Good Life Diaries

Monday, June 8, 2009 was by all accounts an absolutely fabulous evening!!! Beginning at 6:00pm, Guests arrived at Bayard's in the famous India House in downtown Manhattan. The bar was open and cocktails were flowing. The Davidoff " Grande Reserve" humidor was fully stocked, and remained so throughout the evening allowing everyone to try as many cigars as they liked. Please note "Try"... no souvenirs were provided. :) At 7:00pm we moved upstairs where the "great room" was set for dinner. Cigars were enjoyed throughout the meal! At the conclusion of the main course, we introduced Peter Banninger , President of Davidoff of Geneva, North America followed by our Master Blender from the Dominican Republic Hendrik " Henke " Kelner ". Finally, the moment everyone was waiting for... the Davidoff Limited Edition 2009 " Toro Especial" was served. The cigar is made in our factory in Villa Gonzalez, right outside Santiago, in the Dom...

Cigar Dinners are becoming more and more popular... and the concept of the "in-store" dinner is also gaining popularity around the country. Now I don't know for SURE, but I'm pretty damn sure we were among the very first to seat 50 people for dinner inside a cigar shop. It was with Ashton in early January of 2005... and Tony and Manny Ferraro of Ashton were on hand for it. In fact, they came by yesterday and we were reminiscing about that event and how far we've come since then! Of course we always host big dinners... all the time. Whether in the Madison Avenue store, downtown at Bayard's (like we have coming up on the 8th of the month), at Rothmann's Steakhouse... one thing we know how to do is throw a big bash. But, at our Columbus Circle store, we've gone the other direction and embraced the idea of a more intimate event. For our second "Columbus Circle Dinner", last night, we featured Camacho Cigars. We began in the store's lounge ...

I don't know where to begin. It was the fifth year for my annual Birthday Bash/Fundraiser for my old High School... and for the fifth year in a row, the incredible generosity of all my friends blows me away! The event was Monday, May 4, 2009, at The Carnegie Club in New York City to benefit Killingly High School’s Learning for Life Fund. A couple buddies from the Soprano’s cast, Tony Darrow and Arthur Nascarella stopped in to lend a hand, as well as entertainment reporter Bill McCuddy (formerly of Fox News). We also had on hand visits from The CAO Boys (Huber, Kapp, Faccenda), the ENTIRE Quesada family (MATASA, Fonseca, Cubita, Casa Magna, etc...), CigarTV.com, Keith Park (Prometheus), Peter Banninger (President, Davidoff USA), Karen Lee and Jim Galle (S.T. Dupont), Savona, Mottola and Abrams from Cigar Aficionado, Roberta from Graycliff, the staff from BOTH Davidoff stores and the De La Concha folks... blah blah... the list goes on and on... and it was amazing!!! We raised money t...