Review of WPCC (VERY LONG)

[CBCyclone]

TRIP REPORT: WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CIGAR CRAWL
MAY 17, 2008

(Hermitage, PA / Sharon, PA / Girard, OH / New Castle, PA / Rochester, PA / Monaca, PA / South Pittsburgh, PA / Blawnox, PA / Seven Fields (Cranberry), PA

This past weekend my friend Dave and I traveled to Pennsylvania to attend the 10th Annual Western Pennsylvania Cigar Crawl (WPCC). The crawl was held on Saturday May 17th. The WPCC is an annual event that Rob Heming runs. It consists of a day-long bus tour of area cigar shops, and includes lunch and dinner. Since the bus was taking off at 8 AM Saturday morning from Hermitage, PA we decided to head down to Hermitage from Buffalo on Friday afternoon to both assure we’re ready to go at 8 AM on Saturday, and take part in some pre-crawl herfing on Friday.

We arrived at the host hotel, the Quality Inn in Hermitage at around 5 PM, checked in and then headed the short 10 minutes to nearby Sharon, PA for our first pre-crawl herf of the weekend, at Penn-Ohio Cigars. When we walked in to Penn-Ohio cigars I was immediately greeted by some herfers that I had met last November at a birthday party at Slippery Rock Cigars that thrown in honor of the Blowin’ Smoke podcast’s second anniversary. Two of the herfers were Rob and Robyn Heming, the WPCC coordinators, and the host (Rob anyway) of Blowin’ Smoke. They seemed genuinely happy to see me. I’ve been dealing with cancer the past few months, and they were really happy that I was well enough to attend the event. I had met Rob and Robyn though the podcast, and I’ve become the official statistician of the podcast, keeping records of the winners of the show’s cigar matches. I also gave Rob and Rob special pins that I had made with their names and the WPCC logo.

After purchasing a cigar to smoke (a Hoyo De Monterrey Dark Sumatra) and sparking it up, we sat in the lounge area and chatted with some of the other herfers. After about an hour or so, Rob announced that it was time to head for dinner. Dinner was just a short two-block walk away at the original Quaker Steak & Lube. What a place the Lube turned out to be. I had heard great stories about the Lube but had never eaten there. The whole place looks like an old style gas station, and had a real nostalgic look to it.

Dave and I sat with two couples (Joe & Jenny Estep and Tom & Heather Featherstone) who had traveled up for the WPCC from just outside of Nashville, TN. The four of us got along great and got to be good friends by the end of the weekend. In figuring what beer to have with dinner I suggested my favorite local beer to them, and we all had a round of Straub beer, which is brewed in St. Mary’s, PA. The WPCC has a tradition of hazing newbies on the crawl. Well Tom, Heather, Dave and I were newbies and Rob Heming felt we needed pre-crawl hazing and brought us over a six-pack of Iron City, Pittsburgh’s much maligned local beer. I told Rob that while I understand having to haze the newbies, making us drink Iron City beer was against the Geneva Convention.

For dinner we chose to go with the Lube’s famous chicken wings. Being from Buffalo, we know chicken wings when we eat them, and these were darn good. We bought a double order, split between Parmesan Pepper and BBQ, along with an order of the Lube’s famous onion rings. HUGE rings, served on a vertical rack. You have to see the onion rings to believe them. I can’t remember what I smoked during dinner, but I do remember that I handed Dave, who is a relative cigar newbie, a Professor Sila Rothschilde which he said he really enjoyed. After dinner I puffed on a Rocky Patel Vintage 1992 robusto.

After the pre-crawl dinner festivities were over with, we all headed back to the hotel. Rob & Robyn had a huge three-room suite, and a whole bunch of crawlers descended on the suite for some pre-crawl herfing. There was a bar in the room stocked with beer and liquor. Rob also set up his recording equipment and we recoded an edition of Blowin’ Smoke which is now up on-line at http://www.burghherfers.com/podcast.html. In listening to it I realized just how much we had drank. It was a lot of fun doing the show.
Dave and guested on the show as honorary members of the Council of Cretins. We were on the show along with a number of the show’s regulars and whoever else wanted to add their two cents on the different topics. One of the more bizarre segments of the show is always A Minute With Travis. Rob usually edits in it later, as its’ not done live. Well on this occasion Travis was live in the room, and his brain was sufficiently lubricated to do the segment live. Best of all, Rob allowed me the honor of introducing Travis!!! It’s a thrill I’ll cherish always! The podcast wrapped up around 12:30 AM and we headed to our room to get some sleep for the crawl the next day. I got to sleep at around 1:30.

We woke up at 6:30, took care of the morning routines and headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. It was a rather small buffet consisting of scrambled eggs, sausage, home fries, fresh fruit, coffee and orange juice. Service was not that great and they kept running out of items and were slow to bring out more. Still I wanted to eat enough to sustain me for a day of herfing on the bus and at five different cigar shops we’d be stopping at along the way, so we stuck around until they brought out enough food to fill us up.

As “newbies” on the Crawl, we were expected to help with loading the bus, so we pitched in as best we could and helped get the bus loaded drinks and cigars. After helping to get all the supplies on the bus we boarded the bus ourselves. The bus pulled out at just after 8 AM and Rob made some announcements including the newbie contest. Veteran crawlers were given a supply of “play money” with Rob’s picture on them. Newbies had to earn these Newbie dollars by doing things to impress the veterans. The newbie with the most newbie dollars at the end of the night got the title King or Queen of the Newbies. For example, I waited at each stop we were at to get on the bus, deferring to the veterans and letting them go first. Many of them would give me a newbie dollar for respecting the veterans. I’d stand there and say: “As The Rock would say, I know my damn roll!” Dave earned some newbie bucks by walking a block to a store to buy Robyn Heming a pack of cigarettes. On the bus a lady named Jo spent the better part of the day playing bartender, serving beverages. She would not accept any tips for her hard work, so I bought her a tin of flavored CAO cigars as a “thank you.”

Our fist stop of the day was in Girard, Ohio at a place called Cordy’s Cigar Box. This was a small cigar store, but it had some great ambiance, cool owners, great prices, and was running specials for our group. We got there at 8:30 AM. I was told that the shop normally opens later in the morning, but that they come in early on WPCC day just for the crawl. As an example of the deals at Cordy’s, I purchased Colibiri single-flame butane cigar lighter with a built in cigar V-cutter. It came in an attractive box and also included a carrying pouch. Feel in love with it at first site. I carry it everywhere, even when I’m not carrying cigars. Guess I’m anal! Anyway, the sticker price was $89.50, but as a WPCC special all Colibiri lighters were 40% off. I have a decent triple-flame lighter, but didn’t have a really, really good single-flame cigar lighter so I snatched this one up. Really a nice looking lighter. With my 40% discount I paid $53.70 for it! The cheapest I’ve ever this particular lighter for online was $79! I also purchased a few single sticks at Cordy’s but can’t remember what I purchased.

Our next stop was supposed to be at Klafter’s Cigar Express, a warehouse-like store in New Castle, PA, but we ended up having to stop at the hotel first. One of the veteran crawlers had forgotten his wallet. After we were rolling again towards Klafter’s Rob got on the bus microphone and took a vote on whether we should revoke the veteran status for the remainder of the crawl for the guy who forgot his wallet. The vote was unanimous! But he later single-handely took up collections for tips for Rob and the bus driver so at the end of the night his veteran status was returned to him.

Klafter’s, while not being physically impressive since its’ just a big warehouse, was impressive in the sheer number of boxes of cigars for sale. There were rooms and rooms filled with full boxes of cigars to purchase, and a great prices. Myself, I went with individual sticks, picking up five cigars at this stop.

The next stop was for lunch at a great restaurant in Rochester, PA. The place was called Greg Powell’s Rivertowne Restaurant. The owner went out of his way to make our lunch one of the highlights of the day. He offered a set four-course luncheon that was raved about by most all of the crawlers. Most agreed that this lunch could have very easily been a dinner, being that good and that filling. The courses were:

Appetizer: Crawfish Sauté with red pepper flakes, white wine, green onion, and whole butter, and accompanied by a shot of Wild Turkey 80.

Salad: Duck Salad, with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and warm duck medallions in an orange vinaigrette, and accompanied by a hot of Wild Turkey 101.

Entrée: Two huge braised pork shanks in a bourbon demiglace with potatoes, and accompanied by a shot of Wild Turkey Rare Breed.

Dessert – A large piece of warm four-layer chocolate torte with fresh raspberries and strawberries, served with a shot of Wild Turkey Honey Liquor

After lunch, I was really glad for a short 10-minute ride to the next stop, because if it was any longer I would have been out like a light snoozing after that great meal.

Our next stop was in Monaca, PA at King Beaver Cigars. Vince Orend, one of the owners and a veteran crawler really opened the shops arms to the crawlers. He had beer, soft drinks, and scotch waiting for the crawlers and had a number impressive specials for us crawlers. For instance any crawler that purchased a certain box of cigars could buy a beautiful 50-count cigar humidor that normally sold for $75 for just $25. To earn a few newbie dollars Dave and I talked Vince into letting one of his employees drive us to a local liquor store where we bought a bottle of Don Julio tequila for one of the veteran lady crawler. She was shocked that we went out of the way to get her favorite tequila, and later paid us back by sharing the bottle with everyone on the bus, plus giving us a whole bunch of newbie dollars.

The fourth stop was at what turned out to be my favorite stop of the tour, Bloom Cigar Company in downtown Pittsburgh. The owner had a huge table set up in the back of the lounge with fresh crab legs for all the crawlers. Just amazing. Also they had a really nice lounge area and one of the largest walk-in humidors I’ve ever seen. The sheer number of single sticks available for purchase just boggled my mind. I purchased a box of Rocky Patel Vintage 1999s, which I still cannot find in the Buffalo area.

On the bus earlier in the day I had been talking to my bus seat-mate, a guy named Big Bob, and the talk turned to the Steelers. I mentioned that Big Ben’s BBQ sauce, which is Steelers QB Ben Rothlesberger’s signature BBQ sauce is made by my cousin John Kosko’s company, Roadside Ribs. Bob pointed out when we got to Bloom’s that they had autographed gift sets of the sauce for sale. I bought a set and was surprised to find out from the shop’s owner that my cousin John comes in to buy cigars all the time. He told me: “The owner of Roadside Ribs is a regular customer of mine.” I said: “Geez, I never knew that John Kosko was a cigar smoker!” I had told him I was on the crawl from Buffalo and he looked at me and said, “How do you know John.” He was shocked to hear that this guy from Buffalo is his customer John Kosko’s cousin! Small world!

Our last stop was at Allegheny Smokeworks, a very nice little cigar shop in Blawnox, PA. The owner offered crawlers 10% plus an additional 10% off on purchases. I was looking forward to this stop for their house blend, Tres Rios, which I had heard a great deal about. I bought six Tres Rios sticks and smoked an Opus X that somebody gave me in the lounge while we were sitting there watching Big Brown cruise to victory in the Preakness on the shop’s large-screen TV.

Our final stop was for dinner at Siba Cusina in Seven Fields, PA. Dinner consisted of a buffet including salad, mixed vegetables, pasta with red or white sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, chicken marsala, sliced roast beef and grilled salmon. The dinner was not that great. Food came out slowly and some of it was cold and not appealing. The chicken marsala was very good, but the roast beef was tough and cold. Lunch earlier in the day definitely blew this dinner out of the water.

After dinner was concluded Rob conducted a drawing for door prizes. He had well over 50 items on the prize table and everyone got something really nice. There were boxes of cigars, cigar company hats, cigar company shirts, cigar cutters, ashtrays, and the highlight of the drawing…a beautiful blue neon NUB Cigar sign. The drawing was done as a reverse draw. What that means is when your name was called for a specific prize, you had the choice to accept the prize or take any of the prizes that were previously won and give that person your prize. Some prizes, especially the neon Nub cigar light, were traded numerous times. For example, Dave won a box of Nub cigars. A few draws later someone won a Xikar cigar cutter and mini Rudy ashtray, but chose to give it to Dave and take the box of Nubs. When my turn came, I decided to take Dave’s cutter and mini Rudy and give him mine. However someone subsequently took that from me and I ended up with the CAO Cubist ashtray, which is a beautiful piece of furniture. It made the drawing more fun as you never knew what you’d end up with until the final name was drawn. The funniest item was a huge beef stick. The drawer of the beef stick traded it to the guy across the table from me, who had it until nearly the end of the drawings. Being the gentleman that he is, Camacho rep Tom Lazuka took the beef stick and gave the guy across from me his prize. Tom was roundly applauded for his gesture. The last name drawn in a reverse draw is always the most coveted spot as they get to chose ANY prize since they all already taken previously.

The bus trip back to the hotel was long (about an hour) and everyone was pretty tired after such a LONG day. The total bus travel time for the day was about four hours, and we spent two hours at lunch and three hours at dinner, so the remaining 11 hours was spent at the five different cigar shops. Along the way Rob would walk through the bus handing out free cigars given to him by the various shops. With what I purchased and what I got free, I figure I got close to 50 sticks last Saturday. I also got a Camacho Triple Maduro t-shirt, a Camacho hat, a number of inexpensive cigar cutters, some Henry Clay mints and a lot of other stuff, including the latest edition of Smoke magazine.

On the way back to the hotel I also got a new seatmate. Big Bob, my original seatmate, caught a ride home from the restaurant with a guy headed his direction (and not back to the hotel which was out of their way). I ended up sitting with Tom Lazuka (the Camacho) rep. Interesting guy. He’s got a lot of great stories on the cigar industry. He invited Dave and I down to visit the Camacho factory in Honduras next spring on one of their spring tours. Can't wait for that!

All-in-all I had a real blast and will remember my first Western Pennsylvania Cigar Crawl always. If you’ve never done this crawl, do yourself a favor and make sure it next year. You’ll have a great time and make friendships that will last through the years.

MARK

[jaxstraww-cl]

Fantastic write up.

[sir herfalot-cl]

Hey Mark!!!!!!!!!! This is Tom, the husband to the Queen of the Newbies, Heather.

The Pittsburgh cigar crawl was indeed a great time and we look forward to next year.

You and Dae will need to come to Nashville when we do our crawl.

-Tom

[CBCyclone]

Welcome to Cigar Live, Tom. I'm sure you're insight into the cigar world will be much appreciated here. Meeting you, Joe and your better half's was the highlight of the crawl.

I ended selling the CAO cubist ashtray on e-bay and buying the exact same Xikar cutter that I had taken from Dave during the reverse draw at WPCC. In fact it just came in today and I can't wait to give it a try after dinner.

MARK

[sir herfalot-cl]

Dude, I wanted that ash tray! I guess I should have been checking out ebay!
I see that you signed up at our cigar club, thank you.

[CBCyclone]

Had I known, Tom, I would have offered it to you first.

Dave had gotten the box of NUBS then got that taken from him for the Xikar and mini-rudy. Then I took that and gave him the lighter I got then got that taken from me for the Cubist. I ended up usuing the money I got for the cubist for my Xikar cutter.

Yes I did sign up. Probably can't make any of the club meetings, but would be more than happy to contribute to the forum.

[sir herfalot-cl]

I ended up getting a nice big Oliva ash tray from my friend at Smoke and Ale when I got back. I like the shape of the CAO ash tray, but I would like it without the logo on it.
Nothing wrong with CAO though.