the river in Northern Kentucky (basically a suburb of Cincinnati) and immediately left work (which I'll pay for as for some reason a VP was trying to find me around that time...c'est la vie; maybe he'll forget by next week). I knew the Party Source had a GREAT alcohol selection, but had never frequented their humidor (believe they hadn't put it in the last time I lived in Cincy).

As soon as I walked in, I was in heaven. What a great selection of sticks, all at prices that made me think they were misprints. A whole cabinet of Padron anniversaries (natural and maduro, multiple sizes of 64 and 26), all the Tatuajes and Illusiones I could dream of (I have a hard time finding Illusiones in CT for some reason), VSGs out the rear, etc (no Opus/Anejo...that I could see anyway). My friend immediately started asking questions, as he could see I was fired up. We decided to get 3 "rounds" of smokes for the four of us.

As we were standing there we were approached by the salesman working the 'dor. We got to talkingn b/c it was easy to see how passionate he was about smokes. He shared with me his cigar tasting diary (very cool), complete with photos from manufacturer visits at the store. We chatted about this stick and that (he was a Pepin whore, which started the conversation), and he never once tried a "hard sell." We ended up with the haul attached - some light beginner smokes (Gispert, Olivia G), a round of Fuente Hemmingways (my all time favorite and the Gar that got me hooked) though I did replaced my Hemmy with a Ghurka Shaggy on his reco. I was hammering Ghurka and he raved about this one, so as a show of faith I replaced my favorite stick with it. Anyways, finished off with a couple of Tats and Illusiones - likely too much for the beginners but I figured it was unlikely they'd smoke 4 during the trip so got something that could like in my Humi if left over.

I managed to hold off on spending all my trip money on Padrons and other great sticks, but am planning to go back on my way to the airport some time (so I minimze time out of humi).

As we were leaving, the guy says how much he enjoyed chatting Gars and gives me this cool 8-stick sampler of Cusano and Cuvees. Sweet!! I'll probably try a couple and gift a couple. What a great gesture for a relatively small purchase.

To make it even better, my friend picked up most of the smokes (it was his idea, after all), leaving me with the Tats/Illusiones. 12 Gars for the price of 4, with a great shopping experience thrown in. I can't wait for the trip to start so I can fire these bad boys up, and am already thinking about breaking open the piggy bank to get me some choice sticks (even possibly pulling the trigger on a Padron 80th...$30 is a lot, but just once!?!?!). Uh oh, the humidor is already full...

Thanks for reading my long boring story. I had fun writing it though!

[Snake Hips]

That's pretty cool. Me and my friend are going on a road trip (to Canada, hehe) here in a few weeks, and we're bringing a small humidor and a selection of sticks. I've found that this one guy at a B&M I go to is a pretty cool guy. He just goes through the humi telling me the ones that he personally enjoys, and which ones are good for the price, and which are not so much. We got to talking CCs one time, and he talks about the ones that he acquires for himself from across the border.

We're going there to collect our stock for the trip, needless to say. But my friend wants Acids, so I don't know what I'm going to do with him...

[BengalMan]

StayingWarm,

Hit me up when your in the area and want to smoke, a couple guys from the forum and I usually try to get together once a week if possible for a couple smokes.

As far as the Party Source, it sounds like you met Carol, good guy. All the guys at Party Source are good people for sure. I'll be in Vegas next week for the IPCPR, but when I get back, I'd be glad to meet up with you for a smoke, or four. Glad you had a good experience there, I have to to hear of something that hasn't.

[hotreds]

Nice story. Am also a former Nutmegger(Windsor Locks) now a Buckeye!

[Biglizard1]

Great story and good luck with the conversion of friends, it sounds as though maybe one is leanin toward the slope already.

[Brad]

Party Source is a good place, I buy most of my sticks from them. They have some really good prices on singles. I noticed on a few brands it's cheaper for me to buy 24 singles from them than it is to order a box online!