Here are some pics I took from the Big Smoke in Atlantic City:
http://people.ambrosiasw.com/~andrew/big_smoke_atl04/
The "surprise" I mentioned earlier is that I was invited to a little private Herf with Carlos Fuente (jr and sr), and a couple of dozen other guys. It was a blast.
I was lucky enough to have won $600 or so the night before in Blackjack, but unfortunately that meant "suffering" through many hours of free drinks and gambling. I had about two hours sleep before the private herf the next day.
I decided just to use the money I won to donate to the charity raffle the Fuente's held for CFC (Cigar Family Charity). I actually ended up winning a bunch of stuff Carlos pulled out of his magic bag: 3 BBMFs, 1 Opus X Shark, 2 Opus X Maduro Robustos, 1 Forbidden X, 4 signed posters (Opus X, Birth of a dream, and 2 858 posters), and a full box of Diamond Crown Maximus cigars signed by the Newmans and Fuentes.
It was a great event. Carlos talked at length about the history behind various cigars, the Fuente family, and so forth... it was fascinating. Also had the chance to have drinks and smokes with a bunch of great guys.
I decided I'd won enough, and donated the box of DC Maximus's back to CFC so they could auction it at a future event and raise some more cash. I had a blast, met a lot of great people, but unfortunately had to hit the road early for my 6.5 hour drive home. I stayed awake only lots of caffeine and smacking myself awake repeatedly.
It was cool; I'll have some pictures from that up soon.
