Wow, just got back from Nashville, and RTDA blew me away. Drove the 12 hours down there with another ISU guy with our CAO passes to get into the show and it was amazing. We showed up on saturday at the opry land hotel (we were staying at a motel 6 by the airport) before the show was open to retailers and got to walk around for a while. Most of the displays were still in shambles when we got there and we made our way to the CAO booth. Got a chance to talk with Tim Ozgerner there and he gave us some of the first Mx2s, he told us we were getting them before the regional reps. After a while longer Jon Huber came down and we finially got to meet the patron saint of the cigar club. He is seriously the coolest guy ever. They took off for a meeting and we wandered through the displays and walked throught the miles of hotel, very easy to get lost. We went to the RTDA kick off dinner and got to meet some more great people, and free food. A hotel security guard walked up to me and demanded i tell him how old I was as I was talking to a few retailers with my badge on, damn me for looking so young.
The Mx2s I smoked were all great, still a bit young with a spoungy feel to them, so i'm sure when they hit my humidor they'll be even better. They taste exactly as they are billed, the spicy kick you get in an amazon mixed with the sweetness of the eXtremes, amazing smokes with a great draw and consistant burn for all 4 of the ones i smoked.
The next day we were woken up by the 9:00 flight landing in Nashville, which woke us up every morning, and we took off to the show. We hit up the CAO, Torano, and Bucanero booths, as they all had guys we already knew at them. All three booths treated us amazing and took great care of us, whenever we walked near somone put a cigar in our hand. Frankie at Torano is an awesome guy, though he never did ANY work while he was there, THANKS AGAIN FOR LUNCH BRO! All the Bucs guys were awesome as well, fantastic new sticks there. A crew is a good way to start teh day nice and light, and the Salsas are good for any time. I think I must have smoked about 7 Bucs over the course of the week.
After we talked to the people we knew we got to work. We took off , on our quest for new sponsors and new smokes with reckless abandon. For the next 7 hours we did not stop moving and perfected our pitch. Met many amazing people, and learned a ton.
That night was the big CAO party which Josh and I had been psyched up for. So there we are get off the RTDA bus with our RTDA badges ready to go into the wildhorse saloon. Frankie at Torano all day had been psyching us out about how we would get carded and wouldn't be able to get in because it was a bar and we'd have to be 21. So we hit the door big macho guy asks if we're 21, Josh says yes, pulls out his fake guy reads through the whole thing notices the guy on the card has brown eyes, josh has blue and kicks us out, as we are pointing to our CAO badges at a CAO party. I should have just walked in and gotten Jon to resolve them problem, but hindsight is 20/20 as he said.
Next day of the show was great as well, continued making new connections and smoking great sticks. Tatujae (sp?) a new brand rolled by i believe tabacalera tropico, great smoke, another one of the notables, best burning sticks I smoked out there, with a great ballanced spicy character to it. After the show we went up to the CAO suite and had drinks with the CAO people, plus a few others, which was awesome, and then we hit up the la aurora party, by the time we were done with that we were beat and called it a night.
Our last day at the show was just as good as the first. We started to feel like we really belonged out there and the place wasn't as overwhelming. Al from Perdomo was another guy who took very good care of us and left our arms hurting from all the smokes he gave us. We took some pictures (up on cigarbid.com) with some people and got some pics of the hotel. Josh and I had decided that our wallets were running a bit light so we were going to take off that night back for Iowa.
Jon Huber invited us to his place for drinks that night, so we couldn't turn that down. We made it there (without getting lost!!) and had a great time. Jon and his wife are the most gracious of hosts, and their son is hillarious and a great kid as well. We got a chance to talk with some more increadible people at Jons (and got invited by some CA people to the Big Smoke in Chicago as their guests) and eventually decided it was time to head back to Iowa. We made the trip back alright, though i think the car was riding a bit low esp after jon gave us 2 boxes and then some of cigars at his place.
So all in all RTDA was unbelievable, if anyone ever gets a chance to go TAKE IT. I hope to make this the first of many RTDAs that I am able to go to. Also I got a chance to talk with some great CWers down there, was very nice to meet all of you.
To finish it a huge thanks from Josh and myself to all the CAO people, the Torano people esp Frankie (we'll see you when we crash at your place for spring break) all the Buc guys, and Al from Perdomo as well, along with all the other guys at their booths who gave us sticks and talked to us, and wait I can't forget the Havana Honies girls, the heavnly smoke girls and all the other great eye candy.
Jon a special thanks to you, you were already our patron saint before we left for Nashville, and you turned out to be about ten times cooler than even Josh and I expected. Thank your wife for us for how great she was to us at your place. Thanks again for everything bro, can't wait till our paths cross again, and have a great vacation, far away from all my questions!
Wow that was a long post, from a fantastic week.
