Marvin R. Shanken Makes Surprise Appearance At Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest
It was a surreal moment at Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest when Marvin R. Shanken, the editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado, unexpectedly took the stage at the opening seminar. He hadn’t attended a Big Smoke in at least a decade, and whether Shanken knows it or not, his absence year after year has cultivated a Howard Hughes-like mystique. Nobody expected an appearance, least of all his own editors. On this day, he not only attended the seminar, he crashed it—and the results couldn’t have been more entertaining.
At first, things were going as planned at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood Florida. A cadre of the most talented, prolific cigarmakers in the world took the stage: Carlos Fuente Jr., Litto Gomez, Jorge Padrón, Rocky Patel and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. Together, there was more than 200 years of experience on the panel. They were assembled to reminisce about the last 30 years of the industry and the lineup of super heavyweights was hosted by the magazine’s executive editor David Savona and senior contributing editor Gordon Mott, who has been with the magazine since its inception. Reverent introductions were followed by appropriate applause as the room filled with cigar smoke. After that, things took the unexpected turn.
What was supposed to be a typical Big Smoke seminar ended up being a bit of a roast, and nobody was spared. “No speeches! These two are crazy. They should have been professors. Or basketball announcers,” said Shanken as he materialized on stage and promptly cut off Gomez and Patel. They attempted to wax poetic about their starts in the cigar business, but Shanken wasn’t having it. It was just one of many sarcastic quips and playful jabs as he stepped onto the dais and took over the seminar. Savona, who was originally the intended moderator, was as surprised as anyone on the panel. Shanken’s unscripted twist changed the entire tone of the afternoon.
“I’m going to give you the hook because you have no balls,” said Shanken after pressing Perez-Carrillo to name his favorite cigar made by another manufacturer. Perez-Carrillo was understandably non-committal in his answer. It’s a tough question, especially if you don’t want to offend other cigarmakers, but this didn’t fly with Shanken. Either answer the uncomfortable question or get razzed for it. “Litto, show these boys how a man speaks,” Shanken said.
Gomez, who started La Flor Dominicana in 1994 after leaving the jewelry business, gave a quick answer: “Inch from EPC and Don Carlos from Fuente.”
Many came back to Fuente. “Carlito’s Don Carlos,” said Jorge Padrón. “I get tired of smoking my own cigars,” offered Patel. “I smoke a lot of Litto’s, but my absolute favorite? Fuente Añejo Shark.”
Shanken turned his ribbing back to his own editors. “David here has about nine pages of notes and prepared questions, and I didn’t let him ask a single one,” Shanken said to an audience that was clearly enjoying the spectacle. “I’m a tough boss. And I’ve fired them both. But you know what they said every time I’ve fired them? They said ‘I’m not leaving.’ If not for Gordon and Dave, this magazine would not have had the success it’s had over the past 30 years.”
But it wasn’t all ridicule and insults. There were plenty of serious moments when the cigarmakers recalled the struggles of their families and enduring the decades of consistent and gradual declines in the cigar industry before Cigar Aficionado sparked the Cigar Boom of the 1990s.
Shanken, who started the magazine in 1992, talked a bit about the history of the Big Smoke itself, which started in 1993.
“I used to get beat up verbally by women saying that cigar smoke stinks,” Shanken told the audience. “So, I thought I have the perfect name: The Big Smoke,” he said. “I didn’t know if anybody would come. Then 3,000 people came the first year. At one point, we did 10 Big Smokes around the country a year. Then we started the seminars and it’s taken on a life of its own. And I’m glad that women have come into the market. Not enough, but we appreciate it that they enjoy smoking cigars.”
Shanken descended the stage and disappeared in as mysterious a fashion as he had arrived, but this was only the beginning of the Big Smoke, as more seminars—and more cigars—were to follow. You may have read about the Fuente-Padrón project. The premise was simple: Carlos Fuente Jr. made a cigar in honor of Jorge Padrón’s late father and Padrón reciprocated for Fuente’s father. The result was a humidor loaded with both cigars. At the time this issue went to print, the humidor had yet to be released, but all proceeds are going to charity. The audience members were given prototypes of these yet-to-be-released cigars. For many, this seminar was as close as anyone in that room will ever get to this project as the humidors will be expensive, rare and quickly unavailable.
Some in the audience had finished their cigars from the previous seminars ready to light up the next. Others were still puffing, refusing to put out such precious cigars. There are no set rules during the panel discussions, but the following seminar was intended to be a specific pairing of Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year with Whisky Advocate’s Whisky of the Year. Whisky Advocate is one of Cigar Aficionado’s sister publications. The seminar host (who is also the author of this article) reminded the audience that while the Rocky Patel Sixty was technically the No. 2 cigar of 2022, it was the highest-scoring cigar on the list that could be legally obtained in the U.S. (the 2022 Cigar of the Year is a Cuban). The whisky in question was the Jack Daniel’s Bonded, and guiding the audience through the pairing was cigarmaker Rocky Patel along with Jack Daniel’s brand ambassador Eric “ET” Tecosky.
The seminars were the perfect segue into the evening event, where fine cigars and exceptional spirits come together. Because this was Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest, the ballroom show is a hybrid of a traditional Big Smoke and a WhiskyFest celebration, so more attention is put on the quality of the whiskies poured throughout the evening—and there were many, including everything from Bardstown Bourbon and Blackened Whisky to Heaven Hill and Heaven’s Door to pours from larger companies like Bacardi, Brown-Forman and Diageo.
The variety of smokes and spirits gave guests many possible combinations to choose from over the course of the evening. Plenty ofcigar brands in myriad styles were handed out: Alec Bradley, Altadis U.S.A., Arturo Fuente, Ashton, Drew Estate, E.P. Carrillo,Espinosa Cigars, J.C. Newman Cigar Co., La Aurora, La Flor Dominicana, La Palina Cigars, Luciano Cigars, My Father, Oliva Cigar Co., Ozgener Family Cigars, Padrón Cigars, Plasencia Cigars, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, Serino Cigar Co., Tatuaje, Toscano and Warped were all there.
One of the most attractive draws to any Big Smoke evening is the rare opportunity for consumers to meet the cigarmakers, and many of them were present, some who have truly reached rock star status in the cigar world. All were posing for photos, shaking hands and handing out cigars, including Carlos Fuente Jr., Jorge Padrón, Rocky Patel, Alan and Bradley Rubin, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, Rafael Nodal, Sammy Phillips, Clay Roberts, Litto Gomez with his sons Tony and Litto Jr., Bobby Newman, Tim Ozgener, Kyle Gellis and Luciano Meirelles.
Few events on earth feature this level of cigar-star power and the Big Smoke Meets WhiskyFest continues to balance education with appreciation, bringing the handmade cigar hobby to the next level and giving each guest more than just cigars to take home.
